Bedside Safe - what and why?

[Sibb]

They work pretty quickly if you just leave the door open.

-Mike

Ya it's funny how the door pops open at night, but just happens to be closed before the wife gets up.

 

[Loyalist]

Safes fail, humans fail to open safes quickly when the shtf.

Bedside safe for home defense gun = failure

What do you recommend then?

 

[BigAce74]

I have this. I like that there's no batteries to fail and with the raised buttons (and some practice) I can open it in the dark.

http://www.ftknox.com/redesign/pistolboxes/

 

[zerodown]

What do you recommend then?

What Sibb, myself, and many others have said

 

[RI_John]

I have this. I like that there's no batteries to fail and with the raised buttons (and some practice) I can open it in the dark.

http://www.ftknox.com/redesign/pistolboxes/

I have the same one, nice and sturdy. Keep in mind though, that even if you can open it in the dark, it's a different story in the dark with some adrenaline flowing through your hands. I convinced myself I would be able to open that safe if I needed to in the middle of the night. I practiced with my eyes closed dozens if not hundreds of times. Cake. Opened first try in less than 2 seconds every time without fail.

Until one night at 3a.m. the house alarm went off- BAM! Adrenaline dump. I didn't notice that my hand was shaking until I tried to work the buttons. I got it open on the THIRD try, probably 15-20 seconds to do it.

You have to imagine what it's like when an alarm is going off, which wakes up your baby who starts crying, your wife says "WHAT'S GOING ON?" and the alarm company calls you so your phone is ringing on top of all that. Then trying to shepard your other kids into the master bedroom, etc.

I was lucky I had such a "wake up" call, so to speak. That night it was a false alarm, the wind had blown open a not quite closed 3-season room door to set off the alarm. Needless to say, I have found an alternate solution so I will never be separated from my gun like that again.

Do not discount what adrenaline does to fine motor skills.

 

[Disgorge]

What do you recommend then?

Gun on nightstand next to you.

 

[Admin]

What do you recommend then?

Not locking up your home defense weapon. Why on earth would you do so?

 

[TheRoland]

I use a safe, but my non-expert opinion is that safe storage laws (or interpretations thereof) that require locking a gun up when merely asleep (and not absent) would likely not survive any sort of scrutiny under Heller.

 

[Admin]

I use a safe, but my non-expert opinion is that safe storage laws (or interpretations thereof) that require locking a gun up when merely asleep (and not absent) would likely not survive any sort of scrutiny under Helller.

You'd rather run the risk of serious injury or death of your entire family because the .gov might find out a weapon in your bedroom is unsecured?

 

[TheRoland]

You'd rather run the risk of serious injury or death of your entire family because the .gov might find out a weapon in your bedroom is unsecured?

.

ETA: Actually, safes are even better if you've got a cat who knows how to disable the thumb safety on a 1911. Drawers or holsters are pretty good for this too, though, in free states.

 

[Admin]

Gotcha. You had me worried for a minute there.

ETA: However advocating that you should secure a home defense weapon at night is literally writing someone's death sentence and I don't recommend telling the sheep to do so.

 

[TheRoland]

I don't think I'd ever advocate breaking an unjust and likely unconstitutional law. I don't know why you're reading sarcasm into my posts.

 

[Admin]

I don't think I'd ever advocate breaking an unjust and likely unconstitutional law. I don't know why you're reading sarcasm into my posts.

I guess I just figure most people don't need to be told what to do. I get proven wrong daily.

 

[cekim]

Ya it's funny how the door pops open at night, but just happens to be closed before the wife gets up.

It's like it reads your mind and just knows when you are ready to open it huh? Fantastic design - kudos to gunvault...

 

[TheRoland]

It's like it reads your mind and just knows when you are ready to open it huh? Fantastic design - kudos to gunvault...

I don't see why they couldn't create RFID or remote-control based quick-access safes, that stay open for X time while you're within Y distance of them. The electronics involved wouldn't too complicated to be reliable.

Really, the mind-reading seems unnecessary, as these requirements probably will not be valid law for that long. And people seem happy with gunvaults and sentry keypads in the mean time. Safe-storage violations are still lifetime LTC disqualifies, if I remember correctly, and I think it's not too ridiculous that people want to avoid that.


Retrieving a gun from a locked safe seems like a great start position for an IDPA stage.

 

[richc]

I have a similar solution, not going to share it here though.

Anal cavity carry there Kev???

 

[BWhite]

Be carefull drawers can stick and drawer pulls can pull out .

 

[Sibb]

I don't see why they couldn't create RFID or remote-control based quick-access safes, that stay open for X time while you're within Y distance of them. The electronics involved wouldn't too complicated to be reliable.

Really, the mind-reading seems unnecessary, as these requirements probably will not be valid law for that long. And people seem happy with gunvaults and sentry keypads in the mean time. Safe-storage violations are still lifetime LTC disqualifies, if I remember correctly, and I think it's not too ridiculous that people want to avoid that.


Retrieving a gun from a locked safe seems like a great start position for an IDPA stage.

Actually, I've seen that on an IDPA video on youtube.

 

[cekim]

wouldn't reaching into a safe with an extended hand thumb up be considered air gunning?

IPDA weenie says whatnow?

I thought that only applied to pointing/planning targets?

If the safe isn't pointed at a target, then why would it matter?

 

[Kevlar]

...Safe-storage violations are still lifetime LTC disqualifies, if I remember correctly, and I think it's not too ridiculous that people want to avoid that.

