- Last Updated: May 20, 2020
Buy A Gun Safe for the Home for Your Safety and Protection
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By Bruce Reno
Reasons to Buy a Gun Safe
The fundamental right of Americans to keep and bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Even before the US Constitution adopted the right to keep and bear arms was a recognized conception. With that right to keep and bear arms comes the responsibility of keeping the gun away from the wrong hands, which requires gun owners to buy a gun safe.
Most responsible gun owners know that owning a gun comes with the obligation to keep it secure, which is common sense. To avoid unfortunate incidents such as thefts and accidental firing, a gun should be inaccessible to everyone except its owner.
The following are some of the reasons to own a gun safe:
Gun Safety
A gun is a weapon, whether it is in the right hands or wrong hands. It should not be left lying around your home. Home safes are important in controlling those who can access your gun at any given time. This is extra important if you have your children, guests, friends, and babysitters who have access to a spare key to your home.
Most of the people who enter your home most likely have no training in handling or using a weapon. They could get curious upon seeing a gun just lying somewhere in your house. They could be tempted to hold and check it. And this is when accidents happen.
Controlling who has access to your guns is important to gun safety. Burglars are the first consideration but also include everyone else who may be in your homes, such as your children, visitors, house-sitters, babysitters, friends with spare keys of your home, and others.
Protect Your Rights
Many anti-gun groups claim that guns are dangerous regardless of whoever holds them. They subscribe to the idea that guns are a public safety threat. These groups typically characterize law-abiding gun owners as irresponsible and evil.
Accidents and tragedies involving guns happen all the time. The anti-gun advocates always push that message. Even non-fatal accidents always attract national attention, especially if the accident involves children. Regardless of how rare gun accidents are, there will always be media coverage simply because guns are involved.
Locking up your gun demonstrates responsible gun ownership. It is your way of protecting your Second Amendment rights. Nobody can accuse you of negligent and irresponsible gun ownership with your gun safely locked away in a gun safe.
It’s the law
There is no federal legal requirement that guns but 25 states and the District of Columbia required that guns be locked up to prevent access by children, even if you don’t have children yourself because guests with children could come to your house. The penalties for allowing a child access to a gun varies in different states. Still, you are likely to face criminal liability for negligent storage whether or not the child gains access to a firearm or uses it to cause injury.
Gun-related tragedies at home are not that rare. The risk of accidental death in homes with a gun is four times higher than in homes without one. According to statistics, for every ten gun owners with children, four of them do not lock up their guns, making the incidence of tragedies affecting children no longer surprising. Nearly a quarter of children living with guns at home have accessed them without the permission of the parents. Another troubling report is that half of the teens in the US who commit suicide with a gun, the majority of them found the gun in their homes.
If you are protecting your guns against your children, a gun cabinet may offer better protection because they will not be inclined to permanently damage it to gain access. However, your children have plenty of time in their hands. They could try different combinations on your lock and eventually get it right, opening the cabinet and getting access to your guns. You need something better, with a gun safe fitting the bill for protected storage of guns.
Protection from burglars
Firearm Locking Device Laws
Fire Protection
Buy a Gun Safe: Choosing which model
The size of the gun safe to purchase
Not all gun safes are created equal
Gun safes come in different styles and sizes. Many home safes are only thin metal cabinets without burglary or fire protection. The first item to consider is the safe’s construction, the thickness of metal, locking mechanism, and fire rating. Gun cabinets years ago were constructed of wood and glass to showcase your weapons for everyone to see. Today, a good quality safe protects your guns and other valuables. Do not buy a gun safe with a thin metal cabinet for the protection of your firearms. If you check on the market, most low-end gun cabinets are made of thin metal bodies using 14 to 16 gauge, at times as thin as 20 gauge steel. A screwdriver or a hammer can easily be used in breaking into a thin metal gun cabinet. A good-quality gun safe uses a minimum of 11 gauge steel in the body of the safe and preferable 10 to 7 gauge steel.
The construction of the safe’s door is also very important. A gun safe must have at least ¼-inch of solid plate steel or composite equivalent in the door. Look for a gun safe with UL burglar ratings of an RSC or residential security container. If you are looking for a better-quality gun safe, get higher B Rated, UL TL-15, and UL and TL-30 ratings. These gun safes may be considered the best gun safe under $2,000, a little bit pricey but worth every cent of what you will pay.
