What are the advantages/disadvantages of various types of non-safe type firearm locks

[GuyWithQuestions]

I usually keep my firearms chambered most of the time inside my off-campus student housing apartment, but they're either on me or hidden in my room somewhere where hopefully my roommates will not find (my current room mates don't know I have firearms, only the dart-firing air taser which is not a firearm). I own both cable locks and trigger locks. I've heard both bad and good for both of them. I've heard that trigger locks are bad because you can still load and chamber a firearm when the lock's in place, which it shouldn't be chambered if you truly aren't wanting it to be in use, but the advantage is that they're more difficult to smash off with a blunt object like a cable lock is. Cable locks are good in they don't let you load and chamber the firearm, but that it takes less seconds to smash it off and usually you can just set the locking part on a flat surface and hit it with a hammer. What type of locks, that are not gun safes, are good for locking/disabling firearms that are not in use? I was reading from this one lawyer in California, or some guy who was claiming to have a high IQ, who said that firearm locks are bad in the same way that child proof medicine bottles are bad. He said that child proof medicine bottles give parents a false sense of security and so the likelihood that a kid gets into it is greater because the parents are then more careless because they think "child proof" makes the medicine bottle safer. He said that the same applies for locking up firearms and that we should fight laws requiring that some sort of lock be sold with firearms. I read that and thought to myself, "That's nice, but sometimes I'm going to want to lock up my firearms even if I rarely if ever lock up my firearms." I know that the amount of people who die from firearm accidents is much less than drowning and less than firearm homicides http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds_dying.jpg , so I'm more afraid of not having them cocked and unlocked when I need them than some accident happening. However, I realize that some times they'll need to be locked up. What are the advantages/disadvantages of the various types of firearm locks out there that aren’t gun safes?

 

[conw]

Honestly, from my perspective, if you HAVE to lock it up get a gun-safe. Otherwise--and I'm not qualified to rate merits and cons of the two types of locks--you're not preventing anyone from taking and, probably, using your firearm sooner or later. I think as far as the specifics it'd have to be a question of why you have to lock it up.

Obviously if a kid is around you are gonna want to be extra precautious to avoid tragedy and legal problems. If it is a criminal/theft thing, you want to be extra precautious to avoid theft and possible legal problems (depending on laws etc). If it's a jackass roommate thing, you should be ok with the cable or trigger lock, since you aren't liable (unless they're a minor or under 16 or whatever) for their stupidity. If it's a jackass thieving roommate, get a new roommate and see the second point as well.

Good luck.

 

[Treo]

Depending on how many guns you have you could get a handgun safe from Wal-Mart for like twenty bucks. They hold like 3 guns If you don't trust your room mate to know you have guns..... twenty bucks seems like pretty cheap insurance to me.

 

[GuyWithQuestions]

The reason why I don't tell all my room mates that I have guns isn't that I think they'd take them, but because you never know if someone will panic. I had a past room mate who told me and another room mate that he really thought that we should go ask the apartment manager before storing any firearms in our apartment. I told him that I wasn't going to and "Legally you can have guns at your place of residence, and nothing in the contract says you can't have guns. What if the apartment manager says no guns?" My room mate was like, "That's the point!" I just figure that even though I don't think my current room mates would steal them if they found them, it might be good to lock up my firearms on certain occasions, or when I have to leave one in my car.

 

[jpsimms]

no lock will stop a determined thief, but most will work as a deterrant for the generally honest. when I uses one or the other, it's the cable lock. I have only had to once, when I stayed at a friend's house, he had kids. the reasons I use the cable lock are they fit almost any type of gun, and the local PD gives them to me for free, as many as you want, with no info required. check in your area, it may be free.
but best option for a roommate is out of sight, out of mind. just keep them put away.
hope this helped

 

[Deanimator]

1. Trigger locks are dangerous. When I took the NRA Handgun Instructor's course, the instructor demonstrated just how easy it was to fire a semi-auto pistol with a trigger lock installed. They're a scam. Don't be fooled.

2. Other types of locks can work, but again, anything which allows an unauthorized person complete access to the firearm can be defeated sooner rather than later.

3. A pair of handcuffs can be used to secure either a semi-auto or a revolver. See the latest edition of "Combat Handgunnery", edited by Massad Ayoob. The caveat in 2 applies.

You're almost always better off with even a one gun security container of some kind, bolted or tethered so that it can't easily be removed. Out of sight, out of mind. If you're afraid that somebody might be tempted to do something stupid, why present them with the temptation in the first place?

