There’s more than one way to disarm the people in America. Lawmakers pass unconstitutional gun bans and limit the places they can carry a firearm. Governments can “buy back” guns they never owned. And now, there’s a new and even more insidious way to take guns out of circulation: render them inoperable inside gun owners’ homes.
Police in Bloomington, Illinois gave away 312 “gun safes” to local residents this past weekend. People lined up early to get their “free” ~100-pound safes at the Farmer’s Market downtown. So many turned out, in fact, that police started handing out vouchers a half-hour early because the line was so long.
Here’s the problem: the safes aren’t made for securing firearms. In fact, Sentry specifically warns customers not to use the safes for storing guns prominently in bold letters on page two of the user’s manual. Why? Because moisture accumulation inside will cause firearms to rust. And just like anti-gun politicians, rust is relentless.
![](https://cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Sentry-safe-manual.jpg)
Here is the announcement ahead of the event from the Bloomington PD . . .
The Bloomington Police Department (BPD) is giving away combination safes to residents to promote firearm safety. In partnership with the Be Smart Organization, and made possible by grant funds awarded by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the BPD is offering a free safe to city of Bloomington residents. According to Chief Simington, “The Bloomington Police Department is happy to work in partnership with the community members of our city to enhance gun safety. This is one step in the right direction to not only educate responsible gun owners about gun security, but also provide a resource for them to safely secure their weapons. This will reduce gun access to kids and others who should not possess a gun, as well as reduce the amount of stolen guns taken in burglaries.”
Vouchers will be provided at the Farmers Market Downtown Bloomington on Saturday, 6/10/23, from 7:30am-12pm. Read below for the terms and conditions of the giveaway.
Qualifications: To qualify for a free gun safe you must present a FOID card. Additionally, if the FOID card does not indicate you are a resident of Bloomington, IL, you must present government-issued identification that does. Only one gun safe per household. Upon meeting the above requirements, a resident will be given gun safety information and a voucher to redeem for a free gun safe. Quantities are limited and vouchers will be given on a first come, first served basis.
![](https://cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Bloomington-Police-rust-machine-giveaway-2.jpg)
Here’s the Bloomington Police Department announcement after the giveaway . . .
![](https://cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Bloomington-Police-rust-your-guns-safe.jpg)
BPD Gun Safe Giveaway was an ENORMOUS success! All 312 safes were given away in 45 minutes! We started 30 minutes early because the line had backed up on Main Street from Jefferson to around Washington. We got to spend the rest of the time meeting with wonderful patrons of the Farmers Market.
A special thanks to Be Smart members Sheri Strohl and Jenny MacPherson for there help at the event. They were instrumental from the very beginning to getting this event to even happen and they continue to be fantastic partners in keeping our community safe.
Sgt. Nowers and Ofc. Monahan also want to thank BFD EMSP Supervisor Derick Riordan for helping us connect with all of the families, but especially the children who got to take pictures in BPD and BFD squad cars.
You can see in one of the photos as he tried to convince an adorable girl that being a firefighter is better. He was heartbroken when she told him she wanted to be a police officer (See how much happier she is in the photos with Ofc. Monahan and Sgt. Nowers?)
Chief Simington added, “The Bloomington Police Department is proud to work with our community to enhance safety. The safe giveaway is just one more way to increase the security of weapons in homes. Locked weapons and continuous, responsible storage is paramount to saving lives. The overwhelming response solidifies the need & thank our BPD teammates & many stakeholders who were instrumental in this concept.”
Would they have had similar response if they had more accurately advertised the event as one giving away gun-rusting boxes for local residents?
BPD Chief Jamal Simington is mentioned in the Facebook posts. Who is he? In short, he’s no friend of the right of the little people to have guns for personal defense. Appointed by the local hard-left, “woke” mayor, Simington does hold a “a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate from the University of South Florida.”
Here he is at an anti-gun event just a week or two earlier with the anti-gun “wearing orange” crowd.
