Are you old enough to remember when firearms were proudly displayed?

Man that takes me back. Had a 1970 GMC two tone blue with that very same rack as well as a 1977 GMC with one. Never ever worried about them getting stolen. Course we lived on a farm in the middle of no where.

 

Yes, most people has their glass front gin cabinet in the living room. One gentleman that I looked up to had a “mud room” that you walked into upon entering his house. It was finished and had a office desk and all guns on the walls. I use to look forward to going over there. He also had a dentside Ford. He is long passed now

I bought one just like his, got the gun room but not upon entering (more secure)

thx Dave, u were an inspiration

 

The last time I saw that was my biological fathers' house back in the late 80s, when he had a glass front case in his den with a few guns in it. It, along with many other things, went missing after his passing. I have never seen one since. I would never display a firearm in my home as the only people who visit are vendors and landlord, and they need not know.

 

Yes, I am. I remember both my Grandfather my Dad and even myself having glass fronted gun cabinets. Glass fronted on top for long guns over drawers for handguns and cabinets underneath for ammo, game calls, holsters, ect. Good memories of a time long gone!

 

Do I remember??? Mine is now a gnone cabinet. Got it in 1978. I remember when most hunters carried their long guns on a rack in the back window of the pick up truck without much worry of them being stolen. I'm 73. And I will tell you. People call this a sorry country, world or times. But it's not. It's the same country. The same world. And the time makes no difference. It's the people that makes the difference. And it's not the bad people. It's the "Good" people. The "Good" people that sit back and watch and say nothing. The scum can only come out if "You" let them. The gov. Can only go wrong if "You" let it. No, there's nothing wrong with the country, the world or the times. Just the "People".

 

From WW2 through the end of the 50s was an aberration in historical crime rates, and plenty of guns (and cash and liquor and...) were stolen from cars and trucks and houses forever. I like this chart of violent crime as it goes back so far, but similar rates for property crimes as well:


Note also that it's dropped back down, and we're near recorded historical lows for violent and property crimes in the US. Even with slight upticks this year, they are relative, like the zigzags in the 1950-60 period there. Not a trend.

Hard to ask people valid questions about what they thought in the 1940s, or the 1890s (!) but smart people have said that aside from some possible political motivations to spread fear, we're more fearful because we have better communications. Facebook on down, even here, you hear of EVERY time anyone you even tangentially know gets in a violent alteracation, gets something stolen, or even just gets lightly scammed.

So, in the past: stuff got stolen a lot but it seemed more in isolation, so no one much noticed and either were just "it happens" replace and continue or maybe were a little more careful as they blamed themselves. Now, we blame "the very dangerous world" because our brains are wired to keep our families safe from jaguars hiding in the grass, and now there's a constant onslaught of reports of people eaten by jaguars, so we're paranoid.

And a little liability culture (which I tend to think we need more of if we want to be considered responsible people).


As far as the OP, display: I know plenty who display other than the traditional locations, to keep the investment safe just for the future, theft aside. Over the fireplace dries out things, sunlight fades, for example. So, cabinets and the concept of the man cave so your stuff goes on hooks there even if not also an arms room so it's secure.

I know friends with glass fronted display cases, for some things still. I personally have no wall hangars, so all my guns are working and in the cage, but I have this in my office. People have seen it. No problems:


Right click to open large if you want to zoom in.

 

Mine still is seldom locked. Long dead end, Several dogs, watchful neighbor, and only a small group of friends ever come to my house.

 

I’d love a nice gun cabinet. Problem is, they’re so big. Once you get past 8-10 guns they seem to get very wide, and also seldom seen/very expensive. And I’d need one that holds at least 12, ideally double that. Which basically puts us into the “custom finished gun room” category.

I figure as long as my guns are in a room that’s not visible to anyone randomly passing on the street, nor where some contractor or repairman will be able to see them, they’re as safe in a cabinet as in a big gun safe. Especially since the safes aren’t that hard to break into. I try to make sure my house is a little less fancy, and a little trickier to break into, than my neighbors, too.

 

I don't recall ever seeing a gun cabinet in anybody's house, or a wall hanger.

A fair number of people brought guns out to show them to me over the years, but I don't recall seeing one on display except in a store or a museum.

I am 62.

 

A while back I saw a chart of murders vs murders reported in news. It was very interesting and yes, everything makes the news today.

Its not like kids weren’t shooting each other in 1960. I do not want to delve into the statistics from that. But I have seen stats on hunting accidents and they are way down from “the good old days”.

Its easy to look at the past with rose tinted glasses. American’s perception of firearms has certainly changed but I would like to know what people in the 60s would say. “Back in my day...!”

