Do you hide your guns? Keep them secret?

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Sniper66

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I had a discussion with an old friend about just how open are we with others about the extent of our gun collections. I am fairly open about it and am glad to show my collection to friends, but I am selective. If someone asks about my guns and I don't really know them, I change the subject or say I don't really have much. A friend of mine had his house burglarized and his guns stolen 2 weeks after his son showed them to some of his friends. Coincidence? He doesn't think so.
When I am loading my car for a hunting trip like prairie dogs, I may take 5 or 6 guns and 100s of rounds of ammo. Or a trip to the ranger I may take 3 or 4 riffles and other equipment. I back my car into the garage and close the door before loading. My ammo and reloading equipment is all in locked unmarked cabinets. I don't show it off. I think all of us are at least a little guarded, especially if the collection is substantial. I'm curious how you guys think about this issue. I will appreciate your thoughts.
 
Yes. Here the police are likely to charge you for having unsecure firearms if they steal stolen. If they turn up.

Have a look at the kiwigunblog website to see some of things that are going on down here. It's not pleasant and there are s number of court cases pending against the police.
 
Part of my gun safety training to my kids and grand kids is that my guns are not talked abought to anyone outside of family.
Storage is in the safe, under the floor boards by the gas pipe, on me or in grandma,s purse.
Traceability to me through this or any other form is possible but difficult.
I notice very few replies to this post, as it should be.
 
Secured but not ''Hidden''

The local way of gun use and safety is immersion, and from the time a kid is a baby, they are allowed to (mental/physically selective of course) observe and handle fire arms and the end results of their proper use.
Letting them look soon bores them, and the interested ones get to ask questions and participate in shooting.
We have a Rifle competition on July 4th, and Plenty of celebratory gunfire on New Years, as well as a range a few mile down the only road in town....to the gravel pit :D

Very few accidents in proportion of almost 100% gun ownership in the villages.

Stealing dose not get far in a village, either, except gasoline, which unlike a gun, literally, disappears.
Im more likely to never see a gun again if I have loaned it out than to have dropped it on a snowgo trail or get it stolen. Someone will bring it back.
 
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Unfortunately I can't bring (or fit) a safe in my current apartment. So they stay in locked bags and cases.
And when I moved in, the lease specified firearms are forbidden. Yeah, I don't that would fly in a home, but I didn't want to make the test case from sleeping in my car. Any time I took them somewhere, I do so in the same backpack and case I take my bass and equipment in. If nothing else, i just don't want neighbors being nosy.
Thankfully I didn't see that line in the lease after the new management took over, but the habit of keeping them locked and hidden away in drawers, the filing cabinet, and the back corner of the closet behind everything else remains.
With someone home almost 24/7 they're unlikely to be stolen and with their placement, if the leasing office finds out I'll have some choice impolite words about just how someone came across them.
 
chicharrones said:
But, I'm a fictional person, so y'all shouldn't believe anything I've posted here.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but since you put up your picture... not feeling too smart now amigo?!

I have always loaded and unloaded my rig in the garage when going out shooting.
I don't think of it as paranoid.
It's just that since I am not selling guns to my neighbors, I see no need to advertise them.

Sniper66 said:
A friend of mine had his house burglarized and his guns stolen 2 weeks after his son showed them to some of his friends
Click to expand...

Sounds typical. Seems like I read where most burglaries are committed by someone who found out/was told about what he could expect to find.

I keep a metal coffee can 9/10s full of change and a wad of dollar bills on the floor by one of the safes.
Figure if it's a tweaker that is inside, here is cash money! And it takes two hands to carry out.
Just trying to get them out the door in a good (no vandalizing) mood.

If a pro or a gang of dedicated toughs decide to come after the substantial pile I have, I expect a gun in my face and
will probably get stuck having to help them load 'em out.

JT
 
I don't advertise that I own any guns nor do I talk about them with co-workers or neighbors. Everything gun related is out of sight such that you would have to spend lot of time just looking for clues as to where anything is. Trips to the range are loaded and unloaded in the garage. I also don't receive any catalogs and magazines that are gun and or hunting oriented.
 
If you’re my best friend, you’ll have the key to my house and the combination to my safes.

If you are my friend, you can see any gun I have.

If you’re a buddy you’ll see them when we shoot or hunt.

If you’re anyone on here, you’ll see pictures.

If I don’t know you, pray you don’t see them.
 
I've always kept my guns hidden and only a few know what I have. When I was younger I saw how a friend that bought a lot of firearms was burglarized and that inspired me to never let that happen to me. All you need is one wrong person to learn what you have.
 
I'm not a collector in any sense of the word -and only have the few weapons I need. Location, type, condition is not something I talk about with anyone - particularly not on a public forum. Although I comment from time to time on weapons and tactics you'll never see a single photo of any of these kind of things - it's just not the way I was taught.... I have stated publicly on more than one occasion that I've not carried a sidearm since I retired out from police work (23 years now and counting) and will acknowledge to anyone that if that's a mistake - I'll be the first one to find out about it....

I'd like to get through the rest of my life and never raise my hand to anyone ever again. If that's not possible I want it to be a real surprise for any opponent. The fact that my avatar photo is only a silhouette is not an accident at all.
 
Choose your friends wisely and there should’nt be any concern.

All my guns lest my CC are secured in a safe, it’s the best quality I could afford and meets my insurance requirements. The fact that they are secure and insured means that I have a significant (for me) investment in them but in the end they’re just things and I can replace things.
 
We operate a home based business which would be adversely impacted by such knowledge.

Only a few friends and family members know.
 
Sniper66 said:
... I think all of us are at least a little guarded, especially if the collection is substantial. I'm curious how you guys think about this issue. ...
Click to expand...
I am a private, security-conscious person who keeps doors locked, alarm-system on and a handgun within reach if not actually on my person.

I am the only person with knowledge of the extent of my Accumulation. A few of the members of my family are aware that I have a "gun collection" but I doubt that any of them have a clue as to the size/detail of the thing.

I have no friends, family or not, who share my reloading and collecting interests so the subject has never come up for me.
 
Some people know I have guns, but no details.
If someone asks me how many guns I have I say “a couple”. When they press for more info, depending on who they are and what their relationship is to me, I usually respond with “that’s really none of your business.” That pretty much ends the discussion.
 
I'm pretty open on this forum, I don't really post on other forums. In real world terms only two of my closest friends know just what I have. Once in a while I might post a pic on facebook at the range but I keep talk about and what there is secret for the most part. I talk about guns at work among co-workers sometimes but when asked what I have my reply is "a couple".

Regulars and range officers at the range get to see because they always go "oh you have one of those" lol.

I don't put any stickers on my car
 
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