Recent surveys indicate that nearly half of all Americans either own a gun or live with someone who owns a gun.
When you own a gun, you also take on a heavy responsibility. You have the freedom to protect yourself, and the responsibility to protect all who live in your home.
A large part of protection lies in how you choose to store your weapon. Failing to store your weapon properly can result in catastrophic results. A resident of your home could find it and use it improperly or a thief could find it and use it nefariously.
Either way, proper gun storage can avert disaster. Keep reading to learn five different concepts that affect gun storage.
1. Use a Gun Safe
When you purchase a gun, purchase a gun safe. Do not come home with that weapon unless you have a secure place to keep it. The top drawer of your clothing dresser does not qualify as a secure place.
Gun ownership carries the responsibility of keeping your gun away from your loved ones and thieves. A gun safe is your best option.
Begin with a fireproof gun safe. You want to keep your guns safe from people and the elements that can destroy them.
The best fireproof gun safe will be able to withstand temperatures up to 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit. It will also be able to hold out water.
A fireproof gun safe will also protect the people attempting to save your home. When fire hits ammunition, the ammunition explodes. Firemen will not enter a home if they know there is open ammunition.
So as you look for a gun safe, start with a fireproof one.
2. Engage Unique Locking Mechanisms
Once you’ve found a fireproof gun safe, look for a safe with a unique locking mechanism. You want a safe with a pry-resistant, solid steel door and high-strength locking mechanism. Burglars should have to work hard to try to get to your gun.
The safe should also have a soft foam interior to protect your guns from dents and scratches.
Best of all, good safes will come with unique locking mechanisms. Newer safes now come with biometric fingerprint scanners. This helps you access your safe with one finger.
Often the safe will have an electronic keypad and backup keys as well.
Some safes will come with a security card rather than a fingerprint scanner or a keypad. The card will look like a credit card, and you just have to swipe it across the scanning area for the safe to open.
3. Keep It Accessible But Secure
Keep your safe secure with the unique locking mechanism but also accessible. You want your safe in a place that you can react quickly should you need to access your gun immediately.
Certainly, you want to keep your guns secure from children and thieves. But you also want your guns accessible should a would-be intruder make their way into your home.
After all, you purchase your gun to keep your family safe. How safe can you keep them if you’re fiddling around with a key to open the lockbox?
Some gun safes make accessibility simple. They mount the gun in the safe so you just need to reach in and slide the gun out.
A good gun safe allows you to keep your gun in an accessible place with peace of mind knowing you have a secure lock.
4. Buy the Right Size
If you have a single pistol, you may believe that a small gun safe will do. Make sure you purchase a safe large enough to hold what you have and what you will have.
Think ahead about home security and if you have a loved one in the home. A scattergun or shotgun works effectively for the ill-trained would-be protector of a home. You just point and shoot, and you will hit something.
But it does no good to have a long gun if you do not have secure firearm storage for it.
Firearm safety involves more than gun storing and gun securing. You should also secure and store your ammunition. Purchase a gun safe big enough to keep your ammunition as well as your gun.
More modern gun safes have features like ammunition storage areas. The safe will keep the ammunition at an ambient and safe temperature as well.
5. Buy the Right Look
Not all gun safes look the same. Some are small, briefcase-like safes with a tiny combination lock on the end. Others house long-barrel guns and look like tall, massive safes.
If you have a couple of pistols, you have the option of having a gun safe that doesn’t look like a safe at all. Some companies have worked hard to create gun safes that are aesthetically pleasing as well as functional.
The best gun safe will be accessible and secure, and it will have enough aesthetic camouflage that intruders and visitors won’t even know it’s a gun safe.
When you camouflage your gun safe, you prevent gun accidents. After all, accidents cannot occur if the gun is secure.
Safe Gun Storage Matters
Experts are reporting a record high of gun-related deaths and accidents in recent years. Guns have long created factions of pro-gun and anti-gun groups. Regardless of where you stand, all would agree that proper gun storage makes a difference.
When you look at proper gun storage, begin with a gun safe. Look into something secure with unique locking mechanisms. Then put that safe in an accessible place for you but not necessarily for all parties in your home.
You can do your part to reduce gun violence while maintaining your freedom to protect your family by storing your gun properly. You also will protect your gun, yourself, and your loved ones by following these basic tips.
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