Where do you keep your guns?
For most people, the answer is “at home”. While this is a legitimate place to store your firearms, many firearm collectors worry that they may not have taken the proper steps to keep their guns safe and secure. Be sure to keep these tips in mind when storing your firearms at home:
Teach Your Kids About Guns
If you’re planning on storing your firearms at home, you need to make sure that the most vulnerable people who live there won’t have access to them: your kids (or, perhaps, your visiting grandchildren).
We appreciate that schools teach children about gun safety in the home; the problem is that they do it in one of the hokiest ways possible… by showing them out-of-date videos. These videos often go something like this: two kids are playing at home, one asks the other if they want to see their dad’s gun, they play cops and robbers with the firearm, and tragedy ensues.
Children who see these videos probably won’t find much to identify with. They might even find the old technology, questionable acting, and bad dialogue funny. In other words, they may not take these videos too seriously.
If you have guns in your home, you must teach your children necessary gun safety measures. Show them your firearms (unloaded, of course) to satisfy their curiosity. Depending on their age, you could even let them hold one of your guns. Demystify guns for them, so their curiosity doesn’t put them in danger. These measures could save their lives in a way that school videos can’t.
But, after all of this, let’s say that your kids still go looking for your firearms. In this event, you need to make sure that they are stored without ammunition. In fact, the Firearm Act states:
(c) it is not readily accessible to ammunition, unless the ammunition is stored, together with or separately from the firearm, in a container or receptacle that is kept securely locked and that is constructed so that it cannot readily be broken open or into.
So, if you have firearms, make sure that ammo isn’t readily available to be loaded into them.
Firearm Safes
If you have firearms in the home, you need to make sure they’re secure from both those who live there and those who don’t. Imagine if you had a burglar break-in, only to find your collection of firearms? This is why you should always store your guns in a firearm safe, as they are specially designed to secure and store a collection of firearms.
So, what should you look for in a firearm safe?
A fantastic-quality firearm safe should have some measure of environmental control. After all, you don’t want moisture to degrade your firearms over time. It should also be both watertight and fireproof. These features are necessary if there’s a disaster such as a flood or fire. While even the best gun safe won’t be able to protect your firearms from these disaster conditions forever, a high-quality one should save your collection from being a complete loss. (Don’t forget—you should have insurance for all of your firearms!)
There are two significant drawbacks to firearm safes: the size and the cost. Rifles aren’t small, and if you have an extensive collection of firearms, you’re going to need a large safe. As a big safe is immensely heavy, you likely won’t ever be able to move it after placing it in your home.
When it comes to the cost, if you have a big firearm collection, you’re likely going to need more than one safe—and they aren’t cheap! A good-quality firearm safe can run a couple thousand dollars. If you’re working within a budget, that might mean that you’ll need to look for cheaper accommodations for your guns.
What Is the Best Alternative to Home Firearm Storage?
If you want the safest firearm storage alternative, you need to remove your gun collection from your home entirely.
We believe that the best firearm storage service available is through GTA Guns. Our Safe Storage has kept countless firearms safe for their owners!
With Safe Storage, you keep your firearms in our temperature and humidity-controlled facility, guaranteeing your guns will be stored in optimal conditions to maintain their value. Our facility is monitored 24/7 to prevent any possibility of theft. In the event of an unthinkable disaster, our entire facility and contents are insured. That means you would get the full value of your firearms if anything were to happen. If you need access to your guns, you can take and return them at your leisure; you just give us a call and drop by at the agreed time.
All of that said, there is nothing wrong with storing your firearms at home, so long as you’ve taken proper precautions. But if you want to make 100% sure that your family AND your firearms will be safe, then our Safe Storage facility is the answer!
If you’d like to learn more about GTA Guns Safe Storage, or any of our other services, please feel free to contact us. We work with firearms every day, and you can trust us to keep yours safe and in perfect condition!