Safe Storage?

Given the recent STEM shooting, the fact that they lived down the street, and apparently broke into a gun safe (was it a shitty one? a locked cabinet? one of those crappy thin metal boxes? WTF knows?), my wife has become pretty intensely concerned about having guns in the house and my safe isn't safe enough for her, especially with the kids. My 6 year old was there, but I think he was only traumatized by the alarms and the cops "securing" them. He saw a cop a few days later and didn't seem too scared. I can appreciate the concern, but I think our safe is decent quality. We all like to think we won't raise nutcases. I'm trying to make this work out for all parties, but I don't know if there are any good options. Are there any kind of businesses that would secure safes? I don't think some random self storage facility would be adequate. Another option would be at my folks' up the street, but that would be suboptimal for a number of reasons if they even went for it. Still, it's less bad than a "give up a hobby and sell them" option. Even though I don't hardly ever shoot anymore, I'd still like to be able to. Any options?

Please no "ditch the bitch" or political bullshit. None of that's helpful.

What is her reasoning for not being safe enough? I will guess they had a cheap cabinet and not a fire/water safe. Show her videos of liberty safes, or step up the game and get a U.L. rated safe that banks and jewelers use.

Sometimes craiglist has some old heavy duty safes for sale cheap. Wouldn't hurt to have a burglar alarm too. Help keep the whole house safe. Just add some surveillance cameras. If you have all 3, I could see a jury relieving you from a civil suit claim. Just my opinion .02 cents...

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Originally Posted by BushMasterBoy

Sometimes craiglist has some old heavy duty safes for sale cheap. Wouldn't hurt to have a burglar alarm too. Help keep the whole house safe. Just add some surveillance cameras.

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I think those suggestions are good for protecting the guns from outsiders, but I think his wife's real concern is that their own crumb cruncher will flip out some day, get into the safe and get all mass-murdery.

Without knowing the level of your current safe(s) I can't tell if your wife's concerns are valid or not. If all you have is some cheap Walmart safe, then just upgrade to a Liberty or other higher quality safe and you should be fine (unless she's going to be completely unreasonable and will only accept complete removal from the house, in which case move them to your folk's place ... and then go through the stupid hoops of officially transferring all of them to your parents so that they become "their" guns lest you be violating our dumbass universal background check law).

As for the kids at the STEM school, I'd bet $10 that the one that stole the guns from the parent's safe had been trusted with the combination to the safe back when they thought their kid was sane.

I hadn't read that the guns were stolen from a safe. I just read that the 18 year old stole them from his parents. Where'd you find the info that a safe was broken into?

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Originally Posted by kwando

What is her reasoning for not being safe enough? I will guess they had a cheap cabinet and not a fire/water safe. Show her videos of liberty safes, or step up the game and get a U.L. rated safe that banks and jewelers use.

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It's a Liberty Revolution. This doesn't come from a place of rational informed concern so much as ...panic? She didn't like it before, I guess, but went along.

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Originally Posted by Gman

I hadn't read that the guns were stolen from a safe. I just read that the 18 year old stole them from his parents. Where'd you find the info that a safe was broken into?

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That was what I'd heard first, but all I'm seeing now is "stolen". You know how the stories morph over time.

I suppose I could pop down the street and ask, but I think that'd be more than a bit weird. [LOL]

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Originally Posted by RobertB

It's a Liberty Revolution. This doesn't come from a place of rational informed concern so much as ...panic? She didn't like it before, I guess, but went along.

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Challenge her to break into it. If she can crack it open tell her everything will go.

I found this where an unnamed source is referenced:

STEM School shooting suspects smashed into locked gun cabinet to steal weapons, source says

Cabinet does not equal 'safe', but then who knows about the "source" and whether the info could be trusted.

STEM shooting suspect stole weapons from parents, sources say

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HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Devon Erickson, one of the suspects in the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting, stole weapons from his parents, according to law enforcement sources.

The sources say Erickson’s parents had the guns locked up, but did not specifically say how the guns were secured.

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I don't disagree, and mentioned that in the OP. You almost never see well-written, accurate, and complete reporting. Like I said though, that really isn't the issue. This is the irrational "I'm putting my foot down" and the only options seem to be removal, but my aim is to do this and still retain ownership if possible.

I Iike Ray's suggestion.

Pretty sure immediate family are excluded from the background check law. They can be in possession of them, without doing a transfer, while you still maintain ownership. Call it a "loan"...

18-12-112

(6) The provisions of this section do not apply to:


(b) A transfer that is a bona fide gift or loan between immediate family members, which are limited to spouses, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, first cousins, aunts, and uncles;

That Liberty 24 gun safe is pretty decent. Bolting it down will make it a more secure installation.
Seen the Liberty Safelert? It's a smart puck on wifi that alerts to door opens, motion, and monitors humidity and temp. It has an external antenna. Supports up to 5 users, maybe that would give her peace of mind.

Could you store the safe locked (they do not have access) in a family members house? Sign a lease agreement to lease the space that the safe occupies.

Many storage places may prohibit firearms and ammo to be stored in their facilities.

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Originally Posted by battlemidget

That Liberty 24 gun safe is pretty decent. Bolting it down will make it a more secure installation.
Seen the Liberty Safelert? It's a smart puck on wifi that alerts to door opens, motion, and monitors humidity and temp. It has an external antenna. Supports up to 5 users, maybe that would give her peace of mind.

