Gun safe or gun? Need devils and angels with some input.

[Phillyfan]

OK, so I have about $900 and am currently lacking in handguns bigger than 9mm.

Also, I have a "collection" of around 12 guns. 3 pistols and the rest long (some collectors (pre '67 Win 30/30's NIB), some old military surplus (AK, Mosin, etc,), couple nice .22's, and my baby (custom WWII 98k sporterized .270 Winchester)). Oh, and a 12ga pump, can't do without that even though I have shot it once in ten years. Great guns, and I love them all, but realistically they are only worth a lot to me.

Of the pistols one is home defense and stays in the bedroom, one is my ccw, and the other is my range gun. Nothing collectable or particularly valuable. Most expensive one would be around a thousand.

Currently all but the ccw and home defense are kept in a cabinet in my garage that has a lock on it.

Last piece of the equation, kids. One 4, the other 7. Both have been to the range with me, watch me clean the guns, and know never to touch when I am not around. That being said they are kids.

I'd like to get a .45acp and a Rowland .460 conversion, but then there is a part of me that thinks maybe I should look at securing what I have. The cabinet has no special slots for rifles I just put towels between them so they don't scratch each other.

Need some points from both sides to help me with this battle going on in my head.

A safe is like new brakes, muffler, battery, or oil in your car. You pay money and your car doesn't run any better than it did before. Then again, if we got robbed, or the kids hurt themselves/each other/someone with one of my guns, it would be just as if my wife and them had gotten into an accident in a car that I knew the brakes were bad in.

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[cpy911]

Get a "Safe" (Residential Security Cabinet) to keep your collection in. Maybe something <$500?? Avoid Stack-on and Sentry (not necessarily bad, but maybe you could find better value for the money). Liberty has a low end safe called Centurion that is made in USA and as similar priced to the Sentry's but constructed better IMHO. For a little more money, you could run to Costco and get one of these. There are many, many options and opinions on these things. People say spend >$1000 minimum and some say no. It is a tough call. But, I suggest you get into some sort of better security and storage solution than what you have now.

 

[deen_ad]

I bought a safe, then added to my collection, now I need a bigger safe!

 

[kumabear17]

Buy the safe. I started my kids shooting when one was 5 and his brother 8. We shot pretty mouch every other week until they were teenagers. Then it was still once a month. All the guns, except what I carried on me, were always locked in the safe. There was an exception. I had a muzzelloader out to clean after shooting. My boys knew kids who knew we had just been shooing. These kids picked that day when we were gone for 30 minutes to break in. The muzzleloader was gone. The house was alarmed the next week.

As for kids, when mine reached 30, they finally admited they knew where Mom kept her safe key. All through their teenage years they would check out what was in the safe. Made me feel stupid I didn't realize it, but good they knew how to handle the guns and they kept that secrete from their friends. Don't think your children won't be curious or be surprised at what they do.

 

[fishorgolf]

Safe, with out question, but buy the biggest one you can , bigger than $900 will buy. You know what the right thing is you will not reget it, lighted is nice and a humidifier is even better.

 

[deen_ad]

Buy the safe. I started my kids shooting when one was 5 and his brother 8. We shot pretty mouch every other week until they were teenagers. Then it was still once a month. All the guns, except what I carried on me, were always locked in the safe. There was an exception. I had a muzzelloader out to clean after shooting. My boys knew kids who knew we had just been shooing. These kids picked that day when we were gone for 30 minutes to break in. The muzzleloader was gone. The house was alarmed the next week.

As for kids, when mine reached 30, they finally admited they knew where Mom kept her safe key. All through their teenage years they would check out what was in the safe. Made me feel stupid I didn't realize it, but good they knew how to handle the guns and they kept that secrete from their friends. Don't think your children won't be curious or be surprised at what they do.

Safe with combination, only I know it, plus it's in a locked room and I have the only key with me at all times.

 

[3MTA3]

Except for the kids, I'd say buy the gun, tape targets with tight groupings on your doors and draw a couple of chalk outlines in your driveway (have fun and make sure one includes a TV set in the outline). Since you have kids, get the safe, use it religiously, teach your kids proper gun handling protocols/respect, and sleep better at night.

 

[RKBA]

Buy the safe and get the largest one you can afford. You'll have plenty of time to fill it up and you'll find other things that "need" to go in there once you have it. It only takes a few minutes for some tweaker to break in and steal your hard earned collection without one

RKBA

 

[Rotty]

Buy the safe. It is cheap insurance.

 

[Phillyfan]

Buy the safe. I started my kids shooting when one was 5 and his brother 8. We shot pretty mouch every other week until they were teenagers. Then it was still once a month. All the guns, except what I carried on me, were always locked in the safe. There was an exception. I had a muzzelloader out to clean after shooting. My boys knew kids who knew we had just been shooing. These kids picked that day when we were gone for 30 minutes to break in. The muzzleloader was gone. The house was alarmed the next week.

As for kids, when mine reached 30, they finally admited they knew where Mom kept her safe key. All through their teenage years they would check out what was in the safe. Made me feel stupid I didn't realize it, but good they knew how to handle the guns and they kept that secrete from their friends. Don't think your children won't be curious or be surprised at what they do.