 

I'm old enough to remember our school bus driver carried a 12 gauge shotgun under his bus seat should Pheasants attack children while driving the bus route. One such incident he let an older boy hang it out the bus window and shot a rooster.....rest of us kids got off the bus to retrieve the prize and fight over the tail feathers.

Probably would have made National News today.

 

I grew up in a gun free household. I think that was because my dad being in WW II in the Pacific saw a lot of combat and did not care for guns very much.
As a teenager I was allowed to own guns that I bought, I had a couple of BB/pellet guns and a Ithaca M49. I had to keep it hidden because I had two toddler sisters.
I do remember seeing nice ornate gun cabinets at other people`s houses. This was in the 60`s.

 

I'm old enough to remember some of my high school classmates' pickups with hunting rifles (one guy kept an AR15) hung in the back window, and parked in the high school parking lot.

 

I graduated in 78, so there were still some guns in racks and in glass cases.

I still have a couple glass front cases, but now they reside in my safe room, behind a vault door.




Not so much for display, but it helps keep the dust off.

 

^^^^
That's the correct way to do it. I'd like to do so, but safes are my reality. SWMBO lays claim to the majority of the basement.

 

40 years ago I had a nice oak glass front cabinet for long guns a large square glass front cabinet on the wall for handguns. Real conversation starters for those "for and against." Joe

 

-Almost bought a glass-fronted cabinet at WalMart the other day until I looked at how it was built.
Chipboard.
Never mind... .

 

Back in the day of skinny Americans.

 

What this thread is about... is a reminder that the America in which I grew up -- the America in which common sense, courtesy and respect for others was mostly all that was required of citizens -- the America prior to the one in which our citizens are now told how to think, what to think about but yet any type of social behavior that was formerly considered undignified, sinful, outrageous or disrespectful is now perfectly okay -- is sadly, tragically, long gone.

(apologies for the awkward sentence)

 

Forgot, I had that thought and did some research for a friend a couple years ago (I am that guy for many topics). See, there is plenty of practically unbreakable glass, so is there a "wooden gun cabinet" that is at least proof against casual theft?

No.

Even the best ones are furniture. Exposed hinges, glass barely held in, comedy locks, all sorts of thin bits. Most are absolute garbage, a toddler could kick them open. Too bad, seems like a good market for a well designed, heavily reinforced, break-proof glass, good lock system display cabinet.


Also, we mostly leave the house unlocked, even when we leave. Many friends do also. There are dangerous bits of town, and friends/family there sometimes go so far as to get packages delivered to our house. But much of the country (if not world) is crazy safe.

 

I watched the decline, and watched what motivated it, at least around here. It started with the PC movement, banning kids from talking about guns at school, making it a CPS issue if kids admitted to teachers, but most of all, the widely promoted idea that addiction is a disease, and needs to be treated as a disease, and not a crime. A lot of people bought into this, and drug based property crime exploded, to the point where armed burglary is on the list of "minor property crime" they don't want to prosecute in some cities. Can't leave your home doors unlocked, can't lock your car doors, can't leave your keys in the car, can't store your tools on a jobsite, can't sit in a parking lot idling without being bothered, pick up hitchhikers, leave your bike out, work with an open garage door, leave flashy boxes for recycling, and hundreds of other things.
Now my state is saying its not a disease at all, its a lifestyle, and should be respected. At least when it was alcohol, or marijuana people could hold down a job that could pay for the addiction. Now its meth and Oxy, and its just too much. This doesn't apply to everyone, but its everyone I know gave up their displays, car racks, open carry.

 

My gun cabinet is made of Cedar, and has a glass door. You can see the rifles, and shotgun in there. I do need to remake the top rack the barrels rest in though as they don't line up well with the original one. Plus the scope on the Brazilian Mauser hits the back wall. I should note that I live in a small (1,300 people) rural farming community with very little crime, and I'm U.S. Army retired/disabled, so I'm home most of the time. No job to go to every day, we take no lengthy vacations...

 

My father had a glass front gun cabinet that I inherited after his passing. He kept a little Mossberg .22 semi-auto rifle and the two row 12 gauge that I bought in Spain and gave him. Not a lot of value in either of the two guns, and until I moved to the city some 20 years back, we lived a couple miles outside a small town here in Texas. Did not have a key to the house, never took our keys from the car...keys only kept out the neighbors, couldn't do that. Now I have an elaborate security system, video front and back, can't even display an NRA sticker on my cars...guns locked in a cabinet, and only my Sig P220 and handy Micro9 out in arms reach.

 

I remember sears and western auto