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Good idea, something like this and a camera on the safe. You would know the safe was opened and who did it.

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Originally Posted by RobertB

It's a Liberty Revolution. This doesn't come from a place of rational informed concern so much as ...panic? She didn't like it before, I guess, but went along.

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Ah ... well if she's not going to be rational then there's really no option ... take the safe to your folks house and be done with it because she wants them out of the house. Period. So there is no option to keep them in the house that will work.

As hollohas pointed out, I was wrong about needing to transfer them so it should be as easy as loading the Liberty up and taking it down there.

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Originally Posted by kwando

What is her reasoning for not being safe enough? I will guess they had a cheap cabinet and not a fire/water safe. Show her videos of liberty safes, or step up the game and get a U.L. rated safe that banks and jewelers use.

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Pretty sure you meant TL rated safe. U.L. rated is Underwriters Labratories which test RSCs(Residential Security Containers)

RobertB I'm sure I can order, deliver and install a TL30 safe that would make your wife comfortable with anything and everything she owns to be put into it! Unfortunately I have no used one at the moment and new ones are pricey....think 4 or 5 of those liberty safes!

I don't imagine the wife has any worries that the kids will take an angle grinder to his current Liberty safe, so I don't think a more secure safe really solves anything.

As someone pointed out, if she isn't being rational about it, then logic is of no use.

For me, I'd simply point out that the current gun storage is completely secure from kids getting into it as long as they don't have the combo. Maybe add the SafeAlert and/or camera if extra reassurance is needed.

Sorry you are going thru this. I went thru something slightly similar where my mom didn't want me to bring a couple guns when I went to visit. Dad was looking forward to a trip to the shooting range. It hurt a little bit that my own mom didn't think I was smart enough to make sure things were safe. I was lucky in that it was just for a visit. Can't imagine how I'd react in your situation.

Simple solutions.
A-Change combo of safe, your the only one that knows it.
B-Raise your children properly.


If your worried about your own children breaking in to your safe and stealing your own property the problem lies with the parents, not the children.

Also, I know you weren?t looking for any relationship advice and I wouldn?t pretend to try to understand the dynamics between the two of you but perhaps there are things beyond the whole firearms issue that you guys need to work on.

I?ve only had two wives so my experience is limited but both of them weren?t really into the same things I was into. I get that two people aren?t going to see eye to eye on everything and that people from different sides of the tracks can still be very much in love but marriage is also a little bit of give and take.

She doesn?t want guns in the house. Fine. You do want to have them around and enjoy them. Fine. The compromise is probably your current situation that they are around but locked up and out of sight.

Any time one half of a relationship wants 100% of control over the relationship eventually that relationship is likely doomed.

Sorry. I hope you guys get everything worked out.

Ray's initial suggestion is a good one because it brings the situation a bit out of the hysteria stage of the worry and provides an avenue for true understanding of how a safe serves its purpose without any emotional dialogue that might otherwise sink the conversion further.

We all know the struggle with this kind of thing.

Move the safe to the garage. OR possibly seek counseling, as there seems to be (as mentioned) another issue at play.

I agree with Ray. You need to get her thinking out of hysterical mom mode and into critical thinking mode. Having her try to break into the safe is a good start. Maybe follow that up with family education on weapons discipline. When I was growing up no one had a good safe. Some people had a locking glass front cabinet, but that was the extent of it. I would have been beaten body if I touched one without permission. The real issue is children who are reassured without respect. First for parents, then teachers, then law enforcement, etc. Those are the people who become problems, not their access to weapons. Those are always around it does not matter if it is at your house, a friend's house, or on the street.

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Originally Posted by Great-Kazoo

Move the safe to the garage.

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Imagine how much trouble he would be in if he did that and then she couldn?t get her car in the garage anymore.

In my personal experience, this initial stage will pass, but each event it will come back stronger and slightly different each time. After the Florida one I found out we were the new owners of 8 AR500 chest plates that went into backpacks for a while. The safe storage issue was brought up after this one as well.

So buckle up, keep your cool, and we wish you the best.

Uncle Dave makes very valid points.

I?ve always said that the general lack of discipline is the driving factor for the way society has been heading for decades.

Probably from birth there were unsecured firearms within easy reach for me but there was no way in hell I was going near them for fear of the repercussions.

Parents these days are too worried about their kids liking them. I didn?t like my parents until I was well out of high school and smart enough to reflect back on how much they must have loved me to make tough decisions that I know they didn?t want to make.

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Originally Posted by BPTactical

Simple solutions.
A-Change combo of safe, your the only one that knows it.
B-Raise your children properly.


If your worried about your own children breaking in to your safe and stealing your own property the problem lies with the parents, not the children.

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Nobody knows it for A, and I am sure I am doing B. For your latter, I don't necessarily agree. I think that parents guide you a certain way (uhh...you hope, right? I've seen those who don't seem to do anything at all) but at the end of the day, we make our own choices. Certainly, you can't control other people's actions.

Ray, we do get along mostly well and things are pretty cooperative, but this is definitely a sticking point. Maybe I can just kick it down the road a bit. Hell, the boys are only 4 and 6. I teach the youngest - the wild one - about gun safety with his little sucker-dart pistol and take it from him if he shoots or points it at anyone. The older has no apparent interest.

If the only thing keeping your kid from shooting up their school is your locked gun cabinet, you have far more serious issues that need immediate action.