Storage of guns for defense in the home

[Breck Schneider]

We had a good thread on this topic

http://www.downrange.tv/forum/index.php?topic=7060.0

Thanks. I'll read that.

[fightingquaker13]

This is a problem I have been wrestling with for a while now I and I guess I am not smart enough to figure it out yet . I use gunvaults for my handguns, two firearms upstairs and two down. But I have not figured out something for long guns.

 We have a hope chest in our bedroom that is just the right size for my Stoegar side by side that I use in CAS. However since we have youngins come to our house regularly I am little leary about having it there. The kids are from a home that has no guns and the parents think that guns are bad so educating them is not really an option even though it would solve the problem.

 One friend did come up with an interesting solution however. He got some wall lockers from a school when they fixed it up and after a fresh coat of paint they went into his basement workout room/laundry room. A civilian legal M4 fits in there perfectly. He keeps the rifle in there with acouple of magazines ready to go. His living room in his basement as well so the family does spend a lot of time down there and now they have easy access to a long gun. Little kids are forbidden to go into a laundry room and what child wants to do laundry anyway? Yet the weapon is easy to get to in case something does go wrong.

The kids issue is huge. Much like DWI, the pendulum has swung too far. First it was ignoring or excusing drunk drivers, now its crucifying someone who has 4 beers. With guns and kids, it was absolving gunowners of any responsibility for accidents, to nailing you to the wall if a kid who is old enough and been taught better (about 10 IMHO) breaks the rules. I have no kids in the house and so don't secure anything. If I did, I would figure that my odds of an 8 year old doing something dumb are far greater than my odds of a home invasion. In Grad school, where I lived in group houses with drunken idiots (like me), I kept a trigger lock on the guns. They were master locks with one key. I kept one taped to the back of my night stand with a pistol in the drawer. I could get to it quickly, my roomies and their friends didn't know it was there. Just a thought.
FQ13

[bafsu92]

i have 2 small children (6.5 & 2.5) in the house and a wife who had never touched a gun before she met me so this is a constant issue. I use a gunvault that is bolted onto my night stand that has a Glock 21 on the top shelf with an Itac WLL1 light/laser combo. The bottom shelf is extra 21 mags and loaded AR Mags. I have an unloaded AR under the bed in a little sling that I made. It's actually up under the fabric on the bottom of the box spring, highly unlikely you'd find it if you didn't know it was there but I can have it out in under 5 seconds when laying flat in the bed (I've practiced and timed it quite a bit). In my closet which isn't the walk-in but a regular reach in closet I cut out the drywall above the door opening and made a compartment that holds a 18" barrel shotgun. I made a door out of 1/4" thick plywood and put a piano hinge along the top. I painted it to match the closet walls and if you didn't know what you were looking for you'd never see it although you can reach up and bring out the shotgun pretty quickly. I keep it loaded but not chambered and do have the door set up to add a small lock if I ever feel the need.

I have another gunvault, the small biometric model that is mounted to the shelf in the living room where I keep my wallet, knives, flashlights and everything else that leaves the house in my pockets. It easily holds my primary carry gun and my back up when I come home. At the front door I installed one of the small in the wall safes that mounts between the studs it's a combination lock but I recently purchased a biometric lock to upgrade it but haven't installed it yet. I built a small shelving unit that holds keys and cell phones etc. with chargers built in. I mounted this over the safe with a hinge on one side. You'd never notice that it even opens if you looked right at it.

Everything else lives in my large Liberty Safe in my wife's walk-in closet. I feel like I've kept my kids safe while maintaining pretty easy access in every part of the house. My son has who's almost 7 has just started to really become interested in shooting. He's been shooting my M&P 22 pretty well and wants his first "real" AR for his 7th birthday. As a side note even when I'm home and have locked up my primary carry gun and my backup since I bought my LCP I almost always have it in my pocket until I go to bed. Even laying on the couch in a pair of shorts I hardly notice it's there. I was always taught the best gun was the one you could get to the fastest.

As far as a place for long guns my dad built a cabinet into the wall between the studs and made a solid wood door with heavy hinges. He installed a regular combination home entry door lock exactly like he has on his house doors. It's not as secure as a gunsafe but most burglars won't take the time to get into it and it keeps the grandkids out. It holds 2 long guns and has a shelf above for handguns, ammo, flashlights etc.

[ghosthunter]

iicame up with a little different aproach. I have one of the electic key pad safes nex to the bed for hand guns. But over the closet door Ihave a Rossi Circuit Judge. Loaded with pdx1 loads and 45 lc. This fiream comes with a built in lock that locks the trigger with a small key. When the grand kids are around or I am gone I lock it.
I also sleep with a tarus Judge same loads.
You can pick up small motion detectors for the room or closet from Home Depot for 40.00 with remote. Just arm the closet. No bad guy will spend any time around there once that noise maker goes off.