Absolutely right. I know I knew a hell of a lot more than my parents thought I did. Like where the guns were, and I did sneak them out to look at them from time to time. Had a friend in Alaska who killed his sister on accident doing that.

 

[Ralgha]

I think the kid angle is already taken care of. Your locked cabinet will keep them out provided they don't have access to the key/combo.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus that ate your iPhone.

 

[Stomper]

GET THE SAFE!! (yes, I'm shouting)

BTW- I'm no angel, certainly not a devil.... more like a hellhound.

 

[Phillyfan]

OK, OK. I was secretly hoping you guys would talk me out of what I knew was right. You know, when I was a kid growing up in Alaska everyone's house had a beautiful gun cabinet. At get togethers me and my friends would always go to it and see what each others parents had. Some locked, some didn't, but it we never even toyed with the idea of touching the handle of the door to one of them because we knew what would happen to us if we got caught.

Such beautiful Weatherby's, and Winchesters. My favorite back then was always the Marlins. They just looked sleeker than the others. We'd point to each one and the kid of the house would list what animals had been taken with that particular rifle, because to us back then that defined it. Those rifles were like swords of a knight to us. We would sneek to the top of the stairs from the basement and listen to the hunting stories being told around the fireplace.

Sorry, went off on a memory there. Point was that you used to be able to display your firearms, and now you have to hide them away. Very sad.

 

[Misterbill]

It depends on the kids, how well you've trained them and how careful you are about keeping guns locked up in the cabinet.

Most boys, if they have access to the guns whenever you're around and get to go to the range fairly regularly are not going to get into them. In my experience though, there are some boys I wouldn't trust even if I had a $5000 safe.

Only you can really answer the question you pose. If your kids are the type to break into a locked cabinet, then you have your answer. But a lot of the "safe" mentality is, I think, a substitute for good parenting.

For a while when my daughter was young, (single parent) I didn't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of. Even $75 for a lockable cabinet was WAY out of my budget. She knew that she could look at, handle, clean the guns whenever she wanted to, she just had to ask. She could go shooting whenever we had spare money for practice ammo and wanted to go.

We didn't have locks, we had trust.

 

[Phillyfan]

It depends on the kids, how well you've trained them and how careful you are about keeping guns locked up in the cabinet.

Most boys, if they have access to the guns whenever you're around and get to go to the range fairly regularly are not going to get into them. In my experience though, there are some boys I wouldn't trust even if I had a $5000 safe.

Only you can really answer the question you pose. If your kids are the type to break into a locked cabinet, then you have your answer. But a lot of the "safe" mentality is, I think, a substitute for good parenting.

For a while when my daughter was young, (single parent) I didn't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of. Even $75 for a lockable cabinet was WAY out of my budget. She knew that she could look at, handle, clean the guns whenever she wanted to, she just had to ask. She could go shooting whenever we had spare money for practice ammo and wanted to go.

We didn't have locks, we had trust.

That's great, and you are totally right about having to guage the particular kids involved. And that actually brings up another point. As much confidence as I may have in my own kids, I don't know how their friends have been raised. I would like to think as they get older that more of their friends will be around the house, and I guess it is my responsibility to make sure that they don't hurt themselves. They may not have been taught about gun safety, because guns are tabu in their home. That is truly curiosity that can kill.

 

[Ironbar]

Another vote for buying a safe.

 

[blankman32k]

I saw a cool one recently. Snap safe. It comes in pieces and assembles where ever you want it. I would like to get my safe into my bedroom closet, but it is too big.

 

[bsolo]

Of course a safe, tax free too.. Even a cheapo(stack-on, etc), but seems you start with what you think is a large safe, and all the sudden you have to start storing firearm accessories outside of it.. in my county you have a 1% chance of being robbed.. a little too high not to lock things down..

 

[Misterbill]

That's great, and you are totally right about having to guage the particular kids involved. And that actually brings up another point. As much confidence as I may have in my own kids, I don't know how their friends have been raised. I would like to think as they get older that more of their friends will be around the house, and I guess it is my responsibility to make sure that they don't hurt themselves. They may not have been taught about gun safety, because guns are tabu in their home. That is truly curiosity that can kill.

I agree. My daughter was not allowed to have friends over unless I was
A: home
and
B: Paying attention to where they were.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for locking up your guns if you have kids. It's a hedge against 30 seconds of childish stupidity that could turn tragic.

But until pretty recently (the last 50 years) virtually NO ONE locked up their guns and relatively few kids shot themselves. That's not an argument against gun safes by any means. It's just an observation that some of the "of course" reaction to this question is based in reflex and not necessarily on need in all cases.

You already have them under lock and key. That's a good and wise thing.

Adding a harder to break into security element is something *I* wouldn't feel the need to do with the kid I had. (She is grown up and married).

Your kids, your option. And you know them well enough to be the best judge. Like I said, some kids are just Hellions regardless of parenting and I wouldn't have anything less than a multi-thousand dollar safe between them and guns.

 

[jim97701]

Ditto on safe or at the very least a locking security cabinet. The peace of mind that comes with knowing that you are doing the best you can do to keep your guns secure and safe is worth it. I bought one within a week of buying my 1st handgun and was very suprised at how fast I filled it up and added an additional. Just my .02 worth