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Hi,

Just want some criticism/suggestions on how I currently store my firearms. I know many won't agree, it's OK, i'm open to suggestions and a better way.

I have 2 fire arms, a .40 caliber glock which stays in the house and a 9mm subcompact springfield which stays in the car.

My at home firearm sits in the master closet at the very top shelf inside of a CD case bag that's 1/4 way unzipped for easier access in a stressful moment. It has a magazine inside but not loaded. (Wife is very paranoid about having a loaded weapon in the house and we haven't came to an agreement on keeping it loaded) We have a 12 month old so at the point in time, there's no worry of her being able to reach it but she could some day.

In my car, the 9mm is in the trunk but tucked under the trunk mattress. This one is loaded. When I go out, I reach into my trunk, put my holster on and place the gun on me. Problem with this is I'm always paranoid of some kid seeing me and getting ideas of breaking in to my car to steal it. I just look around to make sure no one is watching me before I put it on me.

Please post how you store your firearm at home or in the car also.

In the vehicle I just use a gun vault similar to this:
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It stays under the seat, tethered to the seat post by a cable. It wouldn't stop a seriously motivated thief, but it keeps the gun inside the vehicle, and makes it much more accessible.

KC5AV wrote:In the vehicle I just use a gun vault similar to this:
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It stays under the seat, tethered to the seat post by a cable. It wouldn't stop a seriously motivated thief, but it keeps the gun inside the vehicle, and makes it much more accessible.

This is how I do one of mine.

KC5AV wrote:In the vehicle I just use a gun vault similar to this:
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It stays under the seat, tethered to the seat post by a cable. It wouldn't stop a seriously motivated thief, but it keeps the gun inside the vehicle, and makes it much more accessible.

Good suggestion, I may look into this.

not knowing if (1) any kids in your house or (2) you or your spouse are the only one with access to your car, i will answer with my feelings, with the assumption its just the 2 of you, and no kids to 'find' your weapons.
What I have done for years:
- -- I have no kids in my house our vehicle
1 - I have a safe for many of my guns in the house, but also have 2 handguns and a shotgun not in the safe.
-- the 2 handguns are in easily accessible, yet not in plain view locations
--- both are loading and chambered, ready to fire

-- the shotgun is hidden in closet, but would be easily found if someone was looking
----- the shotgun is the only weapon i have accessible, which does not have a round chambered. I want the "clack" of the slide, to be heard by an intruder. Also if a friend happened to find the gun, they wouldnt possibly just pull the trigger and it would discharge

--- many other guns are in the safe, more so, so if I have a break-in, most of my guns wont be taken

------- the 2 handguns which are not, if they can find them, well, I cant stop them from taking them

2 - in my car,
I have a weapon in my armrest, ready, loaded and chambered
-- i used to use an underseat safe, but with many issues, it became problematic (power seats, too many cables, couldnt get the safe in/out easily) had to put in trunk, and if i was 'jacked', its very difficult to say to the carjacker ' please wait till i get my gun out of the trunk'

In the end of the day, I think my house and cars are as safe as they can reasonably be.
The guns are not in plain sight or easily accessible

Teamless wrote:not knowing if (1) any kids in your house .....

He stated above that he has a 12 month old daughter.

To the OP, I have a 7 month old granddaughter whom we watch during the day. Currently, I have not deviated from my longtime habit of having a loaded handgun in Condition 1 on my dresser, and a 12 gauge shotgun in Condition 3 propped up in a corner of the bedroom. As soon as Kaylee is able to crawl (pretty soon), the shotgun will go on a rack above the bedroom door (I could do this now, but I am lazy), and I'll probably invest in a dresser-top safe of some kind.

I own a regular gunsafe, and I have a number of rifles, shotguns, and handguns already stored in it. But they are locked up and in another part of the house, and are therefore unavailable for home defense in a crisis.

A final note: you have to get this across to your wife...... exactly ZERO guns are useful for self/home-defense if they are kept unloaded. She simply has to trust in your ability to be safe about it, and you have to arrive at a point where your daughter will not be unsafe around firearms.

I accomplished this by allowing my (then) 4 year old son to see my guns, and then when he was 5 or 6 I started taking him to the range and had him shooting a youth-sized .22 rifle. So by the time he was old enough and big enough that gun safety could have been a problem in my house, he had already well and truly scratched that itch, and he was no longer curious about guns in a dangerous way. He is now a 25 year old gunsmith.

