Do I need a gun safe?

[steerclr]

Guns have to be locked up from children, this however does not require a safe.  A locked closet will work as long as no one has access to the key/s but you. 

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

Others can do as they wish with their possessions as what ever happens in the end they will have to live with. I simply believe in providing the best security I can and utilizing it always.
I lock my home and vehicle ALWAYS and have a top quality safe. If anyone wants what I have I'm going to do everything I can to make that endeavour as hard for them as possible.
Just as there are those supposedly revealing videos on how easy a low end safe can be defeated there are also some real nice videos on makeshift "creative" hiding places for your guns. The good guys are not the only ones who watch those vids.

[timetofly]

we can put guns out of sight in our closet...and can lock our bedroom door. I would think that would take care of the kids??

My mother tells a story where she came home to see my older brother sitting on the kitchen counter pulling pages out of her cook books.  Apparently he pulled out the drawers out and used them as a stairway to get on top of the counter.  He was about a year old at the time.  After seeing my son use chairs to get on top of our kitchen table when he was 10 months old, I'm taking no chances.  Kids are so resourceful.   

Regardless of the age of your grandchildren, a compromise with your son might be Firearm Safety Devices on your firearms when they are visiting.  They are relatively enexpensive and take up less space than a safe.   

Just a suggestion.

[inletman]

Others can do as they wish with their possessions as what ever happens in the end they will have to live with. I simply believe in providing the best security I can and utilizing it always.
I lock my home and vehicle ALWAYS and have a top quality safe. If anyone wants what I have I'm going to do everything I can to make that endeavour as hard for them as possible.
Just as there are those supposedly revealing videos on how easy a low end safe can be defeated there are also some real nice videos on makeshift "creative" hiding places for your guns. The good guys are not the only ones who watch those vids.

May I ask what brand safe you have, where to look it up and buy it....and approximate cost for one to hold 6-7 guns-thanks

[bang bang]

something to consider.

Im not sure about you, but when i was a kid i snooped in my parents room and also my siblings.  Although my dad didnt have a gun he did have a BB rifle.  Found some of his military stuff when i he was in the service too.

A thief may not have all the time in the world to spend looking for things in your house, but you never know who is watching or who is saying things.

a last comment.  If you can put all of your gun related stuff in your safe or someplace not so obvious, then it may not be a problem.  But when i see "signs" of firearms, such as an American Rifleman on the coffee table or on the toilet water tank, i may think "hmmm guns".  Then if i see reloading books, empty primer boxes, powder, bullets or maybe some reloading stuff, i may again think "hmmmm guns AND ammo". 

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

Others can do as they wish with their possessions as what ever happens in the end they will have to live with. I simply believe in providing the best security I can and utilizing it always.
I lock my home and vehicle ALWAYS and have a top quality safe. If anyone wants what I have I'm going to do everything I can to make that endeavour as hard for them as possible.
Just as there are those supposedly revealing videos on how easy a low end safe can be defeated there are also some real nice videos on makeshift "creative" hiding places for your guns. The good guys are not the only ones who watch those vids.

May I ask what brand safe you have, where to look it up and buy it....and approximate cost for one to hold 6-7 guns-thanks

The safe I have is over 20 years old and no longer produced. There are still quality safes out there though. Buy the best you can afford. If you only need one to hold such a small number of handguns that's the perfect size to put in a closet and anchor down making it that much harder to be attacked by thieves.

[razorback1]

Many years ago I was questioning whether to spend the money to buy a gun safe owning about 10 guns at the time. I'm glad I did. I rest easy when I'm on vacation or away from home knowing the guns are in the safe. I've also found it useful for storing a little extra cash and other valuables. My wife likes to keep a few family heirlooms and legal documents in it as well. We know given enough time the safe could be broken it to but it is good enough to protect contents from children and unprepared "honest" thieves.

[lewmed]

 I noticed my neighbors cheap key lock metal gun cabinet in the corner of his man cave and made a comment about it not being much protection. He said it was a decoy and showed me a antique coke machine that he gutted and used for his firearms. The coke machine has an out of order sign on it and sets a few feet from his bar and has been converted to hold about 40 long guns. He told me his old house was broken in to several times and the bad guys always went for the metal cabinet and passed on the coke machine.   I told him I was happy his system worked but I would keep my 25 year old 600 lb Browning gun safe for my guns.

[The Guardian]

I'm going to stir the pot and say that most safes I've seen look to be easily and quickly defeated with a crowbar. Look on YouTube for plenty of examples of people getting in within 30 seconds.

I wouldn't get a safe thinking it would delay thieves. They don't care about damaging the safe. They'll get in.

Kids do care about damage because it's evidence they were tampering.

In my opinion the best way to keep guns out of the hands are to keep them out of sight somehow. A safe is an easy and obvious target. Something hidden and secure is best.

Get creative.

Well, solid advice from my experience.........had a gun safe, got rid of it for those reasons and a couple others.  That's not to say guns and valuables are strewn hap-hazardly around the estate  ......I get/understand the chorus of "get a safe", but in a way it makes people (me included) have a false sense of safety and security.....do they provide a basic level of both....sure, a very good one does.....cheap ones are useless and I would venture to say put your "valuables" at greater risk.......as someone mentioned in an earlier post calling them a "concentrator". 

