I live in MA and store my firearms with trigger locks and in locked cases. I want to have them in a safe or cabinet as the cases are stacked on top of each other and does not look great in my bedroom. My wife wants me to get a cabinet with a glass door and locks instead of a safe so our bedroom does not "look like a jail cell" My question, is a cabinet with locks and a glass door a MA compliant way to store my firearms?
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Gun Storage
- Thread starter Trusty Rombone
- Start date
http://www.goal.org/masslawpages/storageinfo.html
Specifically
The law requires guns to be stored in a specific manner. All guns, when not in use, with the exception of primitive firearms, must be stored or kept “secured in a locked container or equipped with a tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device,” to prevent unauthorized use. Penalties are assessed even if no underage person obtains access.
(Chapter 140, section 131L)
Specifically
The law requires guns to be stored in a specific manner. All guns, when not in use, with the exception of primitive firearms, must be stored or kept “secured in a locked container or equipped with a tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device,” to prevent unauthorized use. Penalties are assessed even if no underage person obtains access.
(Chapter 140, section 131L)
Go for it.
The problem with the statute is that doesn't provide much clarity, a problem the courts struggle with as much as we do. The real issue is how you'll be treated if something happens, something even as simple as having gun(s) stolen during a burglary. You can't really be convicted in a trial if your guns are locked in a cabinet, even a glass one and adding trigger or cable locks to each one specifically meets the requirement. Of course you life can be completely ruined even if you never go to trial. Just getting charged can do that.
If you have nice guns, it's great to show them off in a glass door gun cabinet. What I'd do is secure all the guns in the cabinet using a cable that runs through the trigger guards of each gun, down through a hole in the cabinet and through an anchor secured to the floor under the cabinet.
The problem with the statute is that doesn't provide much clarity, a problem the courts struggle with as much as we do. The real issue is how you'll be treated if something happens, something even as simple as having gun(s) stolen during a burglary. You can't really be convicted in a trial if your guns are locked in a cabinet, even a glass one and adding trigger or cable locks to each one specifically meets the requirement. Of course you life can be completely ruined even if you never go to trial. Just getting charged can do that.
If you have nice guns, it's great to show them off in a glass door gun cabinet. What I'd do is secure all the guns in the cabinet using a cable that runs through the trigger guards of each gun, down through a hole in the cabinet and through an anchor secured to the floor under the cabinet.
Knuckle Dragger makes some nice points. You can make a nice looking glass cabinet but you can also make it soa stiff breeze doesn't gain you access. hitting up lowes and buying lexan instead of glass will be a big help too. Also like KD mentioned soem kind of a bar that goes across al the guns (like the club on a cars steerign wheel) will add extra security beyond a glass case with a $4 pad lock on it
