How do you store your firearms when not in use? Do you leave it on a countertop? In the sock drawer? In a lock box? How about a safe? Please don’t just leave it in your car console! I am going to address some common storage options and talk about some legalities with storage.
In dealing with students from all skill levels, I have been told everything from “I leave it in my car” to “I unload it and secure it in a safe every night”. What we need to do is find the balance between restricting access to those that we do not want to gain access to the firearm and us being able to defend ourselves if necessary. Thankfully we have several options.
Here in the great state of Texas, we have a safe storage law. Without going into an entire legal class, it says that if you have someone less that 18 years of age in your home (or wherever you store the firearm) or the potential for someone less than 18 years of age to be in that location, you are legally responsible to secure the firearm so that they do not have access. If they do gain access to the firearm or injure themself or others with the firearm, you can be held criminally responsible. If you are not in Texas, please do some research and see what the legal requirement is to secure the firearm. It may vary greatly from state to state.
So, what are your storage options in the home? Every new gun is required by federal law to include some type of locking device. Most manufacturers include a cable lock. They are designed to keep the gun from being loaded by passing through the action and locking on the outside of the gun. These locks will work, but they can easily be defeated with a set of shears or by breaking the lock. Trigger locks are also an option, they lock onto the trigger guard and will keep the trigger from being pressed. No trigger press means the gun can’t go bang. Neither of these will keep the gun from being removed from your storage location. There are several very good lock boxes on the market these days. StopBox makes a model that is fast opening, able to be cabled to a fixed object, is TSA compliant if you want to take your firearm on vacation and is pretty affordable. There are other models out there as well, and I am sure someone can come up with a positive and negative reason to use one over another. Safes are a great option if you have the room for one. You can safely store your firearm as well as important paperwork, jewelry and any other valuables you don’t want a burglar to walk out with. For some, the cost of a safe could be an issue. There are safes that open with a biometric like a fingerprint, but some others can be difficult or time consuming to open in an emergency. Think about one of the bank robbery movies that you have seen where the clerk has to spin the dial several time under the watchful eye of the bank robber. There are other options like furniture that has hidden locking compartments and shelfs that look innocent enough until you access the hidden lock and expose your firearms. I have seen these in sizes that will fit several pistols as well as rifles.
There are a lot of people that keep a firearm in their vehicle. I am not a fan of this practice since cars are easily stolen and even easier to break into. Thieves will target a vehicle with all of the cool guy gun stickers on the back window with the hopes that they can steal a gun. Please don’t advertise that you have a gun in the car. If you are going to leave a gun in the car, here in Texas, it cannot be in “plain view”. In other words, someone can’t walk past the vehicle and see a gun or what appears to be a gun. Please think twice before using one of those magnet type systems that stick the gun under the dash. They are usually not strong enough to hold onto the gun in even a low-speed crash. There are manufacturers that are making a lock box that can be fixed in the console of the vehicle, making it a small mobile safe. This won’t help however if someone takes the whole car.
There is no one size fits all answer for proper storage for a firearm. Everyone has a different home situation. Learn the laws of the State, County or City that you live in. A knowledgeable local instructor that teaches your states licensing program is a good place to start for information. You may only have one chance to prevent a tragedy from occurring. A ballistic firearms injury to a child can have a devastating effect. Their bodies are not as developed as an adult, and don’t usually contain the volume of muscle or fat to survive a gunshot wound. Security verses accessibility is what you are looking for. The important part is to find a system that works for you and will keep the firearm out of the hands that it should not be in, and use that system all the time.