I have a "secure" room in my home- they don't make a gun safe large enough to hold all the crap I have been accumulating over the years.
I have a 'Gun Room' also, and I went to some length to secure it since there are several Semi-autos and a few Class 3 guns in there.
I feel that it's my responsibility to secure them in a manner that will deter all but the most determined and well equipped thieves.
However, at the point of being blunt- to steal a firearm from my house, you are already several hundred meters INSIDE my property to get to the house. I did not leave a gun sitting on the roof of my parked car on a city street.
Agreed.
Do you have any idea of how many firearms are stolen out of vehicles every year?
At one gun show alone here thieves got over 300 firearms from vehicles in the parking lot!
Do I share blame if you come into my property and steal a gun? Let's change "gun" to anything else, and ask the question again.
I see your point, but if we change that to 'Knife' or 'Ball Bat' or 'Bow & Arrow', exactly how many people do you think this guy can injure without being apprehended?
With what most of the guys on this forum CLAIM they own, the police that responded would be hard pressed to match the firepower!
It's not a question if the 'Burglar' or 'Robber' is committing a crime, because he/she certainly IS,
It's a question of,
"Do YOU think the right & privilege of owning firearms adds the extra responsibility of making them secure?"
You forcibly entered my home, rummaged thru the medicine cabinet, found the bottle of percocet left over from my knee surgery, gulped all of them at once, and died from an OD. Am I to blame for your OD because I did not put my pills in a safe?
Did the person that broke into your house going to use those stolen 'Pills' to shoot up a school yard full of kids?
And a note on safes- they are SOME protection- mainly against quick, quiet, causal theft- and the good ones are some protection against fire.
HOWEVER- even the monster safes used by jewelers, that cost about $20,000 each, are only rated for protection against determined attack for a finite period of time. Ever see a portable cut-off saw?
There is no way to defeat a determined and well equipped professional thief. If there was, you wouldn't read about jewel exchanges, bank vaults and armored car company robberies.
I'm talking about the punk neighbor kid that knows you have a house full of guns, and he has a wicked Meth habit,
The idea is to make it as difficult as possible for him!
I'm talking about the 'Friend of a Friend' that shows up to an open house party or cookout finding and pocketing a firearm...
Sorry, bro- but don't make the victim of a crime out to be responsible for the crime. That's like saying "It's your own fault for parking a car like that in this neighborhood- you should have KNOWN that somebody would steal it."
And I think you should take responsibility for your actions.
If you park your car along side of 6 stripped, burned out wrecks, then you should expect yours to be the 7th.
We teach our women & children's self defense classes to be aware of their surroundings, and NOT to put themselves in harms...
If you are a woman walking alone, then stay out of alleys, deserted parking garages, and when you feel the hair stand up on the back of your neck, LISTEN TO IT!
Hard to Rape & Murder a woman in the middle of a well lit street with people still moving around in both directions!
Hard to abduct kids when they stick together, don't get in the car with strangers, and don't stray too far from home!
Same with firearms security.
If you aren't in denial on how easily someone can steal your hardware, then you will do something about securing it.
It's not like they are stealing a TV or Microwave... I can't remember the last time anyone shot 12 people with an I-Pod!
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Anyway, this thread was supposed to lead to a discussion about security, and how much is 'Enough'...
Personally, my full autos and serious semi-autos are rendered inoperative when not in use.
Easy to do when cleaning for storage.
They are secured in locking cabinets, and then the room they are in is locked as well.
Other firearms, including all but muzzle loading pistols, are locked in cabinets or safes.
Most of the wall space is taken up by gun safes or metal cabinets, so I used 3/4" fiberglass reinforced plywood to back them up with and screwed that to the studs.
That fiberglass reinforcement is remarkably effective at defeating saws & drills!
I killed about a dozen carbide tipped saw blades trying to install it!
Finally went to an abrasive blade made for cement and just let it 'burn' through the wood!
Older single shots (Antiques) and muzzle loaders are hanging on the walls, but they are hanging in a locked room.
I have a security door on the room. The flimsy interior door wasn't much in the way of 'Security' so I replace it with solid fill security door with a dead bolt lock.
I have 'Bugler Bars' on the one window in the room.
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Anyway, if you have fewer firearms, then less security would be necessary.
When I lived in an apartment, I installed one of those less expensive sheet metal gun safes in the closet...
It fit in the end of the closet so it was REALLY hard to get a pry bar in there to get at it!
Two security locks, and thick sheet metal was all it was, but it DID defeat one break in burglar!
It looked like it went through WW III when he was done with it, but he made so much noise trying to open it, the neighbors came over to see what the racket was and he got noting!
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OR, how about this one...
My friend comes home to find his 5 year old boy running around the house with a loaded 1911 chasing his 3 year old daughter playing 'Cowboys'.
The boy found it stuck between the mattress and box springs of his bed and decided to 'Play' with it.
If it were a double action, we are sure he could have fired at least one round, maybe more...
His wife now allows NO firearms in the home. PERIOD.
Not even locked up or stored in the garage under lock and key.
Guns go or the wife/kids do... That's not much of a choice!
