Gun Safes... GET ONE!!

[Stomper]

Two weeks ago our house house broken into, DESPITE having a monitored alarm sytem with all the posted signs and window stickers. Our first line of security is a 100lbs. Labrador that has free range of our fenced-in property (he hates EVERYONE outside our family), and raises quite the ruckuss when people walk by our front property line... nothing gets by him (and I mean NOTHING), but we took him to the river that day, so some punk(s) must have clued into that and decided to hit our house... OBVIOUSLY it was someone who lives around here and knows our general "arrangement".

The tactic used by punks today is a lightning "smash & grab"... they breeze in (alram blaring or not), grab all they can and zoom out within minutes before the response of police happens. My kids got their handheld Nintendos stolen, a Sony PSP (handheld video gadget), a cell phone, and my wife's heirloom jewelry, and I lost a $40 watch. They went through our dressers and night stands (where I keep my PT145 Mill-Pro at night, but no worries, I had it with me that day in CC), but didn't trash the place in the process... then poof, they were gone mere minutes before the police arrived! :angry:

I ALWAYS store ALL my firearms and ammo in my gun safe when they are not within my DIRECT control... and this policy paid off BIG TIME!! I have a MANY, MANY "items" and a couple THOUSAND rounds of ammo, not to mention passports, credit cards, blank checks, Social Security cards, etc.... and the key point is, I STILL have them!!

Even if you have a monitored security system, DO NOT depend entirely on that to keep the bad guys away from your stuff, can you imagine all the hardware I just mentioned falling into that type of punks' hands... not to mention your own children getting into them??


Don't be foolish, it COULD happen to you... GET A GUN SAFE! (I'm glad I did)



*** EDITED out the weapons list on some good advice in this case!! ***

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[deadeye]

I have a 800lb cannon for most of mine and a couple more smaller ones for misc. and a 14 gun just for ammo. With the cost of ammo it is only a matter of time before they get the idea to start stealing it to get money.

 

[KENOC]

Good points. Personally, i am of the opinion it is better not to have posted signs. The signs tell them exactly how long they have to get in and out and they PLAN for that. Better to have no signs, and have then surprised once they get in and an alarm sounds. More likely the punks then turn tail and bail, as they had not planned on that. Two schools of that, but i prefer to play my cards close to my chest.

Two weeks ago our house house broken into, DESPITE having a monitored alarm sytem with all the posted signs and window stickers. Our first line of security is a 100lbs. Labrador that has free range of our fenced-in property (he hates EVERYONE outside our family), and raises quite the ruckuss when people walk by our front property line... nothing gets by him (and I mean NOTHING), but we took him to the river that day, so some punk(s) must have clued into that and decided to hit our house... OBVIOUSLY it was someone who lives around here and knows our general "arrangement".

The tactic used by punks today is a lightning "smash & grab"... they breeze in (alram blaring or not), grab all they can and zoom out within minutes before the response of police happens. My kids got their handheld Nintendos stolen, a Sony PSP (handheld video gadget), a cell phone, and my wife's heirloom jewelry, and I lost a $40 watch. They went through our dressers and night stands (where I keep my PT145 Mill-Pro at night, but no worries, I had it with me that day in CC), but didn't trash the place in the process... then poof, they were gone mere minutes before the police arrived! :angry:

I ALWAYS store ALL my firearms and ammo in my gun safe when they are not within my DIRECT control... and this policy paid off BIG TIME!! I have a 1911A1, a S&W .357 Highway Patrolman, a Beretta 92F (Italian made), an AR15A2, a M4gery, a Mini-14, a Mossberg 500, a Galil .308, a Winchester .30-30, a Remington .22 rifle, an old Belgium DBL shotgun (not worth much, but its an heirloom regardless), a few stripped AR lowers, a couple THOUSAND rounds of ammo, not to mention passports, credit cards, blank checks, Social Security cards, etc.... and the key point is, I STILL have them!!

Even if you have a monitored security system, DO NOT depend entirely on that to keep the bad guys away from your stuff, can you imagine all the hardware I just mentioned falling into that type of punks' hands... not to mention your own children getting into them??


Don't be foolish, it COULD happen to you... GET A GUN SAFE! (I'm glad I did)

 

[Stomper]

You know, that is a good point about the signs and window stickers... Hmmmm....

 

[Joe Link]

Glad to hear your guns and the majority of your valuables are still there

 

[Stomper]

Thanks, everything that I mentioned was about it in a nutshell of what was taken... I mean we have Flat screen TV's, DVD players, computers, X-boxes, scores of X-box video games stored on a shelf, etc... None of that was taken... PHEW!! The biggest victim was the wife as an heirloom necklace given to her by her mother, which was handed down from her grandmother was taken, and some other jewelry with powerful sentimental value... the bummer is, the creeps won't get much (if anything) for any of it, and they may have just as easily threw it into the bushes after they found that out... sigh.

 

[rudedog04]

its also a great idea to get one with a good fire rating

 

[Brandon44647]

My place was robbed a couple of years ago, thankfully before I had made any gun purchases. It's not an easy feeling knowing SOMEONE was in HERE ! Forget what they took. SOMEONE was in MY HOUSE & WENT THROUGH MY THINGS ! That feeling, (rage , anger) I don't think will ever go away.......

 

[JAFO]

It would probably be a good idea to take photos of all valuables also and keep them on a CD or DVD inside the safe (and/or with your insurance agent). Then if ever stolen it wouldn't hurt to print out hard copies to mail to all the pawn shops in your town and neighboring towns and gun shops if guns or gun accessories are taken.