![](https://cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Simington-Bloomington-Police.jpg)
![](https://cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Simington-Bloomington-Police-2.jpg)
Doing a little more research, the City of Bloomington paid $190.35 for each of the safes when they ordered them in bulk. What they apparently didn’t know was they could have picked them up at the local Walmart for $172 each.
Once again, your tax dollars at work. Government is neither efficient nor competent. Unless the goal is destroying your personal property, in which case money is no object.
This is the sort of thing I’d expect to see on a tv sitcom.
in all seriousness … if you want to encourage safe gun storage, eliminate sales tax on gun storage and safety equipment. Offer a rebate for safes or lockboxes purchased from reputable brands. But let the individual owner make the call.
…they did this in Washington State, of all places. It’s not a bad idea.
https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=82.08.832
Obviously to be registered with the state Stast. NO
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“This is the sort of thing I’d expect to see on a tv sitcom.”
Yep. About like giving away free Thanksgiving turkeys by tossing live ones out of a helicopter 1000’ above the shopping center parking lot.
Can’t make this stuff up…
Better to toss LIVE turkeys out of a helicopter 1000 feet above a shopping center parking lot than to toss FROZEN turkeys out of that helicopter!
“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
“I swear, I thought turkeys could fly”.
Actually, “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
*Classic* comedy. The episode was “Turkeys Away”, if memory serves. It had me crying with laughter when it aired.
That clip and episode can be found online… 🙂
I am not familiar with that. Was that a television show?
Yep, ‘WKRP in Cincinatti’ :
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6tug84
wkrp in Cincinnati
WKRP in Cincinatti: The phone cops!
Wild turkeys can fly a quarter mile up to 55 MPH, but not very high up. Adult domestic turkeys can’t fly but young ones can.
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Maybe they should have eaten some of those “Smarties” candies on the table first.
I’m glad someone else has seen/remembers “Smarties”. Having 2 residences in two states 500 miles apart, I’ve banked at Wells Fargo to be able to have access to free ATMs and other options. (I know…). They always have a pile of free candy in their lobbies: Dum Dums. For real. I always ssk the tellers why they aren’t giving away Smarties. Freudian slip, I believe. Or more likely, the Gospel.
Game. Set. Match, my friend.
“…a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion…”
a diploma in communism, how wonderful.
any air tight safe can breed condensation. dessicant is a thing. it’s nice of sentry to point out the possibility but it’s simple to deal with. more like a liability dealio.
we barely touch 45% humididdleifier here; over 65% is considered “miserable.”
Yep dessicant is a thing. And oil and lube. I’d take a free safe & easily get it to work without rusting any gat🙄😀
Came here to say the same thing. You still need a desiccant system of some kind in a gun safe even if the safe is designed and marketed for storing firearms.
Been storing my pistols in a floor safe for 30 years and nary a spot of rust on any of them… I do try to keep them lubed, but still.. Dessicant? Say what? I can go for months without opening the safe. Didn’t know “safe rust” was even a thing…
Very true. The average fireproof gun safe uses ordinary gypsum drywall for its fire resistance. Drywall is, in part fireproof because it releases moisture as it heats up. Even the best safe in the world will rust your guns if you don’t put a dehumidifier in it. I doubt that the PD gave any thought to the idea that they would render guns inoperable – this was actually a pretty decent idea. But then, Boch has never stooped to hyperbole to try to prove a point…
Calcium Carbonate dehumidifier. Every month pour the liquid into the toilet and refill the crystals.
Defens: yes, indeed; and now inside the safe, we have guns surrounded by very hot air at saturated humidity. To me, that sounds sort of like the enclosures used to perform “accelerated” weather testing and the like. This is one reason I went with a safe that doesn’t have drywall fireproofing.
DEI… How wonderful.
Desiccant? How many average gun owners who have never had any sort of a safe before know enough that you need one of those in your “safe?”
Part II: I’d just about bet a donut these are built in China. Does that Chinesium fireproof liner off-gas corrosive gases from the drywall like many of their bigger safes? That’ll foul up your guns PDQ too.
100& the POS “safe” is made in chicomland.
“any air tight safe can breed condensation. dessicant is a thing.”
