When we lived in the city, almost in mid-town, I had no gun except an old Savage .22 up in the attic.
Nine years ago we had been gone for only one hour, about two weeks before Christmas at night.
Upon return our house was dark-but the neighbors' houses had lights on. Immed. told my wife-"Look at the other houses, we're not going in, let's go stay with the neighbors until the power company comes over." The back sliding glass door had nothing to jam it, and the security system was old.
The pro burglars had yanked the large black power cable out of its connector in front of the house (cars were parked there), in order to test the system and must have listened for an alarm-none went off. Police never showed up until we called them. Don't know if this will help anybody, and because women/men always keep their jewelry in the master bedroom (guns are often there too), this is their primary target.
Also, they quickly take video camera bags, with all the contents-you will lose videos of young children which are stored in the pockets. Large numbers of people lose these precious, irreplaceable videos. Don't be foolish.
Luckily mine were in a bank's safety deposit box. Remember that a fire will destroy not only photographs and videos but guns and ammo, sometimes even in a safe.
What if your guns are insured for theft or fire? How good is the payoff?
How much would a well-established (i.e. USAA) pay for a given rifle, for example a $230 SKS?
How about a used Mini 14 which cost you about $500?