You really should introduce your child to firearms as soon as it is safe to do so, so that she will not be tempted to investigate without permission later as she grows older. She will already know what is safe and what is not.

The problem is that as long as you or your wife treat firearms like they are forbidden fruit, your child will be tempted to eat them......it's kind of a Garden of Eden thing. But when you teach a child that they can satisfy their curiosity in a safe way, under controlled circumstances, that curiosity will dissapate.

Just my 2¢....

Maybe im confused but why is your gun stored in the trunk of your car? Seems like the most useless place to keep it to me. Also I don't leave things laying out in my car which would make thieves want to break in to steal. I live in a high crime area and never had my car broken into.

I have a gun for each of my cars and it never leaves the center console between the seats.

I don't have kids but I also don't let my niece or nephew sit alone in my car when they visit.


I cant help you with home because im single so I have atleast one gun laying out loaded at all times.

Teamless wrote: ----- the shotgun is the only weapon i have accessible, which does not have a round chambered. I want the "clack" of the slide, to be heard by an intruder. Also if a friend happened to find the gun, they wouldnt possibly just pull the trigger and it would discharge

Noooo! Don't forget that loud sounds also forfeit your element of surprise. I could rather just keep a round chambered and keep the shotgun on SAFE. If you really feel the urge to scare the intruder and give away your position at that point, you could still do so and have the same number of rounds ready (if you topped off). And if you have friends who snoop around your home and randomly pull triggers on firearms, you need new friends. (Either that or you need to take them to the range and teach them gun safety.)

winters wrote:Maybe im confused but why is your gun stored in the trunk of your car? Seems like the most useless place to keep it to me.

It's only there when I'm not in the car so it's not accessible to a crook who may have broken in. When I'm in the car going places it's in my holster.

From what I've read around ( I don't own a shotgun so I can't vouch for it) is that if you have a shotgun loaded in the chamber & you were to drop/knock it over it could go off. They do not have a firing pin block from what I've read. Again I don't know if that's true but just a thought. My wife is clumsy/ some what accident prone, that is what would concern me.

Now to storage. I keep all my firearms in my custom safe with exception of my EDC gun. It remains loaded & tucked away when I'm at work. As soon as I'm home my EDC goes on my hip. I have taught my kids about firearms, my youngest (6YO)isn't old enough to go to the range though. Every month or so I will pull my oldest's 22,We will then load it with snap caps & practice safe handling & dry firing. We do also have BB guns that I train them on as well. My kids do know not to play with a firearm, so I feel comfortable there.

Not long ago Woot had the Nanovaults on sale. For handguns, I'd pick up a couple of those (or something similar).

We don't have kids at home, but if I know someone with kids is coming over, ALL the hardware goes in the safe and gets locked up. Then I lock the room the safe is in.

Keeping an unloaded magazine in an unloaded gun in a hard to reach CD case, mostly zipped.... equals unarmed in my opinion.
Same for keeping a gun in your trunk. Why bother? Why risk it getting stolen?

1. Carry a loaded gun on your person.

If you are not able to carry on your person
2. In the house, use a quick access lock box. Like this... (not a recommendation for a product, just an example)


3. In the car, there are many solutions.... easiest is the center console (Use a HOLSTER!). Myriad other choices.
I use a cable and lock box if I ever need to store my gun in the car.

Do people really leave loaded handguns laying around the house unattended? Seems terribly unsafe to me. If it isn't on your person/under your immediate control, I really think you ought to unload the thing. You just never know who might end up running across it and possibly creating a 100% preventable tragedy.

g31357 wrote:My at home firearm sits in the master closet at the very top shelf inside of a CD case bag that's 1/4 way unzipped for easier access in a stressful moment. It has a magazine inside but not loaded. (Wife is very paranoid about having a loaded weapon in the house and we haven't came to an agreement on keeping it loaded) We have a 12 month old so at the point in time, there's no worry of her being able to reach it but she could some day.

You need to get a simple fast open safe for that. You can get inexpensive ones at Academy or any sports store. Once that kid starts moving, don't assume ANYTHING about what they can or can't do. Even if there's a 1 in 10,000 its worth spending the $40 no?

AlaskanInTexas wrote:Do people really leave loaded handguns laying around the house unattended? Seems terribly unsafe to me. If it isn't on your person/under your immediate control, I really think you ought to unload the thing. You just never know who might end up running across it and possibly creating a 100% preventable tragedy.

Im single and I live alone. I do what I want.