Security Ratings
People use their home safes to store firearms and a wide range of other valuable items such as jewelry, precious metals, money, and other valuables.
The following are industry guidelines for the content value of the different levels of security that a gun safe can provide.
- RSC up to $5,000 content value. RSC ratings may be applied to low-end safes that can easily be pried open to very secure ones that have higher rating tests.
- B-Rated up to $10,000 content value – ½ inch plate door with a ¼-inch body
- C-Rated, TL-15 up to $200,000 content value. A TL-15 Rating means the safe door can resist entry for a net assault time of 15 minutes when attacked using common hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or portable electric tools, drills, grinders, or pressure devices
- U.L, TL-30 up to $375,000 content value. TL-30 means the safe door will pass the same test for 30 minutes. This does not include attacks on the top or sides.
- U.L. TL-30×6 up to $500,000 to $1,000,000 content value. UL-30 minute attack on all six sides of the safe.
- U.L. TRTL-30×6 $1,000,000 and up content value. UL 30 minute torch/tool attack on all six sides of safety.
Choosing between a wall safe or hidden safe
Fire Rating
Fire-resistant safes
Some companies call their gun safe fireproof. To be clear about this, there are no fireproof safes on the market today. Safes today are fire-resistant, but not fireproof, which means that they resist heat and smoke over a given period, typically 30 to 150 minutes.
Fire-resistant safes protect your documents and other smaller items from heat and smoke damages. The resistant safes use very thin metal, the construction, which makes it easy to defeat by a burglar. The metal is primarily used to hold the fire retardant material but can easily be punctured or cut with simple hand tools.
You can find the best gun safe under $1,000 that is fire-resistant.
Are gun safes easy to break into?
Not bolting down safes
Because gun safes are heavy, many gun owners wrongly believe that they are safe lying somewhere in the house. Because of the gun safe’s weight, owners did not consider burglars carting them away. If you consider how you got your safe home somehow, an experienced burglar can do the same also. If professional movers used special equipment to bring the safe from the store to your house, the burglars can also bring the same equipment and get your safe from your home.
When you buy a gun safe, you have to make sure that it is bolted down. Buy a safe that is pre-drilled for proper installation and with anchor bolts. A safe that is bolted down in an upright position will be difficult for burglars to pry. They have to spend a long time with your safe, increasing the chance that they will be caught. Car safes, as well as small two gun safes, also have a security cable which you can use to attach the safe to the floor or a fixed wall.
Like a drywall
Most gun safe doors today are made of a thin sheet of metal glued to the drywall. Some low-end safe’s doors are lined with plastic. You know how easy it will be to punch a hole through a thin sheet of metal and how extra easy it will be to punch through the drywall part.
Quality safes are filled, not by drywall, but with poured concrete amalgamate mixture that protects from torch attacks and brute force. There is no gap between the concrete and the steel construction to ensure maximum protection.
The thick door trick
Gun owners typically look for a gun safe with a thick metal door that looks like solid steel. You cannot expect to get that kind of door today because most manufacturers are scrimping on metal to make the safe lighter.
Thick doors have no bearing on the safe’s security. What is important is the thickness of the steel and what is there inside of that door. Look for a safe with a heavy door and a thick layer of solid steel. Make sure that your lock has a relocking feature and a ball-bearing hard plate to protect the lock from drilling attacks.
Too much but too little
Some safe manufacturers look for ways to increase the perceived value of their products. They attempt to distract prospective buyers with bright and shiny objects instead of spending money on steel and materials that will make them as secure as possible. Some manufacturers add LED light features in the interior of the fingerprint gun safes, glossy paint finishes, and even artwork but very little security features for your valuables. Safes are security products and when buying one, check for locking mechanisms that make it easy to open for authorized persons.
Even when you are on a budget, you need not sacrifice security for fancy features. Go with a simple but reliable safe with the thickest steel you can afford.
Safety Procedures for Buying a Gun Safe
There is no universal standard for methods or materials used in the construction of a gun safe. Therefore not all safes are created equal. Many gun safes can be considered as a lifetime investment, which means that buying a gun safe for the first time will save you money in the long run. The following should be considered when purchasing a gun safe:
- Size – The common mistake of the first-time buyer of a gun safe is purchasing something too small for his needs. This not only refers to the length of gun barrels, but also to the volume of space. A gun owner tends to look at the firearm he has on hand, check the safe as to the number of firearms it can hold, and settle for the smallest storage space he can afford. Later, the whole family will realize that other valuables, such as jewelry, are better kept inside the gun safe. By this time, it is too late to return them safely and get a bigger one.
