Secure bedside pistol storage, how do you do it/which safe?

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I got a Sentry Quick Access Bio Pistol Safe for Christmas http://www.sentrysafe.com/Products/503/QAP1BE_Biometric_Pistol_Safe_ and I'm not exactly sold on it. Couple of concerns I have is location of mounting it. Since it must be mounted flat, and accessible, I thought about mounting it on the night stand, but all someone has to do is pick it up and carry it away. I really wanted the Gun Vault Speed Vault so I could mount it on the bed frame. How do others that have pistol safes next to their bed mount them and what do you have?
 
I got a Sentry Quick Access Bio Pistol Safe for Christmas http://www.sentrysafe.com/Products/503/QAP1BE_Biometric_Pistol_Safe_ and I'm not exactly sold on it. Couple of concerns I have is location of mounting it. Since it must be mounted flat, and accessible, I thought about mounting it on the night stand, but all someone has to do is pick it up and carry it away. I really wanted the Gun Vault Speed Vault so I could mount it on the bed frame. How do others that have pistol safes next to their bed mount them and what do you have?

Few Ideas

Gun-pillow-white.png



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http://www.amazon.com/Patriot-Pillow-Handgun-Storage-Pillow/dp/B00K7IGID8

Be creative...

PS: The pillow is not really for sleeping on, more for show or a second...
 
I am looking for a method of securing a pistol via safe/lock-box. One thought I had was to mount it to the floor under the bed, that so far is the most likely solution.
 
What's your objective here?

Meeting the MA storage requirement?
Preventing someone from walking away w/ your pistol/box?
Reliability of the lock?

That will help determine a solution for you. You've mentioned your concern about mounting - have you thought about a vertical style gunbox that has a spring loaded door? Any box can be mounted more securely, it's really up to how much effort you want to go through. Then the question is - if it's permanently mounted to something - can the box easily be opened? Do you care that you can drill through the box? Do you care if your can pry the box open? Do you care that the lock can be defeated by shorting wires? Do you care the lock can be defeated by drilling?

It's really up to you to determine the requirements, then find the right solution.
FortKnox and V-Line make push button style lock boxes.
 
All the bedside storage boxes can be opened by a small child with a large screwdriver. Lyn Bates did an article on this for Women and Guns years ago, where she collected lock boxes, borrowed some kids, provided them with typical household tools, locked candy in the boxes and said, "go". None of the boxes survived. All were permanently damaged. The kids got all the candy.

If you're sleeping by the box, kids couldn't open it without waking you. If you're thinking of storing a gun in the box all the time, don't delude yourself that the box is kid-proof. A real safe is kid proof, until they learn metal-working. For me, that was in 8th grade, at age 11. If you have kids and guns, your kid should be a competent shooter by 8th grade, and you should be able to trust him or her not to cut open your safe. If you can't trust them that much, maybe having guns in the house is not a good idea.

You need to be sure you're fully awake before you grab your gun. For some people, the bedside table makes sense. For others, they mount the box across the room, so they can't grab it in their sleep. If you're really tired, and something tries to wake you, you can do quite a lot without really waking up. Folks who work long shifts and/or irregular hours will have stories of what they've done in their sleep. I've answered the phone and had conversations while sleeping. The phone call just blended into my dream. I had no recollection of the conversation when I awoke. It's bad enough to do that with a phone. Wouldn't want to do it with a gun.

That said, a lockbox makes a lot of sense. I always recommend one that neither requires a key nor batteries. You want a mechanical simplex lock that you can open in the dark. Place it where you'd have to be fully awake to access the gun. I wouldn't worry overly much about how to bolt it down. All it takes is a big screwdriver to open them. Secure storage happens in a real safe, not a lock box.
 
What's your objective here?

Meeting the MA storage requirement?
RI has a similar law, yes
Preventing someone from walking away w/ your pistol/box?
Yes, so I am looking for suggestions on how to mount a top open pistol safe.
Reliability of the lock?
The Sentry Safe from my research, has pretty good reviews. I haven't seen any videos online yet of people breaking into it.
 
I sleep with a G17 under my pillow and a Sig 226 on the nightstand. The AR is standing in one corner of the room and the 870 is hanging over the doorway into the master bath. That's just one room. Silly laws in some states, actually retarded laws to defend yourself and castle.
 
If you're really tired, and something tries to wake you, you can do quite a lot without really waking up. Folks who work long shifts and/or irregular hours will have stories of what they've done in their sleep. I've answered the phone and had conversations while sleeping. The phone call just blended into my dream. I had no recollection of the conversation when I awoke. It's bad enough to do that with a phone. Wouldn't want to do it with a gun.

You make an excellent point. Back when I was a nuclear project engineer, I was on call 24x7. One morning about 0130 I got a call about a technical problem on one of our subs at GD/EB. He explained some stuff and asked me how to proceed. After the phone call as I really truly woke up to head down to the shipyard, I had the feeling that I had just bought the Brooklyn Bridge!! If I had really been awake I would never have told him to proceed in the manner that I actually did.
 
Who the hell cares if someone can pick up the box and carry it? You have a front door right? As long as the thing keeps the kiddies from accessing the actual gun aren't you g2g?
 
First off I dont have kids so I keep my Glock 21 right on the nightstand right next to my bed every night when I go to sleep, I put my car keys right next to it so in the morning when I get up whether Im half asleep or whatever I grab my car keys and put my gun right into my safe and lock it up then head out to work.
 
I sleep with a G17 under my pillow and a Sig 226 on the nightstand.

Some folks can do this safely. I'm not one of them. When I come off a 30-hour shift, I sleep hard. I don't trust my gun-handling skills when I'm deeply asleep. I wouldn't keep a gun close enough to risk handling it while asleep.

I'm willing to believe that some folks sleep lightly enough and awaken with their faculties intact enough that sleeping with a gun close by is safe. I caution folks to think carefully about this, and be sure your gun is not so close that you could handle it before you're fully awake. I've never been able to validate the stories of folks who got a phone call in the middle of the night, and fumbling for the phone, picked up the gun instead, with fatal result.

Part of responsible gun ownership is operating within your capabilities and limitations. I know mine, and a handgun under the pillow or on the nightstand is not within my limitations. It's not my place to tell others their limitations. I mention this here so newbies reading this thread won't get the impression that any one approach is appropriate for all of us.
 
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I have a gun vault 2000 mounted vertically on my bed frame and it is also corded to my dresser. It had a spring door and I practiced it the code half asleep. It is in between the bed and wall so no one even knows it is there but it just 2 feet from me.
 
I use the two tier gun vault with a selectable access code. I bolted it down to my dresser so you could steal it but you'd have to steal the dresser also. I can get the through the combination and to my guns in about 1 second, maybe 2 seconds. I'm happy with this bedroom safe.
 
Santa brought me the fas 1 safe for christmas. Fits my G19 perfectly. Heavy duty solid construction with an easy simplex lock. Perfect for me . . . . . My 2 cents
 
Pick the one that best fits your environment. The Ft Knox boxes are built like tanks, but no longer use a KABA Simplex lock. They're using the same Illinois Lock Co. as the FAS1 and the V-Line. GunVault uses batteries, so that loses in my opinion - they also seem to be easily picked, or shorted out to release the door mechanism.

The Ft Knox, FAS1 and Vline are going to be easy to open with a drill - if you know where to drill. So really, get whichever one has the best features of how it presents your firearm to you when opening - and which has the best mounting solution to your bedside.

http://www.ftknox.com/product-category/boxes/
http://www.fas1safe.com/
http://vlineind.com/Products.php?category_id=1
http://www.gunvault.com/home-safes.html?limit=15
 
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