Home defense, gun storage and placement

[Palladan44]

I know there is no better substitute than carrying on your person. But I don't sleep with my EDC, nor shower with it....among other things. When a firearm isn't on my person or in a case being transported in my possession, it's locked up in a deep, dark vault in the basement. There are no exceptions to this rule for now.

The days of storing shotguns behind dressers, handguns in night stand drawers or ARs on closet shelves are long, long gone for me. I have small Children. Their abilities to fully understand firearm safety won't be for another few years at least, but we do educate them as much as they're able to understand at this point. Nuff said.....

What I'm looking for is the ability to have at least one handgun, and one long gun on each floor of the house (2 story)
My criteria for securement must be the following-

1)Must be able to keep Children, guests, and others from accessing them. This basically means it cannot be opened by hand. I'm not interested in any suggestions of "really good" or "crafty" hiding spots. This will not fly for me. No hiding spot is good enough, Children are extremely crafty.

2) Must be fairly quick to open. Entering a 4 digit combo on an electric pad Is the most I'd like to to gain access.

3) If a burglar with a crowbar can break into these "cabinets" in under one minute per youtube video...... I could care less. You can't have quick, easy access, portable, micro, with bank-vault style security in the same package, that much I get. Any break in will hopefully trip our security system if we're not home anyways. My biggest regret if that happened wouldn't be losing whatever firearm it was, but what could happen with that firearm in possession of a Criminal.

Any suggestions? There are dozens of options out there on quick-access gun cabinets, from long guns, to handguns..... I have no clue what is the difference between them, or what's good or what's junk.....

 

[gunmechanic]

Thanx for starting the thread on the topic. I need the same thing i do not know what to buy so i hope we get some suggestions !I have several safes in my lower level gun room but want an easy access in my room for a few rifles and hand guns with quick access my closet a small easy access safe x4 gun or something.

 

[Kawamax]

I prefer a lockbox with a simplex lock. No batteries to fail, and no biometrics to get confused. I have a box similar to this lagged into a stud:

https://www.deansafe.com/collections/handgun-safes/products/amg-ps1210ez

Edit: I have the heavier duty one: https://www.deansafe.com/collections/handgun-safes/products/amsec-ps1210hd-pistol-safe

FAS1 is also supposed to make good stuff.

http://www.fas1safe.com/

I think that the better ones of these when lagged to a stud will withstand a screwdriver for a long time. Not so much with a longer pry bar or heavier hammer. Note that with a simplex lock it isn’t just hitting the buttons in some order - you can require simultaneous button presses or skip buttons. You choose whatever pattern you want…

 

[tws3b2]

I keep 1 handgun next to the bed and 1 long gun in the closet. I'm not going to carry a gun on me 24hr day and not going to worry about having one within reach at all times. I'm 75 years old and have never needed one. Yeah, Yeah I've heard all the potential reasons. But, I just don't feel the need to worry that 16 bad guys are going to break in to steal my piggy bank or my goody powders.
I do carry but only when traveling.
All my kids are grown and gone. Any kids. Grandkids, Great Grandkids, Your kids. Any kids come into my home all guns go to locked metal gun cabinet. Simple single key. My guns, your guns all guns. No carrying of guns in my home while kids are around. Lock it up, leave it in the car or take it down the road. No exceptions.
All it takes is one little mistake. I've never known anyone too good to make one little mistake. Not in my home.

 

[herrwalther]

I know exactly how you feel. My son is 9. And for most kids that is old enough to understand only touch a firearm when an adult is around to make it safe, show you etc. But, my son has severe autism. And doesn't understand such procedures of start with don't touch, ask, make safe, then be shown.

I keep my EDC firearms (I switch between a pocket sized and double stack 9mm) in a Simplex locked bedside safe. I have had bad luck with electronic ones failing and trapping firearms inside. Then I have had to role play burglar to get my own guns out. I keep an AR pistol on the top back edge of a 5 foot tall antique dresser. It will take quite a few more years before my son is tall enough to even see this weapon so I can consider better options than this in the mean time. A criminal will see it easily though.

I really like Shotlock products for a single shotgun/AR carbine setup. But have not bought one yet. They fit all my personal criteria for reliable but quick access. Mechanical lock but key backup. They make pistol safes too but I prefer Fort Knox for that role. YMMV

Shotlock stuff: https://www.shotlock.com/shop
Fort Knox pistol box at good price: https://www.gunsafes.com/Fort-Knox-PB1-Original-Pistol-Safe.html

 

[Palladan44]

I'm 75 years old and have never needed one.

