Local Gun Shop vs. Home Security of Guns?

[entropy]

I'm picturing a gangbanger on brownells website looking at an exploded schematic of whatever gun trying to figure out what piece is missing and why their stolen gun goesn't work.

Yeah, if it doesn't fire it's getting tossed in a lake.

That is a funny thought.....

 

[Walkalong]

We used to keep rifles in gun racks in our unlocked trucks at the high school.

Things change. Like it or not.

 

[Kingcreek]

I think it is wrong to generalize. Gun owners are as different from each other as any other group. Where we live, how we store, display, secure, and insure.
My house is appropriately hardened and insured for what I have, where I have it. I won't go into detail but I am confident when I'm home or away.

 

[RustyP]

About 30 years ago my home was burglarized by some people that were my friends, at the time. They stole some collectible coins that I had been talking about. They were locked-up, but they were determined enough got them anyways. Today I still lock anything I want to keep up, and my firearms are in a safe that is bolted to the floor and an exterior brick wall. The safe is troublesome to access, and it would take a lot of time to break it free. I learned the lesson about flapping my gums back then, so now I keep my mouth shut. Unfortunately, I failed to pass this lesson on to my kids. Recently, I overheard my youngest jibber-jabbering with my neighbor about all of my guns, and the neighbor was just blabbing away about everything he has.

I haven't addressed this yet, as I've been pondering the very same thing the OP posed. I am not sure if I am being vigilant with noise discipline, or if I am being an A-hole because I have a victim mentality.

 

[squirrelmurder]

Well, my hernias start to spasm just at the mention of heavy safes. If someone gets in our house and has the time to look, they will find most of mine, but I don’t have a huge collection, and my home defense guns are spread about strategically, so it would take some time to clean me out. If I was building a new home I would try to incorporate some sort of hardened room which could be multi-purpose, but that is not in the cards.

It is difficult to take into account all of the possibilities for loss, so I think most folks just take a stab at the ones considered most likely, and insurance is probably the most common protection. As mentioned in an earlier post, the “inside job” is sometimes the most troubling to defend against. Many years ago, my folks’ home had some firearms disappear without any other signs of intrusion. My younger sister was still living at home at the time, and she was spending time with a bunch of unsavory characters. I stopped short of accusing her, but I believe she had a helping hand in the disappearance one way or another.

 

[CapnMac]

It would only take bars on one room of a house in most cases.

Well, it would take a bit more, to make a single room secure "enough."

But, no need for bars which might "advertize" "something of value in here." Instead, set painted steel angle inside the jamb, sill, and head of the window, then fasten a bank-grade (1 5/16") slab of polycarbonate over the window opening. Regular blinds could be installed between the window and the PC, or regular drapes over the PC.

Now, none of that will be truly helpful unless one "hardens" the entery door and walls of the room.

At a minimum, I'd gut the walls to bare studs, then replace the drywall with 5/8" fire-resitant plywood or a 5/8" cementitious sheathing at probably a 16" OC fastener schedule. Door would get a knockdown HM door jamb--with threshold--at at least a 1 hour rating. Door would be similar--either a solid core rated door or an HM rated door.

Would not quite rate as a panic room, and would be lacking as a storm shelter (both of those are an entirely different thread).

That's 2¢ worth--any more and I have to start billing at $180/hr.

 

[CapnMac]

And what percentage of gun owners own a safe? Small.

Worth a thread on its own to answer that.
If Safe vs. RSC, then yes, rather fewer Ul-listed safes out there.
However, rather a significant number of RSCs get sold every year.
Probably extremely few apartment dwellers with RSC--but some portion with locking cabinets.
Still a good question to ask.

 

[CapnMac]

it would take a good 10 minutes to cut through a bedroom wall in my house

Maybe.
My old house, before foreclosure was built in 1951, all of its walls were sheathed in #2 1x6 T&G sugar pine, with a nail through the tongue into every stud (FM reception inside the house was decidedly iffy). The wood paneling or 1/4" sheetrock over that sheathing added yet another layer of fasteners.

My present abode is 1986 built--walls are nothing but 1/2" gyp.board on 2x4 studs at 16" centers, with a sort-of 24" OC fasterner schedule. A $10 general purpose saw shoplifted from the 24 hour WalMart would rip a 48x14 1/2" opening in about 10 minutes Sawzall with a demo blade could make a door-sized opening in 5 minutes (I used to hire guys to do just that--for renovations purposes, not housebreaking).

