Do You Own a Gun Safe – And Do You Need One?
If you grew up around guns, chances are you were used to seeing your father or grandfather’s guns displayed in a nice wood-and-glass gun case. These days, of course, times are different. Nowadays, it is required in many areas that you lock away your guns in a gun safe. But what is a gun safe exactly? How is it any different than a regular safe? Well, we’ll answer those questions for you here.
Gun Safe Defined
In simple terms, a gun safe is a protective and secure container used to store firearms and ammunition. Though that is the simple answer, it does get a little more complicated than that. While a gun safe serves pretty much the same purpose as a regular safe, it does differ a bit in design. Depending on what sort of guns you are looking to store in the safe, you can pick from several different designs. A gun safe designed to store pistols, for example, will generally be more squared and squat, while a gun safe designed to hold rifles and shotguns would be tall and thin.
Gun safes also come with interior storage features that predispose them towards holding firearms, like racks and holsters. This insures that the firearms are properly secured and safe from harm or even accidental discharge if the safe is moved while the firearms are within. You will also find a shelf or two for holding boxed ammunition.
Customization
Of course, it does get a little more complicated than that. There are gun safes out there that offer varying layers of protection depending upon how much you are willing to spend and what sort of features you want. You can find gun safes that offer protection against:
- Fire
- Flooding
- Theft of the safe itself
The idea of someone stealing the entire gun safe has led to some pretty interesting variation on the common gun safe. Just like in the movies, you can find gun safes that sink into a wall and can be hidden by furniture or wall hangings. There are gun safes that can be hidden in the back of a closet so that it looks like the back wall of the closet. There are even gun safes that are the size of an entire room for holding large collections of guns. Such safes can also serve as panic rooms or shelters in times of tornados or hurricanes.
Just like with regular modern safes, the security features of modern gun safes has really intensified in recent years. It used to be that you had to rely on a key or combination lock to lock your safe, but nowadays there are electronic locks that use codes or even recognize fingerprints. There are some that can speak to you via audible feedback so that you know you are putting in the right code, and even some that have a “stealth mode” so that you can get to your guns without alerting intruders. Some recommended brands include Fire King safes and the Gardall safe as well as many others.
In the end, it’s up to you to figure out what amount of features you want on your gun safe and how much money you are willing to spend. Safety is the #1 key factor in determining what sort of gun
safe you need, but if the worst happens and you need to get to your guns in a hurry you want to know that your gun safe has the features you need to back you up.
About the Author: Richard and his wife, Suzanne, live in North Texas. He enjoys backpacking with family and friends in southwestern Colorado in the rugged Weminuche Wilderness Area. Richard is very knowledgeable about residential and business safes and their uses and applications. With all of the bank consolidations and closings over the last few years, more people have turned to providing their own security for their valuables and documents, so Richard has turned his attention towards helping others gain more knowledge about residential safes.