That's really good news, but I'm not one to use the past as a forecast for the future.

 

[Chuck R.]

I use a combination of 3 V-Line's with simplex locks (mechanical button) set to the same combination:

1. Nightstand Pistol, with laser/light, spare mag and handheld light:


2. AR15 under the bed with spare mag:


3. In the hallway closet for my CCW pistol

 

[rabid wombat]

Similar conversation here https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/biometric-pistol-safe.915286/#post-12532724

 

[Zebraranger]

I've always stored my guns in a safe, but when you're in bed asleep in the middle of the night, that is when you are most vulnerable. So I've always kept a handgun in reach when sleeping. Back in the 80's when my daughter was 8 years old and younger, I use to keep a handgun in one of those macramé plastic/silk hanging plants that I hung in one corner of the bedroom (about 3 or 4' from my side of the bed), a setup similar to the one in the middle pic.

I hung it high enough to the ceiling so that she couldn't reach it even standing in a chair, but I was still able to reach up, lift the plastic plant and retrieve the gun. Now that we dont have children in the house, I have a short barreled shotgun and a couple of handguns strategically staged around the house. If the grandchildren come over, or if we leave the house, they get rounded up and are placed back into the safe.

 

[FAS1]

When I am at home I always pocket carry a P3AT so I have never been one to have a need for multiple guns either secured or stashed around my home. Where I do feel vulnerable is when sleeping, so I have one of my handgun safes bolted to my bed frame for easy access in the middle of the night if needed. I keep a shotgun and rifle chambered as well, but they are in my safe that's pretty easy to get to at night and that would be the direction my wife would head in an emergency while calling 911.

 

[Navy87Guy]

I'm with @Chuck R. - I have two V-Line pull out safes. They easily fit my HD guns (a Sig P220 and an HK 45) and spare magazine. With the simplex lock I can access them in the dark in less than 2 seconds. I have a rechargeable motion-activated light inside my nightstand safe to improve access. (If they've made it into my bedroom and I'm just reacting, it's too late. If not, then the light helps.) I like not having to rely on batteries for anything. I have mine mounted underneath shelves, so I need horizontal slide out.

 

[Switup]

Mine is simply lying flat on its side on the highest shelf in a bedroom cabinet. Unless an intruder is 7 feet tall and can see it, they likely wouldn't look there for anything valuable. It's out of reach of small hands and unless you know it's there it's completely hidden.

It's not my most valuable weapon and I guess if it did get swiped, at least we weren't in the house when it fell into the wrong hands. It's just stuff in the grand scheme.

 

[berettaprofessor]

It will take quite a few more years before my son is tall enough to even see this weapon so I can consider better options than this in the mean time.

Kids climb like monkeys. And are intelligent enough monkeys to go get chairs and stepstools. Not a spot in my parent's house I hadn't seen by the time I was 7 and I assure you I wasn't 5 feet tall.

 

[The Night Rider]

Mine is simply lying flat on its side on the highest shelf in a bedroom cabinet. Unless an intruder is 7 feet tall and can see it, they likely wouldn't look there for anything valuable. It's out of reach of small hands and unless you know it's there it's completely hidden.

It's not my most valuable weapon and I guess if it did get swiped, at least we weren't in the house when it fell into the wrong hands. It's just stuff in the grand scheme.

I wonder if the person that gets robbed or killed with it will think it's just stuff in the Grand Scheme.

 

[The Night Rider]

There really is not any excuse to leave unsecured firearm anywhere in your home.

Speaking as a former Child myself I found every hiding place in my mother's home by the time I was 12.

I've only ever committed one burglary in my life. But just reading accounts of burglaries here tells me that if a burger gets into your house he's going to tear everything apart and if you have a gun hidden in that house he will find it.

Lock your guns up.

Okay, I'm done. Hate away

 

[74man]

I don't have any little ones or any grandchildren which are younger than 14, the youngest , so my guns are not locked up but I do this to them. In my Revolvers, the first two rounds are blanks, then hollow points. If I catch a burgler and he has the revolver in his hands, I know the first two are blanks, at least I hope so. In my Auto-loader handguns my first four are blanks. I know this but anyone who in not familiar with guns won't kill anything if they pull the trigger. Any one with little ones should load their guns the same way, if a little one gets a hold of the gun and pulls the trigger and the gun goes bang, they drop it and run, NO HARM, NO FOUL, we hope. Better than live rounds loaded all the way.

