Keeping a gun in an apartment with roomates

[RP86]

As others have said get some sort of secure storage container, the less people that know the better. I'm not a big fan of leaving ammo in the car, because:
1) You are going to have to unconceal your weapon at this point to load it, and could attract some unwanted attention.
2) You will have an unloaded weapon from your apartment to your car, which is where I would probably need it most.
3) Ammo that you carry should be treated well, hot to cold conditions in the vehicle could lead to humidity etc.

Hide the ammo elsewhere in your room, but keep the firearm locked up for sure. If you still choose to keep ammo in the car, buy new ammo every couple of months to ensure it's fresh.

 

[thebaldguy]

I think it's a good idea to get some sort of small safe/vault. Even some sort of fire safe/vault would be a good idea.

 

[Alex45ACP]

Thanks guys. Another thing I was thinking about was getting one of those Zanotti safes that can be disassembled and reassembled and setting it up in my closet. I couldn't bolt it down but I have a ton of weight plates I could put in it to make it heavier, and it would be almost impossible to wheel that thing out of the closet anyway. I have a safe place for the rest of my guns (safe deposit box) and I can put other valuables in the safe and then use it to store my guns once I'm out of school. They are expensive though...

 

[Claude Clay]

hide

a kal tek p32 or p3at....in a capped off electric outlet by your bedside is your room gun
or take w/ & keep on truckin... gl. hiden in plain sight & tell no-one. keep upper plug live.

 

[inthemoss]

I just got out of my quad. I got lucky and my two roomates that were also into firearms. Good for me...

I'm just wondering if you signed up for a random room in the apt. complex? Can't you pick your own roomates? There must be better people to live with.

 

[bsf]

Many good ideas concerning safes already.

In addition, I suggest if you do not already know these new roommates very well, you say nothing about guns at first. It may be a good idea to feel them out. Then proceed based on your read of your new roommates. You could set yourself up for trouble if you keep firearms in the apartment and tell the wrong person.

Good luck.

 

[kurtmax]

Well, there are no rules at my apartment complex against keeping weapons. It only says 'no illegal concealed weapons' in the lease. Uhhh.... okay? But aren't 'illegal concealed weapons' already illegal?

Anyways. I'm definitely going to have to tell my one roommate to not say anything about my firearms to the others until I get to know them better.

 

[Torghn]

I like the gunvault Idea. I have one with a cable wired to my bed frame. You'd need a bolt cutter to be able to carry it off, and then you'd probably set off the motion alarm. Also I can tell if the last code put in was the correct one or not so I know if someone has been trying to get in.

 

[RP86]

Well, there are no rules at my apartment complex against keeping weapons. It only says 'no illegal concealed weapons' in the lease. Uhhh.... okay? But aren't 'illegal concealed weapons' already illegal?

In FL they sort of messed up the law a bit. If you live in an apartment complex you would be illegally concealing the firearm from the parking lot to your apartment, unless you have a CWL. Maybe the law is different in your state, and they acknowledged this dilemma. So the apartment complex put a policy against it, the only way I could think of you getting caught with it is if you had to use it during this time. At which point getting kicked out of an apartment complex would be the least of my worries. Concealed means concealed.

In order to completely avoid this get your CWL.

 

[neby98]

Idaho... where even the hippies have guns. To quote my room mate in college. I'd get a safe and keep it loaded. I kept people out of my half of the house in college, as I had quite a number of firearms with me.

 

[Ford Prefect]

vis-à-vis

We've talked about gun safety and have an understanding. I don't have to worry about them at all.

I don't have a safe either

Tragedy waiting to happen. Read Weedkillers comments above.


I would use a hidden and bolted safe. Keep it secret.

 

[SRYnidan]

Normally I am a advocate of the mini gun vault type of rig for around the house.
Having said that I don’t think so in this kind of arrangement.
I have lived with roommates both in College and in the Air Force I don’t think anyone should move into such a situation with out a good small safe to store their valuables particularly a gun in. You can always open it when you are in but remember to lock it if it will be unattended by you for even a minute.

 

[kurtmax]

Right now I just OC from my car to the apartment. Nobody has cared in the last two years. (My suicidal roommate had a different schedule than me, so he never saw it... plus it was normally quite dark. The lighting was pretty bad at my complex)

Carrying concealed from the parking lot to the apartment would be a gray area. It could be considered "under my control", since I essentially have an easement to park and walk to my apartment....

I'm attempting to get my Pistol Permit, but AL is a may issue state, and has all the problems related with that. The Sheriff in my county decided to not issue permits to people under 21 (18 is the min age for a pistol permit in AL), but I went and met with him. He said nobody ever asked to have one issued under 21 before, and that he was willing to consider it :/

 

[David904]

+1 on the mini gunvault or a safe of some kind. Preferably conceal that too.

And do NOT open you mouth about owning a gun. Period. Like another poster said: Word gets around. You do NOT want to have some knucklehead friend of one of your roommates come poking around looking for your gun. The firearm is your business alone. Lock it up when it is not on you.

 

[gezzer]

Small safe bolted to floor is your only answer. Also change the lock on your room to a key style and KEEP it locked!

 

[vis-à-vis]

Tragedy waiting to happen. Read Weedkillers comments above.


I would use a hidden and bolted safe. Keep it secret.

Eh... I live with 4 bookish Baptist ministers who consider it sinful to take someone's milk without permission and who have grown up around arms and whom I actively discuss firearms with. It's like living with myself.