True, and additionally, if it's a "large capacity" firearm, a conviction would render one a federally prohibited person.

ETA: My safe storage solution? I don't sleep...ever. I'm waiting for drgrant to market his gun coffin™ so I can finally get some shut eye.

 

[BullieBred]

I have the same one, nice and sturdy. Keep in mind though, that even if you can open it in the dark, it's a different story in the dark with some adrenaline flowing through your hands. I convinced myself I would be able to open that safe if I needed to in the middle of the night. I practiced with my eyes closed dozens if not hundreds of times. Cake. Opened first try in less than 2 seconds every time without fail.

Until one night at 3a.m. the house alarm went off- BAM! Adrenaline dump. I didn't notice that my hand was shaking until I tried to work the buttons. I got it open on the THIRD try, probably 15-20 seconds to do it.

You have to imagine what it's like when an alarm is going off, which wakes up your baby who starts crying, your wife says "WHAT'S GOING ON?" and the alarm company calls you so your phone is ringing on top of all that. Then trying to shepard your other kids into the master bedroom, etc.

I was lucky I had such a "wake up" call, so to speak. That night it was a false alarm, the wind had blown open a not quite closed 3-season room door to set off the alarm. Needless to say, I have found an alternate solution so I will never be separated from my gun like that again.

Do not discount what adrenaline does to fine motor skills.

How come the wind didn't blow it open at 6:30pm or 10:00pm? You sure it was the wind that opened the door and that the alarm didn't scare someone off ?

 

[fencer]

I had a voice activated safe with the secret code word "Leroy" in my bedroom, but for some reason I kept finding it open when I came home from work.

 

[RI_John]

How come the wind didn't blow it open at 6:30pm or 10:00pm? You sure it was the wind that opened the door and that the alarm didn't scare someone off ?

There's an outside door that goes into the 3-season room from the deck-- the doors that are alarmed are the french doors from the 3-season room into the house interior. The outside door was still shut and locked and all the open windows still had their screens in place.

The only people the alarm scared were me and the baby- and the baby reacted with more poise than I did!

 

[60 buckscash]

wouldn't reaching into a safe with an extended hand thumb up be considered air gunning?

At that point the buzzer has gone off and you are just wasting time!

 

[pipmaster1971]

I usually keep a gun under my bed, not in a safe. I will then put it to bed in the safe when I get up. So I take it that's illegal in MA?

 

[07Mustang]

I usually keep a gun under my bed, not in a safe. I will then put it to bed in the safe when I get up. So I take it that's illegal in MA?

yes

Storage of Firearms

MGL 140 Section 131L. (a) It shall be unlawful to store or keep any firearm, rifle or shotgun including, but not limited to, large capacity weapons, or machine gun in any place unless such weapon is secured in a locked container or equipped with a tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device, properly engaged so as to render such weapon inoperable by any person other than the owner or other lawfully authorized user. For purposes of this section, such weapon shall not be deemed stored or kept if carried by or under the control of the owner or other lawfully authorized user.

 

[WeedWhacker]

yes
Storage of Firearms
MGL 140 Section 131L. BLAH BLAH BLAH.

I'm still trying to figure out why we need a law to tell me what appropriate storage is for an object. In the mean time i personally use BLAH BLAH BLAH.......

 

[GSG]

The way I see it, even if you have kids, you can store it...

I'm a firm believer that gunproofing your kids is more important than kid proofing your guns. I'm also aware that this isn't always possible (kids with autism, maturity issues, too young to understand, etc.), but even then there's options.

I did have one of the big biovaults, which were a lot easier to open in total darkness, but it shorted out on me just after the warranty expired.

Say that reminds me.

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/38197-Well-it-happened...my-safe-refused-to-open

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/80238-Gunvault-Fail

There was also a monster thread with pictures of the frayed cable that I can't find right now.

What do you recommend then?

Move, or lead the fight in court to fixing the storage law.

Keep in mind though, that even if you can open it in the dark, it's a different story in the dark with some adrenaline flowing through your hands.

+1.

I use a safe, but my non-expert opinion is that safe storage laws (or interpretations thereof) that require locking a gun up when merely asleep (and not absent) would likely not survive any sort of scrutiny under Heller.

I agree that it goes against the intent of Heller, although it wasn't brought up specifically there. Confronting an intruder at night was specifically mentioned in the decision.

True, and additionally, if it's a "large capacity" firearm, a conviction would render one a federally prohibited person.

Yup.

I usually keep a gun under my bed, not in a safe. I will then put it to bed in the safe when I get up. So I take it that's illegal in MA?

Yup. A guy in a green town in Mass. ("green" meaning good about issuing licenses) slept with a handgun under the bed. His GF had a medical emergency in the middle of the night, he called 911, the firefighters/EMS who arrived spotted the gun in the melee and notified the PD, who charged him with improper storage. He didn't get convicted but lost his LTC for 5 years or so for "suitability" reasons. I'm not sure how but he got it back or how much it cost him, but he had to go without for half a decade.

 

[Titan]

Gun Vault. No use for the biometric versions ... too slow.

The couple of seconds it takes to access the gun gives me the chance to make sure the cobwebs are cleared.

I use them (around the house) because they make sense for me, and I would do so even in a free state.

 

[GSG]

I use them (around the house) because they make sense for me, and I would do so even in a free state.

Heretic!!