Do you worry about firearm security in your home?
As firearm owners, we all recognize that we are responsible for ensuring our firearms are safely and securely stored. From a young age, we’ve been told stories about what can happen when firearms are treated more like toys than tools or valuables. Elementary school gun safety videos were shown to us when we were kids, drilling the idea that unsafe firearm storage could lead to injury or death.
Even with all this information, many folks don’t ensure their firearms are stored correctly to protect their families from potential danger. So here are some gun security tips you should be checking up on going into 2022.
At-Home Storage
Just put your firearms in a safe, right? How hard could that be? Well, you’d be surprised!
Firearm storage can be a hot button issue. Though firearms are tools, they can also be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands. You need to ensure that they’re kept safe from potential thieves, as well as family or friends who might not fully recognize the dangers of irresponsible firearm use.
At the very least, we would recommend keeping your firearms in a lockable gun case. Though these cases can be easily transported—making them useless in the event of theft—they still help keep the firearms out of the hands of kids or irresponsible adults.
The best at-home solution for firearm storage is to purchase a gun safe. These are designed for long-term storage, including racks and lined interiors. A safe will not only help protect your firearms from theft, but also assist in protecting your guns from the elements or disasters, such as a flood or fire. However, a quality firearm safe can be very expensive—and the larger the safe, the more expensive it will be. Firearm safes also can be very heavy. Once you place a safe in your home, it’s going to be almost impossible to move by yourself.
If you wish to display one of your firearms in your home, there are some additional rules you need to consider. If the firearm you want to show off is a non-restricted firearm, it needs to be securely attached to something so no one can remove it. It should also have a locking device attached (see below). If you’re displaying one of your firearms at a gun show, the rules might be slightly different, and we would recommend that you contact the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program for information about those situations.
Locking Devices
Even if your firearms are secure inside a safe, container, or security room, that doesn’t mean your job is finished. You should also ensure that all of your firearms are stored with a secure locking device attached, like a trigger or cable lock.
If you have any automatic firearms, you should take the extra step to remove the bolts or bolt carriers to render them non-operational.
Ammunition
Storing your firearm ammunition with your firearms can seem like a no-brainer to an inexperienced gun owner. After all, the ammo should be readily at hand, right? Absolutely not.
You should always store ammunition separately from your guns. Even if you have a heavy-duty locked safe filled with your guns, your ammo should be elsewhere—preferably also under lock and key. By taking this basic step, you can ensure that even if someone were to get their hands on your firearms, they wouldn’t be able to do anything with them as they wouldn’t be loaded.
Also, never store your firearm if it is already loaded. Not only is this incredibly dangerous from a safety perspective, but it could also damage the firearm if something were to go wrong with the ammo.
Environment
At GTA Guns, not only are we concerned with ensuring that no one can get their hands on your firearms but you, but we’re also concerned about the safety and condition of your firearms!
After all, part of our job at GTA Guns is to put firearms through our proprietary GUNCHECK™ and CYCLECHECK™ verification services to determine their exact condition. Therefore, ensuring that firearms are kept in an optimal environment to ensure their condition is always foremost in our minds.
For example, even if you have a firearm safe, you need to be certain that you’re storing it somewhere with a constantly low humidity level. If you live in a high humidity area, be sure to put a moisture absorber in the safe with the guns. A silica gel bead product can help keep the humidity level in your safe at a low level, protecting against things like mould or rust.
Firearms should also be kept at an optimal temperature. It’s best not to keep them in a super hot room. While high-quality gun safes can help protect your guns from the elements, few at-home storage solutions are perfect.
The Best Option: GTA Guns Safe Storage
Many people consider the best place to store their firearms to be out of their homes entirely. And that’s where GTA Guns Safe Storage comes into play!
Our high-security, climate-controlled facility in Newmarket, Ontario, provides firearm owners with a solution for keeping their entire collection safe. We offer long-term, short-term, and automated self-storage options that allow gun owners access to their firearms whenever they want.
Our safe storage facility is kept at a constant temperature and level of humidity to ensure that firearms will always be safe from threats like mould and rust. And as our entire facility is insured, you would be fully covered if the unthinkable were to happen.
With our long-term and short-term storage solutions, you can choose between a long locker (15″ wide, 18″ deep, and 72″ high with 2 top shelves) or a pistol locker (12″x12″x18″). Long-term and short-term storage options are non-accessible, meaning that you’ll need to call ahead to arrange pick-up and drop-off.
However, if you wish to come and go as you please, we also offer our new automated self-storage option. Here, you are given two electronic security devices and one mechanical one that allow you access to our secure location. Now, you can deposit or pick up your firearms whenever it is convenient for you!
Keeping firearms safe in your home is the first priority for every gun owner. If you don’t have the space or resources to securely store them at home, GTA Guns is here to provide you with a fantastic alternative, our own safe storage facility! If you want to learn more about our online firearm auctions or any other services, please feel free to contact us today!