- The thickness of the steel – The overall toughness of the safe is based on the thickness of the steel used in its construction. Check the number of the steel gauge, but the lower the number is, the thicker the steel is. Experts suggest that steel used in constructing a safe should not be thinner than 10-gauge.
- Fire protection – The level of fire resistance is an important factor in a safe that a buyer should consider. But not all safes are fire tested. A good safe is one that can survive an hour or more at 1300 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Locking mechanism – The locking mechanism is a part of the safe’s security features. A buyer has to choose between a mechanical lock or an electronic lock. Electronic locks are very popular today as they feature a number pad instead of dial used in the mechanical lock. An electronic lock has as many as 1.2 million combinations and is a lot easier to open. Some manufacturers combine a fingerprint scanner with the numeric pad for an increase in access speed with added security.
- Warranty – Most locks carry a warranty, but buyers need to check the fine prints to understand the warranty coverage that the safe comes with.
Gun Safes on Sale
Summer is the best time to buy a gun safe. It is because tax time is in summer, and many gun safe manufacturers offer a tax season tax rebate. Some retailers also run Black Friday Gun Safe Deals, trying to wake up buyers’ interests who know that Black Friday after Thanksgiving Day is a bargain day for all consumer items.
The Black Friday Gun Safe Deals offered by retailers feature often feature imported safes. It is also featured by online sellers.
Buying gun safes during summer is also preferred by people living in snowy regions of the country. Moving a bulky and heavy gun safe will be difficult to do when the grounds are covered with snow. That task is easier to do during the summer.
How much does the Gun Safe cost?
Question gun owners often ask is: How much does a gun safe cost?
The answer depends on the type of gun safe you intend to buy. A gun safe can range from a low of $200 up to $10,000 or more. The big difference in the price of a gun safe is determined by the following:
- The size of the gun safe
- The level of security it provides
- The features built into the gun safe
- The degree of fire protection the safe offers
A portable gun safe that can store two pistols can be purchased at the lowest price point, while a closet gun safe that can secure a gun collection and other valuable items will set you back several thousands of dollars.
The Best Hornady Gun Safe for your Truck
All of the ideal features of gun storage are present in Hornady Gun Safe. It has the right size and advanced security and it ideal for car gun safe. It is also fireproof and waterproof. It is the perfect gun safe for any kind of vehicle, including trucks.
The Hornady Gun Safe uses state-of-the-art RFID activated wristband, decal, or key fob which allows immediate access to the safe. It also comes with a secondary manual entry which utilizes a six-digit code for fast access. Each safe can register five RFID tags and it comes with two circular barrel keys.
Even during your travels, this gun safe can withstand pressure from rocky roads. It won’t damage your weapon because it will hold it in place during bumpy rides. The material is made from tamper-proof and durable material. It has a thick exterior which prevents drills from passing through the safe. It is battery powered which guarantees that your weapons are protected 24/7.
Does Home Depot Carry Gun Safes?
Home Depot, your local home improvement store, carries many items that people need in their everyday lives. For almost anything that you will need at home, Home Depot will likely have it.
Gun safes are no exception. Home Depot carries many types and models of gun safes, from the portable two pistol safe with a key lock to the 64-gun fire-resistant gun safe with a combination lock. No matter what type of gun safe you are looking for, you are likely to find it at Home Depot.
What is the Best Gun Safe for the Money?
Gun safes are key to responsible gun ownership. It is very dangerous to have your firearms around the house if they are not properly stored in a locked safe. It is important to invest in the best gun safe your money can buy to keep you and your family safe.
There many different types of gun safe on the market, including manual, number combination, and biometric gun safes. The gun safes on the market are of different sizes according to the number of firearms it can hold. There are gun safes for handguns, for rifles and for a large firearm collection.
The best type of gun safe for the money is one that suits your needs. If you own a single handgun, then a small safe for two handguns will be your best buy. If you own a gun collection, both handguns and rifles, you should buy a big gun safe.
When you buy a gun safe, it should have all the features that every gun owner is looking for.