If a safe makes one feel better.....go for it.....just know they can be like a clear and present target.......just another perspective 

[Rcher]

I like an idea of having several (3 or more) smaller safes or cabinets placed in different locations. Having one huge safe for everything (jewelry, documents, guns, ammo, etc...) sounds scary for me. If it is broken - everything lost. And huge safe can attract professionals, which can break anything. Speaking about usual burlglars - they at the very best will be able to break to 1 safe (the first they found or looking easier to break). So you can decide how to distribute your precious stuff between different safes (every situation is different). Personally I'm thinking about steel tool boxes or cheap cabinets for ammo storage. And for gun safe I'd spend no more than 10% value of guns I own (taking into account a probability someone will break into my house). So if total of my guns and gear cost $2500 I'll spend max $250-300 on gun safe, if my collection will be $5000 and more -> $500, etc...

[Walt Sherrill]

...I like an idea of having several (3 or more) smaller safes or cabinets placed in different locations. Having one huge safe for everything (jewelry, documents, guns, ammo, etc...) sounds scary for me. If it is broken - everything lost. And huge safe can attract professionals, which can break anything.

Most home break-ins aren't done by a team of professionals burglars.  That happens, to be sure, but it's typically targeted homes in the best neighborhoods, and a lot of those homes have pretty good security systems and many are in gated communities.  The kills needed to get in and grab in those neighborhoods, and very speciialized.

For most of us, the culprits are one or two people looking to smash their way in, grab some things that can acquired and sold quickly, and get out.   In that case, the big safe (hopefully fireproof) is truly SAFE, and the small safes, if they're reasonably well hidden, are best used to protect a single firearm kept there for when you're at home.  With a little imagination, you can hide them in almost plain sight and it'll take time to find them.   If you have a home security system hooked into local police and fire, the people doing the break-in are very sensitive to the time they've got to do what they want to do.  A blaring alarm tends to accelerate them a bit. 

In my home we do all of this.  BIG and SMALL safes. It's not cheap, but neither is replacing any of the stuff stolen -- unless you have VERY GOOD insurance and your goods are well documented.  I've got a medium-sized  fireproof safe, and several smaller ones.   If they find the small ones, they can carry the small gun safes away -- but they will get only one gun per safe.  The big fireproof safe weighs 700 lbs. empty and getting it out of the house and into a truck is (because of where its kept) would be a bigger project, and I don't expect PROFESSIONAL SAFECRACKERS to be working in our neighborhood.

TVs are a quick grab, as are computers, and jewelry, and guns left in easily opened safes.  Just look at what you see at a pawn shop to know what's sought.  (The cheap metal gun cabinets you see at the BIG BOX stores ARE easily opened with a crowbar.)  I've got a number of iPads and several computers -- and they're not really theft proof.   But as much as it would pain me lose them, I can replace them and continue.   (You only have to have a hard drive fail, and find that your backup wasn't working, to realize that you CAN recover from a major PC loss.)

[steerclr]

These are all good comments on storing firearms and valuables, but I think the original post was about keeping guns away from kids and not thieves.  Seems we drifted off topic from keeping guns away from children, the original post said "My son thinks I should have a gun safe...because doesn't want his children seeing guns when visiting".  That is why I replied as I did.

[Walt Sherrill]

These are all good comments on storing firearms and valuables, but I think the original post was about keeping guns away from kids and not thieves.  Seems we drifted off topic from keeping guns away from children, the original post said "My son thinks I should have a gun safe...because doesn't want his children seeing guns when visiting".  That is why I replied as I did.

You're right.  I went a bit farther than that. 
'
Had I not seen several friend have their guns stolen while they were away from home, I probably would have been more focused on "gun control" than "gun protection."    One of the guns stolen was a gorgeous nickel S&W Model 19 I had sold a friend after much begging and pleading on his part.   

Insurance may eventually cover the cost, but the victim may never end up with anything close to what he or she lost.

[ZanderMan]

(You only have to have a hard drive fail, and find that your backup wasn't working, to realize that you CAN recover from a major PC loss.)

Along that topic...

I maintain 3 USB backup drives.
1. In the house.
2. In my vehicle, swapped monthly with the one in the house.
3. In a safe deposit box, swapped every 6 months with the one in the house.

One backup drive (or even in the ?cloud?) is not enough.

[Wobbly]

My son thinks I should have a gun safe... because he doesn't want his children seeing guns when visiting. I have 7 pistols, and, of course, all unloaded except self defense gun by bed.

If your son is saying that, it's probably becasue his wife (your DIL) had mentioned it and didn't feel like she could talk to you about that subject. So here's what's going to happen, my friend. If she feels her children are unsafe in your home, then they will simply stop visiting. EVER ! No more visits from the grand kids, is that what you really want ?

It doesn't matter how YOU feel about your guns. It's how SHE feels about your guns. Rational or irrational thinking it doesn't matter, it not about your kids. She's the parent now, and it's about HER kids.

Not sure how you feel about your grand kids, but no more visits would be a pretty high price to pay in my book. I'd sell all my guns before I allowed that to happen.

Just my 2 cents.