If I had a bunch of secularlist college drunkards living with me, I'd be more worried. If anything I have more to fear from B&E than anything, but someone is always here. That's just me though. I'm saving for one of those excellent gunsafes but it takes time. I cant stick any of my 5 rifles in that little vault.

 

[Shipwreck]

Mini vault.


http://www.gunvault.com/

Ditto.

They make 2 sizes. Get the larger, and U can store your valuables in there too.

 

[old_22LR]

get a small safe for all your valubles. Just conceal carry your weapon everywhere. Dont tell a soul and no one will find out.

 

[JohnL2]

One fact of life. NEVER trust roommates. Especially very young ones.

 

[AVESguy]

You have to get a safe or a gun safe, like everyone says.

Fort knox makes a nice pistol safe, no battery needed. Bolts to something solid.

The electronic ones with alarms are a good idea too.

 

[Geno]

College roommates?! That brings back some memories!!!

Five of us started undergraduate school, as roommates, in August 1979. By Christmas of 1979, we were four. One had fluncked out. By mid-winter 1980, we were three, because one was kicked out for stealing anything that wasn't bolted down! By spring of 1980, I was all alone! My last two roommates were kicked out for possession of drugs. If you think that you couldn't possibly get roommates as-bad-as mine were, you are wrong. But then, I too thought the same...could never happen to me. :banghead:

At graduation, I reflected on my opening orientation meeting, during which the speaker said, "Look to your left. Now look to your right. By the end of the first year, one of you will have flunked out. By the end of the second year, one of you will have dropped out. In 4 years, only one of you will graduate...which will it be?" Hmmm.

Get a vault. Never know if my old roommate has cousins.

 

[Tokugawa]

You are entering into a living arrangement with no controls-filled with people with no life experience who will do the stupidest things imaginable. They will go get bolt cutters, clip the cable on your gunvault, bring to another place, pry it open, go "Jeez, man , look at this!", and point it at someone and blow their brains out. And YOU will end up Liable.
If you gotta have a gun, buy a safe that does not scream "GUN INSIDE" , and bolt it down hard. The hell with the landlord ,lease etc. And I would deadbolt the door as well.
Remember, the first thing a uninformed kid is going to do when they find a gun- pick it up, put their finger on the trigger, point it at someone and pull. Why? This is what endless movies and video games have TRAINED them to do. And yes I have been on the receiving end. Do not trust them , not even a little bit, not with this. The stakes are too high.

 

[sm]

Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead -Richard Saunders.



Rule 1. Keep mouth shut
Rule 2. Don't advertise.

I concur with a "Safe".

Me being me says a "safe" does not, nor should it look like a "safe".

I've been concerned about Security all my life. Just what I was born into and raised into and did.
Professional Folks that would kidnap you or family, or employees, for starters.
Then we just have street punks that do what street punks do.

Renting a place to live.

Landlords, often are guilty of handing out keys to Maint Folks. HVAC, Bug Man, Plumber, whomever.

So one is real wise to not advertise by mouth, how they dress, magazines on the table, trophies , pictures on the wall , stickers on cars, backpacks or anything.

Folks do not "mean to" but they blab anything they see, hear, or even "suspect" and "gossip" about.

Illegal ears pick up on all this.

Now I know a lady who grew up learning to shoot revolvers, she started with a .22, then moved up to K frames, then she was determined to be the best J frame shooter she could be.
She is also awesome with a 1911 and BHP.

When she was 19 years old and had a scholarship and her roomies Never knew she even knew what a gun was, much less could shoot one.
Her car, had a "safe" and her bedroom had a "safe" in it.
She was never unarmed and her roomies never knew she was.

Contrast to, I know some boys moving in have guns, I can tell you what kind, and a lot of things.
I was taught to read people , places and things.

In a place to eat, I noticed them in a corner, that was my first "tip", the way the were dressed the "second" tip.
I simply listened.
I know one's sister is older and carries a Glock 26, Appendix and she has Gold Dots for Carry Loads.

I just "had" to see if I still "had it".
They said the moving date was ____ and of course the Apt number was said umpteen times.
Good thing I am a Good Guy, because sure enough I was just sitting on the lot and watching all this "gun stuff" being moved into an apartment.

I know the part time job schedules, I know way to much, and all I was doing was sitting in a place to eat and all this information freely advertised.

Sitting in the corner, if some BGs had come in they would owned that corner the tactical dressed boys sat in a nanosecond.

 

[Acera]

Alex, you did not mention your age. Are you legally able to possess a handgun? Second the safe idea is a great one, for about $150 you can get a strong steel storage cabinet (called a gun safe, but not near as strong) at a local sporting goods store. It will be the perfect place to keep you liquor, cigars, porn, birth control, and other stuff college kids collect and roomies want to "borrow". And then, keep your mouth shut about the gun.



Oh, and about leaving the ammo in the car while living in a bad part of town, with the gun in your room. You might as well go buy an $20 framing hammer, it will be a lot more effective in a fight than that unloaded pistol. Just tell your friends the hammer is when you volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, chicks will find that cool. Plus, they will probably steal your ammo when they get your stereo out of your car, lol.

 

[eliphalet]

Buy a high quality lock for your bedroom door.
Maybe a cheap video camera and put a VHS in the metal cabinet mentioned above.