Need help with gun storage solutions!!!

[softwaregurus]

Howdy y'all:

I have two guns, an XD-9 and Kimber. My pregnant wife is on my back about getting the guns locked up so our soon-to-be son can't play with them. Both guns are stored currently in the boxes they came in with a cheezy lock to keep them closed. They are stored in our "office" (bedroom) closet shelf about 6' high. Is there a better way to store the guns for safety??? Should I find a lock box to put the guns in??? Any recommendations for a safe or lockbox??? Since I got married, I'm not allowed to have a loaded gun in the house, so self-defense is not an issue here. Its funny, because my wife's father owned several guns while she was a kid in his house. Now, with being a mother I guess she's done an about face. She doesn't have an issue with me owning or buying guns, just as long as our son is not exposed to them. That sucks, but hey, I can live with that.

 

[crashresidue]

Congratulations!!!

First off, explain/show her just how much strength it takes to cycle a slide gun. Your son will be ten years old before he has the strength to do this. That's ten years to plan where/how you can store them. Being only semi-literate in newer hand guns, I'm assuming that those you own are both rails.

Personally, with just two, I'd buy one of those fire proof safes at WalMart or KMart. $50. If it's just for gun storage, I'd bolt the safe to the floor in the closet and call it good. Don't know about your closets, but mine ALWAYS have stuff piled in the bottom of them - hince - it's hidden.

Ammo too? I'd get one of the ammo boxes at the surplus store, load it with the ammo and put it up as high as you can reach in your carport/garage.

Gentle winds,
cr

 

[Jesse308]

Should I find a lock box to put the guns in??? Any recommendations for a safe or lockbox???

I would get a safe, they are more expensive than a lockbox but allow for a growing firearms collection. You can also store other important things in them like birth certificates, jewelry, etc.

First off, explain/show her just how much strength it takes to cycle a slide gun. Your son will be ten years old before he has the strength to do this. That's ten years to plan where/how you can store them.

My son was seven, when he learned how to rack a slide on a semi-auto.

 

[crashresidue]

Cheers Jesse308,

I stand corrected - my wife (a 32 year old southern farm girl at the time) had to call the motel manager when she found out that she couldn't fully cycle the slide of a Colt Combat Commander, 9mm, when we were on the road, I was off flying and she was checking in to a new motel. She didn't "like" driving with a loaded gun in the truck with her - she's learned better now!

Yea, a safe would be the best option - BUT - the fastest, cheapest way to placate the preggo wife is the lock box.

As far as your son goes - you BEST make a shooter out of him!!! He'll make a good one, and God knows, we need all of them we can get!

Twenty three years of putting up with my paranoia, plus some spectacular crimes of violence nearby (migrant helicopter worker - "we been everywhere - man") have made my wife almost as paranoid as I am about the general public.

Gentle winds,
cr

 

[hso]

http://www.buyasafe.com/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=149

 

[SLCDave]

It doesn't sound like you are as concerned with actual security as you are about appeasing your pregnant wife. Having had a pregnant wife recently, and understanding the need to apease the pregnant one, here's my advice:

You should be able to find a small Sentry safe at Walmart for $20 to $25. Drill some holes in the bottom, and bolt it to the shelf in your closet. Get some closed cell foam from the fabric/craft/camera store and cut it to fit the inside of the safe. Find a way to camo/hide it's presence, and you're done. You're not going to stop a determined theif, who will just knock the shelf off the wall, but it will keep small hands off, as long as you keep the keys away from them.

 

[pax]

First, if you can afford it, get a real safe. There are ways to secure a gun so kids can't get ahold of it, however, it really is best to have the guns secure from casual theft as well.

Second, get yourself a copy of Massad Ayoob's book Gun-Proof Your Children, read it, and then force it into your wife's hands. Start talking now about how you are going to educate your child(ren) about firearms safety. Plant the seeds now and let her get used to the idea as the kid grows.

Finally (and this should have been first) -- congratulations on the pregnancy, and welcome to the world of parenthood.

pax

The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them. -- Frank A. Clark

 

[Nitram68]

get a safe.

 

[bogie]

Yeah - I second gun-proofing the rugrat. Because, like it or not, she's not always gonna be within arm's reach of the critter.