 

[westernrover]

I would go for the boxes with the Simplex locks as recommended. The Amsec ones are good, and also Fort Knox. V-line are similar. The locks are made by the same vendor in Mexico, so the difference is the box design and construction. Study the gauge of the steel plate, the welding, and the size, shape, and style of door to find the one you prefer.

Personally, I bought a Barska for my bedside with the biometric lock. I had a reason to prefer biometric at the time. I haven't had any issues with it at all using it every day, several times a day for 5 years.

Don't get a key lock for the bedside or for everyday access. Key locks are cheap and sufficient to secure items from children but the key has to be stored securely, not just hidden.

 

[Charlie98]

I have small Children.

My wife considers me a 'small child' sometimes...

Humor aside... I have my AR stacked against the wall corner, by the bed. I have (at night) my carry piece on the bedside, my B/U piece in the night stand drawer, another B/U piece in the desk drawer. My daughter is older, so I don't have to worry about tiny hands, anymore. I don't worry about a burglar... if they break into the house, they are going to get what they get. My thought is... if they grab one or two pieces, they will call it a day and run off, and leave my safe alone. I can replace a $400 AR, I can't replace many of the firearms in my safe.

Some years ago, we went to a safe distributor down in Irving, to pick up a document safe for the inlaws. The guy let me roam around the warehouse... what I saw made my eyes bug out: breached safes everywhere. He told me most safes can be breached in less than 15 minutes with common power tools, and what I saw validated this. This is likely with an 'RSC' or residential security container.... a new term for me that I had to look up, some commercial safes are beyond that, of course.

 

[Roc_my_tims]

Following for ideas

 

[RJTravel]

I would not want a loaded revolver around the house - just one careless moment coupled with a 3 yr old can be tragic. What about a small 3at or LCP with an empty chamber? I don't think any child could cycle that very stiff slide.

 

[Palladan44]

I would not want a loaded revolver around the house - just one careless moment coupled with a 3 yr old can be tragic. What about a small 3at or LCP with an empty chamber? I don't think any child could cycle that very stiff slide.

Not a substitute for keeping the firearm "out of the reach" of children in any way shape or form. But, knowing they don't have the strength to manipulate the firearm into battery could be a comforting thought, on top of being locked up.

 

[21H40]

When our kids were smaller and money was much harder to come by, I used 3/8" eye-bolts lagged into the studs in the apartment closet, steel aircraft cable and bike locks to secure the non-CCW weapons. That avoided losing the deposit, and meant that I didn't need to commit too much money towards the solution. The robberies I was aware of at that time tended to use a pry bar of some sort to get the door open, and I was hoping that this set up would cause enough delay that the guns might get left behind. Primarily the guns were locked because of kids, but the mild theft resistance was a beneficial side effect.

The CCW stayed on me until bed time for the most part, though there were times it got locked up so we could play games involving rolling on the ground.

 

[guyfromohio]

All of mine are in MiniVaults….bedside and throughout the house. My carry gun sleeps in one as well in my dressing area. Teach your children….make them comfortable and knowledgeable about guns….show them how to be marksmen…but never trust their brain to make good decisions all the time. There are no second chances. Stay the course.

 

[Nuke8401]

I've been using a Vaultek Lifepod 2.0 for about a year. I'm happy with it and it provides the level of security I think you want. It has a cable that I keep locked to the table when in the Livingroom. The size is just right as I can put it in a backpack or briefcase if needed. I currently only have one and I leave it in the Livingroom most of the day and move it to the bedroom at night. Key safety, I keep the Lifepod backup key in my main safe and the main safe keys 1) one in the Lifepod and one in a combination locked document safe. If the battery dies in the Lifepod you can power it up with a external USB cable to open it and replace the battery. https://vaulteksafe.com/lifepod-20/

 

[Armored farmer]

I have a 45acp 1911 with a 10rd chip Mccormick mag, spare mags in a locked pistol vault in my bedside drawer.

Under the bed is a Hornady long gun vault with spring loaded door. Inside is my HD 870 and a HD rifle.

We have a makeshift "safe room" under the staircase. It has a decent lockable door, a wall safe with two .357 revolvers, and my primary HD rifle with accessories and spare ammo.