 

[Walkalong]

Sawzall with a demo blade could make a door-sized opening in 5 minutes

I could do it faster than that, but then I have used a Sawzall a bunch.

 

[.308 Norma]

We used to keep rifles in gun racks in our unlocked trucks at the high school.

Things change. Like it or not.

True enough! That was my high school too. Nowadays a shotgun or rifle in a gun rack at a high school would not only make national news, it would bring in a swat team. There would be films on TV for a week showing high school kids running from the school buildings with their hands behind their heads. And the Brady bunch would be screaming bloody murder.

 

[.308 Norma]

A $10 general purpose saw shoplifted from the 24 hour WalMart would rip a 48x14 1/2" opening in about 10 minutes Sawzall with a demo blade could make a door-sized opening in 5 minutes (I used to hire guys to do just that--for renovations purposes, not housebreaking).

You know, this is probably going to sound absurd, and I'll probably catch a bunch of flak over it, but that's why I don't close the padlock on my tool shed. I built that cute little Dutch Barn style shed behind the house by hand, using my own plans, when we first moved out here 37 years ago. I'm proud of it, it cost 3 or 4 times as much as it would have cost if I would have just gone to Lowe's or Home Depot and bought a pre-fab shed, and I'd hate to have someone use a chainsaw to break into it. So I put a large, brass colored padlock on the door-latch (also homemade). But if a would-be thief was to look closely, they'd see the lock is not pushed closed. There's nothing in that shed that's worth what damage could be done to the shed itself with a chainsaw in one minute flat - not even my own chainsaw is worth that much.
But to stay on topic, if we're home, nobody is going to get near my tool shed in the back yard anyway because one or more of our dogs would alarm, and that would bring one of us with a gun, while the other calls the County Sheriff's Department. And even if we're not home, one of the neighbors would probably notice a strange vehicle in our driveway and someone going into our toolshed. But maybe not. A couple years ago we had a two gallon gas can with some (I don't know how much) gas in it, stolen out of a different storage shed while we were in town. The other shed doesn't even have a door though, the neighbors weren't home either, and our noisy dogs were with us.

 

[CapnMac]

but then I have used a Sawzall a bunch.

As have I (and taught laborers to use, too--occasionally, too well, like through the back of the client's $950 leather sofa on the other side of the wrong wall to cut a hole into--sigh--).
I really like the new bayonet-tip double-tooth demo blades, that you can almost use like a keyhole saw.

Lot's of folk also forget that many tract-built houses use 19.2 (black diamond) or 24" OC framing for non-load bearing walls. Usually nothing in those cavities but the rome connecting electrical outlest about 12" above the floor.

 

[hdwhit]

Walkalong wrote:
We used to keep rifles in gun racks in our unlocked trucks at the high school.

Hey, I remember those days!

They quit letting students keep their rifles in the racks on the back windshield of their trucks after I was accused of trying to bomb the history teacher. I didn't. But the accusation was enough for the change in policy.

We have to be careful about what we let "fear" permit us to do.

 

[Elkins45]

When is the last time any of you haas seen a truck with a gun rack? Or even seen a truck gun rack for sale in a store?

I haven't specifically been looking, but this discussion makes me realize it's been awhile.

 

[bannockburn]

I use to have both a safe and a glass front gun cabinet. The "real" guns went in the safe; had a couple of the kid's air rifles, a black powder rifle, an old non-functional .22, and a couple of airsoft guns in the gun cabinet as decoys. Figured it might satisfy the smash and grab type who was in a bit of a hurry looking for a quick score.

 

[tarosean]

Or even seen a truck gun rack for sale in a store?

you can still buy them as I have one in my truck and its not that old... Course it holds hats and a lariat more than guns.

 

[.308 Norma]

When is the last time any of you haas seen a truck with a gun rack? Or even seen a truck gun rack for sale in a store?

I haven't specifically been looking, but this discussion makes me realize it's been awhile.

Come to think of it, it's been years since I've seen one.

 

[win71]

Used to be if you got interested in a used rifle, .22 to 30-06, the stock warn location was a clue it had spent some time in a "rifle rack". Not sure what value that information was. Maybe that it was carried more than shot. 5 or 6 years ago I found a pre 64 mod. 70 in .220 Swift in a small gun shop in a town surrounded by several thousand acres of ranches. Same worn spots. Figured a rancher carried it and shot every coyote he could for maybe 60+ years. I should have bought it.
For several years I have had a really big latigo leather scabbard hanging below the pick-up rear window. It holds every long gun I have.