Once I get a little more settled, and once I get a form 1 & 4 approved, I plan on mailing my brother some photos of things he should make sure to look for if ever I die and he has to sort through my 'estate' (and copies of the AFT tax stamped forms along with info on transferring them to himself in the event of my death).

 

[swoop]

Thanks, everything that I mentioned was about it in a nutshell of what was taken... I mean we have Flat screen TV's, DVD players, computers, X-boxes, scores of X-box video games stored on a shelf, etc... None of that was taken... PHEW!! The biggest victim was the wife as an heirloom necklace given to her by her mother, which was handed down from her grandmother was taken, and some other jewelry with powerful sentimental value... the bummer is, the creeps won't get much (if anything) for any of it, and they may have just as easily threw it into the bushes after they found that out... sigh.

You might want to check with a few pawn shops in the area about your wifes jewelry..hope you find the punks.

 

[moremo]

Costco has a great buy on line, it's either a 36" or 40" x 60" .

 

[littlecars]

I aggree, bot to add to that. If you buy a lightweight safe bolt it to the floor very good. A thief will know that everything inportant is in there(credit cards, passports, ss cards, birth cert.) if it is not bolted down good they will just steal the hole safe.

 

[Stomper]

You might want to check with a few pawn shops in the area about your wifes jewelry..hope you find the punks.

Yup, we did just that... we went as far down South as Salem, and up into Portland with photos... you never know somthing may turn up in a month (or six) from now.

I aggree, bot to add to that. If you buy a lightweight safe bolt it to the floor very good. A thief will know that everything inportant is in there(credit cards, passports, ss cards, birth cert.) if it is not bolted down good they will just steal the hole safe.

Yes, bolt down theose light weight safes!! Mine is pretty flippin' heavy just from the "hardware" and ammo I have in mine, and its walled in on 3 sides, but it is secured to the structure in several different places. :winkkiss:

 

[capdek]

Too bad you weren't home when they broke in - you could have at least ruffed them up a bit before calling the cops.
My wife and I had our house broken into once quite a few years ago. My wife also had all her jewelry stolen and most of it had incredible sentimental value to her as well. She normally keeps it in our safe, but she had taken the entire case out to clean some items and neglected to put the case back in the safe before we left for dinner. When we got home, it was all gone. She still beats herself up for making that mistake.
Brandon44647 pretty much nailed how we felt when our house was broken into. The feeling of having your personal privacy violated is the worst of it.
Anyway, I hope you get your stuff back and they catch the little bastards - although they probably won't get more than a slap on the wrist!
And - as you can imagine - I didn't use the word bubblegums!

 

[Stomper]

LOL... if I HAD been home we would have been wiping and mopping their grey-matter and internals from the walls and floors... then filling in any .45 holes that may have been in the walls. :shooting:


The pisser is, I'm SURE someone saw us loading 6 kids, a LARGE Labrador, and a Boston Terrier into our Suburban (not a small or quiet operation) out front of the house, waited a few minutes to make sure we weren't coming back for something at the last minute then did the deed... I mean we weren't gone for 25 mins. when the alarm company called our cell phone with the alert... THE STEENKIN' BUBBLEGUMS!!

 

[BigBull 301]

Stomper, I feel your pain.
We also got hit many years ago 3 months after my dad passed away. They took guns, stereos, tv's, cash and mom's jewels, all while my brother was next door at the neighbors for 15 minutes!! They got about $7,000 in stuff in 1972 dollars.
The only bright spot was they didn't get the good guns!
Never did catch them or get anything back.

 

[gunnails]

I kept my guns unsecured for many years, finaly got a clue and started watching Craigs List.

I am a poor boy with only 9 guns, so I wanted something small and cheap.

Finnaly scored on a 8 gun safe with combo lock, not a fire safe, but bolted to the wall I feel the guns are reasonably secure.

Paid $100 for a new used safe that retails at $400.

 

[Wenis]

I've been looking at gun safes recently and have found Liberty to be one of the better brands out there in regards to a fire-rated safe. I plan to buy a fairly large safe to keep important items as well as firearms inside. We are renting right now so bolting something down isn't really an option. Can anyone else recommend a quality safe company besides Liberty?

 

[tionico]

I aggree, bot to add to that. If you buy a lightweight safe bolt it to the floor very good. A thief will know that everything inportant is in there(credit cards, passports, ss cards, birth cert.) if it is not bolted down good they will just steal the hole safe.

a guy I know had a HUGE and heavy safe. (over ton and a half deadweight, empty).... not bolted to the floor, he figured it was secure enough due to its weight, and the difficulty of breaking in to his business' office. Gone one weekend, came back... safe and contents (his entire gun collection, plus other goodies) was gone. They'd used a stolen forklift and large truck to make off with it. Truck was found a couple days later, back end broken into, safe inside....... torched open, and all firearms removed. Now, had it been lagged to the concrete floor with hi-tensile fixings, he'd likely still have it.

 

[gunnails]

a guy I know had a HUGE and heavy safe. (over ton and a half deadweight, empty).... not bolted to the floor, he figured it was secure enough due to its weight, and the difficulty of breaking in to his business' office. Gone one weekend, came back... safe and contents (his entire gun collection, plus other goodies) was gone. They'd used a stolen forklift and large truck to make off with it. Truck was found a couple days later, back end broken into, safe inside....... torched open, and all firearms removed. Now, had it been lagged to the concrete floor with hi-tensile fixings, he'd likely still have it.

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Bolting your safes sounds like good advice. The thing is, is if someone wants your stuff bad enough,,,, that they bring a fork lift,, what you going to do.