Buy a damn safe

Yesterday Uncle posted an email from an anonymous reader who had a pistol stolen.

The gun had been sitting in the attic in an unlocked pistol case. There was also another pistol in a locked case next to the pistol that was stolen. It had not been bothered with by the thief.

The owner had had some contractors up in the attic a few months previously but had no thoughts about the gun’s case being in plain view. It had been a while since he had gone to the range, and when he went up to the attic recently to retrieve the pistol to go shooting is when he noticed it was gone. He is positive that it was one of the contractor’s employees.

The worst part is that the gun had been a gift and neither he nor the giver of the gift had written down the serial number.

The writer of the email wrote to Uncle to let folks know a couple things: 1. That he will be buying a gun safe immediately, and 2. That he is having his guts eaten out by the knowledge that a firearm he owned, but didn’t lock down is out on the street.

I am still completely unable to see how someone can spend $300-$1000+ on a gun, or multiple thousands of dollars on multiple firearms, and then lean them against the wall in a closet. It just makes no sense to me. Sure, having them readliy available is a good thing, but you can own a safe and do that too.

I have read posts on the different gunblogger sites, and the comments to those posts, and some folks seem caught up in the “If it isn’t the best safe in the world, then it is worthless” mindset. I suppose that if they can’t own a Rolls Royce or a Bentley, then they don’t own a car either.

The other opinion I see on a large scale is folks getting so focused on their next firearms acquisition that the idea of buying a safe seems like a roadblock.

I enjoy everything I own. It is mine. I paid for it and I worked my ass off to come up with the money to do so.

And I purposely take pains to ensure that it is as hard to take away from me as possible.

My vehicles, my tools, and hell, even my lawnmower all have some sort if theft deterring device.

My home does as well. I lock my tools down inside their cabinet, inside my home. I also lock up my emergency supplies and ammo in their respective lockers. Why wouldn’t I lock my guns down, if for no other reason than to make the criminal have to bring his own gun to the shootout.

Gun owners, and especially internet junkie gunnies, know criminals don’t buy their guns from licensed FFL’s. They know that only a very miniscule number of them get them at gun shows. They know that criminals do buy guns which were stolen from law abiding citizens.

And yet when it comes to securing their own firearms, I’ve noticed that too damn many of them are of the cavalier “It can’t happen to me” school of thought

Well guess what gentlemen (and ladies): One of our own just found out he is contributing to the problem. If you haven’t read the post at Uncle’s take a moment and do so. He thought he was crafty in his hiding spot, and he discovered that he was very wrong.

I am very adamant about gun owners also being gunsafe owners for one simple reason: A good friend of mine also thought he was smarter than the criminals. He had his hunting rifle and a couple pistols stashed away where he thought no one would ever find them.

He too was wrong. He had that violated feeling that everyone who has ever been ripped off gets for a while, but his insurance company bought some new guns and that feeling went away.

But a different feeling came up and kicked his ass about six months later when the police called him and said that they had found his Glock 30. It had been used in a robbery. The criminal had shot and killed a lady store clerk with it.

The guy didn’t go to work for at least a week. I had to spend a couple days convincing him that it wasn’t his fault and that the guy would have just bought a different gun to use, etc., etc.. My buddy didn’t care. His guns were all relocated to my place, and my safes, at his demand.

After about three months of weekly conversations on the topic, and the purchase and installation of a safe, he finally took them back. But to this day, and we’re talking years here, they are locked up 24/7/365 in the safe. He hasn’t gone hunting or to the range since. I don’t even know that he has ammo for them. The only reason I haven’t offered to buy them is that I’m convinced he’ll come around some day.

He shouldn’t have been made to feel this way about gun ownership. But some little puke with no respect for private property fucked that up for him by stealing them and then selling them to someone with no respect for human life. And the guy isn’t a namby-pamby, sensitive type, and I was quite frankly shocked when he acted as disturbed about them as he did.

Now, I’d like to sit here and tell you all that I wouldn’t act that way under the same circumstances. But I can’t. And for that matter, neither can anyone else who hasn’t been through it.

But what I, and everyone else in the country, can do is to do everything we are able under our individual circumstances to make sure that we never have to find out. A sheet steel locker from Homak or one of the other el cheapo manufacturers are somewhere around $100. I still have my first one.

When I help someone make their first time gun purchase I offer to loan it to them until they get their own.

I just bought another mid-range American Security fire resistant box with a dial lock and an ANSII rating for $450. Sporting Good chains have fantastic sales where you can buy these things at for sometimes 25-40% off MSRP. AmSec even has a full replacement warranty if someone is able to force their way into one of their safes.

How much do you spend on ammo in a month? In a year? Would either $100 or $450 put that big a relative dent in your budget?

The criminals know to look in your attic/crawlspace, under your bed and between the mattresses, in the closets and clothes dressers, even under the bathroom sink. They may be dumb, but they aren’t stupid. Who needs to stash something where no one will find it more than a criminal?

It is a one time purchase that I can not see anyone ever regretting. Any deterrent, even a second hand truck bed locking tool box bolted to the wall (which is what one of my coworkers uses) is better than no deterrent.

And think about this: From the comments at Uncle’s post it was mentioned that California has laws on the books which make the gun owner liable for whatever someone does with their stolen guns.

I don’t know that this is true or not, but who cares. I can see the Brady’s coming up with crap laws like that all across the nation, and making gun ownership as expensive as possible, something they can do under the new circumstances. And if you can’t see them doing that you’re fooling yourself.

Remember that even the language we use amongst ourselves and in our arguments for gun ownership, words like “Law-abiding”, “Safe”, and “Responsible”, can be turned around and used on us with laws such as these.

Why not attempt to cut them off before they start.

I’m not saying that you should voluntarily turn your home into Washington DC, with your guns unloaded and locked away at all times. I don’t live like that and I wouldn’t even think of asking anyone else to. When I’m home I have one handgun and one long gun out (either HK91, SKS or 870, depending on my mood) and in Condition One, with the rest locked away.

All I’m saying is buy a damn safe.