 

[TooTaxed]

A gun safe is, of coure, the best solution. A lightweight model can be fastened to your closet wall studs and floor with lag screws. For an inexpensive fix for just a few guns, locate a stud in your closet corner and screw a 3/8" eye bolt in as far as it will go. Buy a 1/4" plastic-coated cable with eyes, pass it through the trigger guards, and fasten it to the eye bolt with a quality padlock. Ammo can be stored high, or in a locked box...Army surplus ammo cams are handy...you can get them up to 20 or 30-mm if you want large ones...and are convenient for securing pistols and ammo with padlocks.

 

[scout26]

1. Congrats !! You're now grounded for the next 18+ years.

2. If money is an issue, a cheap wallyworld safe now works. If money is a real issue, buy an ammo can or two, drill a couple of holes in the bottom and on one side of the hasp. Screw the thing to the floor or wall stud. Put a padlock ( I prefer a combination lock as kids can't accidently find the key) through the hole in the hasp and around the metal loop. Put guns/ammo in. It ain't the best but it'll keep the rugrat out until he/she is old enough for you to give them the combo. I keep my non-ready ammo in locked ammo cans. (I should really buy another safe/build a ammo storage locker.)

3. If money's available, buy the best safe you can. Something about putting a gun or two in dark place behind a locked door causes them to multiply (Mrs. Scout26: "I've never seen that one before, where'd that one come from ??" Scout26: "I don't know, they must be breeding in there !!!" )

4. What PAX said, only more so, you not only have to gun-proof your kids, but keep your guns out of the paws of the other anklebites that will soon be coming over to play.

 

[Sam Adams]

You can get a safe - an inexpensive, but effective against curious kids one - at most hardware stores for under $200. Do it. Also, get a push-button lock box for the Kimber, so that it is available very quickly to defend you, you wife and the little one if some goblin(s) attempt a home invasion/robbery.

As for your wife's rush:

1) She's pregnant. Ipso facto, 98% of what comes out of her mouth is irrational [Asbestos flame suit ON ]. It isn't her fault, it is the hormones that little Softwaregurus is forcing her to pump out - I'm sure that if any male were pregnant the same would happen (among other things, including exclusives with various tabloids, etc., but I digress).

2) Remind the Mrs. that you and she will be thrilled when the little one farts or smiles for about the next year or so; and that he/she won't even be able to walk for at least a year; and that he/she won't even know what a stepladder is, let alone how to use it, for at least another year or so after that. Since you currently have the guns at 6', this means that there's no rush...at least logically which, as I mentioned above, has little to do with your situation.

 

[benEzra]

For simple childproofing while retaining fairly quick access, Wal-Mart sells a fairly sturdy pistol lockbox for $19.95 that keylocks and can be bolted down to the headboard or a nightstand or something. Get a couple.

Get a safe when you can afford it, but the lockboxes will do for now.

 

[SkyDaver]

Congratulations on the little one ... I just shipped mine off to college last fall ;-)

Here are a couple of other options:
http://www.vlineind.com/html/home.html

I have something similar to this, a steel box with a lid that's locked with a simplex lock. I can fit three full size autos in there, if I'm at all neat.

Also, www.mogulsecurity.com, the Life-Jacket product. Completely envelops the action. They have them in hard plastic, or steel.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

I think the others have covered options very well.

In order to try to pry here mind open some I would pull up the registered sex offenders in your zip code and print it out for her. Many of them will be child molesters, that might help to change her view of having a weapon around some.

I only have 10 in my zip code, 2 in walking distance. Other guys at work had 40+.

Makes one think.

 

[sturmruger]

I just spent $600 on a really nice 6 ft tall safe. It makes me feel so much better to have all my guns locked up.

 

[Richardson]

I think Sam Adams hit some critical points. Some sort of safe will/should become a priority. But unless your kid is Clark Kent or Tarzan, he won't be climbing things for months, or racking slides for years.

- Get agreement to train him/her from youth to never touch guns. That means they need exposure (to unloaded guns) & correction. Assure your wife that your concern is more for guns he/she might come across at a friends house, since yours will not be available to him/her when they get old enough to snoop around.
- If you have to get something NOW but the cash for a premium safe isn't available, get something cheap.
- Buying a good "quick access" safe is something that will serve you well, and might suffice for now. Store the other firearms where no child under 8 could get to them until you can afford a real safe.

Richardson