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

IMO Locking up a home defense gun is planning to fail.

In a household with kids and frequent guests, how would you secure it against unauthorized handling when it's not on your person, and when you're asleep? That's the circumstance where I usually recommend a lock box with a quality (KABA) simplex lock.
 
In a household with kids and frequent guests, how would you secure it against unauthorized handling when it's not on your person, and when you're asleep? That's the circumstance where I usually recommend a lock box with a quality (KABA) simplex lock.

My kids don't touch my guns neither do my friends kids. I don't have people over in my house who I don't trust.
 
In a household with kids and frequent guests, how would you secure it against unauthorized handling when it's not on your person, and when you're asleep? That's the circumstance where I usually recommend a lock box with a quality (KABA) simplex lock.

Great advice here that nobody should "have" to follow by law!
 
does make it slightly harder for them to be stolen though. You'll need tools to get it out.

Lets weigh the differences...

Stolen gun when I'm at work or a shot to my head and murdered children because my mechanical lock failed when I tried to open it at 3am with a bad guy at the door of my bedroom.

My insurance will replace the firearm, not my life or my family's.
 
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

My gun vault uses a plug and the bartery is just backup.
 
Lets weigh the differences...

Stolen gun when I'm at work or a shot to my head and murdered children because my mechanical lock failed when I tried to open it at 3am with a bad guy at the door of my bedroom.

My insurance will replace the firearm, not my life or my family's.

I open mine before bed, shut mine before going to work to leave for the day. I leave mine open when ever I'm home, just because I don't have to worry about kids or guests.
 
Probably didn't make myself clear, I got this for Christmas: http://www.sentrysafe.com/Products/503/QAP1BE_Biometric_Pistol_Safe_ and looking for suggestions on how to mount it securely in accordance with goose rule laws (because I have a child in the house now) and not open this thread up to a debate/discussion on other types of storage. So far, the best method is to lag it to the floor (though the house is a rental) under the bed. The other option I have come across is to mount it upside down under the bed so I can reach under it and get to the firearm that way. Does anybody else have this pistol safe and if so, how is it mounted?
 
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.

A gun lock box/safe is merely one level of security. They really are designed for only one thing and that is to prevent "instant access" and they do that job fairly well (at least some of them do).

Worrying about someone drilling it open, prying it off furniture, etc. means to me that you don't have a multi-layer system of security in your home. The following should alleviate that issue: moat with alligators, barbed wire, alarm system that drops grates to trap the perp in the building, etc. Seriously, keeping your doors and windows locked or inaccessible (don't store a ladder outside) plus see Derek's comment and my response below, along with a lock box should do fine.


My kids don't touch my guns neither do my friends kids. I don't have people over in my house who I don't trust.

I think that I know Derek well enough to know that he has done the one thing that really works (nothing else really will) and that is "gun-proof the kids" and that is by teaching, removing the mystery and making it clear that they are not toys but they can handle and use them properly only with supervision when they want to. It is IMPOSSIBLE to "kid-proof the guns", as a kid I knew how to get into anything I wanted to and knew where all the tools were and we had lots of them. Now with the Internet, Google will teach any kid how to break into anything in minutes.


Probably didn't make myself clear, I got this for Christmas: http://www.sentrysafe.com/Products/503/QAP1BE_Biometric_Pistol_Safe_ and looking for suggestions on how to mount it securely in accordance with goose rule laws (because I have a child in the house now) and not open this thread up to a debate/discussion on other types of storage. So far, the best method is to lag it to the floor (though the house is a rental) under the bed. The other option I have come across is to mount it upside down under the bed so I can reach under it and get to the firearm that way. Does anybody else have this pistol safe and if so, how is it mounted?

My suggestion is to bolt it to something (heavy furniture/bed/floor) such that you have easy access to it but it is reasonably secure. When you move, you plug any holes and smooth it over, done.
 
Lets weigh the differences...

Stolen gun when I'm at work or a shot to my head and murdered children because my mechanical lock failed when I tried to open it at 3am with a bad guy at the door of my bedroom.

My insurance will replace the firearm, not my life or my family's.

true true
 
My kids don't touch my guns neither do my friends kids. I don't have people over in my house who I don't trust.

I'll mention this for the benefit of any newcomers reading this thread. There are lots of ways to guard against unauthorized access. Carefully controlling who comes into your house is certainly one of them.

I agree it's important to gun-proof your kids. I gun-proof lots of other people's kids too. That's necessary, but in our house it's not sufficient.

We have pre-school kids visit the house regularly, and I don't know all my kids' friends well enough to trust them. So in our house, the guns are always either locked up or under someone's direct control.
 
Probably didn't make myself clear, I got this for Christmas: http://www.sentrysafe.com/Products/503/QAP1BE_Biometric_Pistol_Safe_ and looking for suggestions on how to mount it securely in accordance with goose rule laws (because I have a child in the house now) and not open this thread up to a debate/discussion on other types of storage. So far, the best method is to lag it to the floor (though the house is a rental) under the bed. The other option I have come across is to mount it upside down under the bed so I can reach under it and get to the firearm that way. Does anybody else have this pistol safe and if so, how is it mounted?

Do you have a closet in your bedroom? If so you could through bolt it to a shelf, it would be a bit higher too.
 
I mounted a gun vault on my headboard next to my mattress.

Gaining access to unlock the safe is cumbersome at best. The buttons are slow and picky. But I do appreciate how easy the gun is to access and draw from the drop down door.

For legal purposes, when I fee I am in direct control of the firearm, the safe is open and door is dropped down. When I am no longer in direct control for any reason, the safe is closed.

If there were an intruder coming up the stairs of my house, I have no doubt I would not be able to fumble with the combination in time.

Derek


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You're over thinking it. Just get yourself elected to a position that allows the govt to pay for a security detail 24/7 outside your house...
 
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