 

[GuyWithQuestions]

1. Trigger locks are dangerous. When I took the NRA Handgun Instructor's course, the instructor demonstrated just how easy it was to fire a semi-auto pistol with a trigger lock installed. They're a scam. Don't be fooled.

Another thing that I'm worried about with a trigger lock is that it requires you to touch the trigger, which is against the rules unless you're ready to actually pull the trigger. Since you can load and cock a firearm with a trigger lock on it and when taking it off you can put all this pressure on the trigger, it seems like it may be an accident waiting to happen. I know a lot of Democrats are trying to pass laws requiring that a firearm needs to have a trigger lock on it at all times because they don't want accidents to happen

I'm planning on getting a really good firearm safe eventually, one that bolts into the wall with a combination with an indicator when the batteries are getting low with a key just in the rare time that it was to loose all power, something better than the fire safes. I still will keep a chambered firearm on me at all times so that I won't loose seconds when I really need one. I was curious about other locks in the meantime? I was also curious about what are the better locks, besides safes, just to expand my firearm knowledge? Deanimator said that handcuffs are an option, that could be something I may look at. Although, hopefully if I get pulled over by a police officer, he doesn't accuse me of having a rape kit if he finds the handcuffs. I heard of that happening to someone once, although that guy really was a rapist and went to jail once the officer found out who he was.

 

[mekender]

first, get different roommates... if you cant trust them around your property, you cant trust them with anything... second, a cable lock can be cut in seconds... and most trigger locks can be smashed off with one quick hit against some concrete... save up some cash and get a gunvault or something like that

 

[GuyWithQuestions]

It wouldn't matter what room mates I had, there are times that it would be a good idea to lock up your firearms. It wouldn't matter if I was married and it was my wife, every single person in the world would have times that would make you want to lock them up. There's nothing wrong with my room mates in particular. The issue is that they're human beings. In my concealed firearms permits class, they said that for safety reasons it's recommended to lock up your firearms at times. I hope that makes sense where I'm coming from on this. It's not room mates in particular, but human beings who may discover a firearm and may be curious, even if they have no bad intentions. When I was a young kid, I would go looking for my dad's firearms and ammunition when he was at work, and explore

 

[Ready2Defend]

A gunvault screwed into the wall in your closet can keep a firearm reasonably secure, accessible and hidden if clothes are hung infront of it. Holes in a rental apartment wall? fill holes with spackling when you move out.

On trigger locks: I have used them in the past. If the trigger is of the configuration to put the post of the trigger lock BEHIND the trigger then IMO it is a reasonable option. My HK45 compact can accomidate the post of a trigger lock behind the trigger and effectivly keep the gun from being fired. But on my 1911's it wouldn't work. The post would be infront of the trigger and could be used to press the trigger to fire the gun.

 

[Titan6]

Guy, if you are living in a common living area with other people you have a big problem. If your room is not locked when you are not in it you need to store your guns in a pistol safe. Even so your roomates might easily gain access to your room unless you have a good exterior stlye lock on your door.

Because guess what? Your roomates already know you have them. They either found them already or caught you with them and they did not know how to react and so kept quiet about it. You will find out either years later when they tell you or when one of them who is unfamilar with firearms takes one to play a joke on someone else in your dorm and plugs someone in the chest (or some equally bad ending).

So put them in an easy access safe and you reduce the risk of theft and tragedy.

 

[GuyWithQuestions]

What types of safes are good?

I was looking at Wal-Mart for safes. They said that they don't sell handgun safes because they don't make any money off of them (they also said that they don't sell handguns because it's not a Wal-Mart policy but a state of Utah policy because you need a permit to sell handguns, which I know many stores sell handguns so you can't blame it on Utah but Wal-Mart themselves). I then went to the regular safes section of the store. They had fire safes that would fit a handgun for $12, and one with a digital combination lock for $24. The only disadvantage I saw was that they didn't have mounting devices on them to mount to an object. I was worried about using one of those when leaving my handgun in a vehicle when going into a place I can't take it in. If someone were to break into my car and see a safe that's loose, they'd think, "OOh, there must be something valuable in there!" and then take it with them and figure a way to break into it later (which it wouldn't matter if they got into the safe or not because it would have already been taken from me and not returned). I was looking at the book safe as an option, because they may not recognize it as a safe and a lot of criminals probably don't care for dictionaries, but they don't look heavy duty, which means someone could break in easier if they did figure it out that it was a safe. What type of security would be good for a firearm in something like a car? Are there specific types of safes that are good for cars, that attach themselves quite well? I usually just use my cable lock to fasten the firearm down the action to a metal rod under the seat, just like you lock up a bicycle to a bike rack. However, we already discussed how cable locks aren't that great.