There’s another excellent solution, wiring in a 10-watt (or similar) incandescent light, and run it 24-7-365.
Those few watts of heat keeps rust *out*.
(Do NOT use LED lights, you need the heat, not the lumens of light they provide…)
Yep. The interior just has to be warmer than the exterior.
Repeat after me: “There is no such thing as a free lunch”.
“There is no such thing as a free lunch”.
Incorrect.
Bullshit is free. How much would you like, sir? 🙂
I have to pay for my bullshit. The garden loves it though. 😉
Government largesse.
You like to turn in those junk guns for gift cards that you use for youth shooting stuff. So, a flip side to this safe deal is, throw a couple dessicant cartridges in, and cycle them out for baking as needed. Wonder if that would keep them dry enough?
throw an inexpensive hygrometer in there (you want one for your safe anyway), let it stabilize for a day, then toss in the dessicant package and after another day see how much the humidity is lowered.
then you know enough to make the call.
Do those soak up the corrosive gases from the drywall liner too? Just askin’
Assuming you were asking seriously … no clue, but would guess not. If I had to make a guess as to something that would, I’d say an activated charcoal canister.
Of course, now we’re down to about half the original usable volume…
Don’t confuse malice with stupidity. The average IQ for cops is 100.
“The average IQ for cops is 100…”
After all the “defund” and BLM BS I’d think it’d be 10 points lower than that now for new recruits.
Yep. Smart ones are retiring, at least in the blue cities.
In Louisiana a bill just passed the house and senate with unanimous votes in both houses that gives a tax credit to anyone purchasing a gun safety device up to Dec 31, 2027
“Defines “firearm safety device” as a safe, gun safe, gun case, lock box, or other
device that is designed to be or can be used to store a firearm and that is designed to be unlocked
only by means of a key, a combination, or other similar means.”
This bill is awaiting the governor’s signature, which he will surely sign.
But not something that is actually useful. Like A GUN?
Stealth gun registration, anybody with any common sense should fall for this bull$hit. Same nonsense in San Antonio, Texas, come get your FREE Gun Safe, sign up required, valid Texas ID required….. Gun grabber liberals are really that stupid.
Umm.. they already have a list of FOID holders. lol
Even with my gun room being climate controlled, the storage lockers also have dehumidifiers installed. The last few mornings here you could grab a chunk of air and wring the water out. You don’t need to buy bottled water, just breath deep. Just be careful or you could drown.
Someone wants to give me a safe? Sure, I’ll be happy to take it. Always things I might like secured. Just not necessarily the firearms.
Facts about Slavery never mentioned in school by Thomas Sowell / reaction.
hopefully it’s better than that cali pd that gave its officers safes that could be opened by children and got one killed. article was in Forbes
Boch again posts a ridiculous article. There are no gun safes that will not cause your gun to rust that is why people use the electric rods like the “golden rod” to burn up moisture or at the very least bags of desiccant which will absorb moisture.
I will admit most gun owners are too damn stupid and cheap ass to buy and use gun oil and grease on their guns before storing them away in a safe.
@dacian
“Boch again posts a ridiculous article. ….” (and the rest of your moronic personal attack)
dacian you moron.
The safes given away were not intended for gun (or other ‘steel’ metal items) storage for a reason. The ones given away carry this warning:
“SentrySafe products which offer fire protection have a proprietary insulation that has a high moisture content”
The safe is primarily intended for storage of non-steel metal items – for example, like that found in jewelry gold, silver etc…, cloth, wood, and paper type items – items that are not steel. The desiccant pack it comes with is only for water moisture, not the proprietary insulation moisture.
The moisture in the proprietary insulation is not water. It can not be ‘dehumidified’ away with dehumidifier rods (e.g. “golden rod”) or desiccant packs. Its an ‘out-gassing’ flame/heat retardant/proofing chemical that (by its out-gassing) causes steel-metals to rust. The out-gassing vapor from the moisture in the proprietary insulation also affects medications causing them to degrade, and also can destabilize ‘combustible’ items e.g. not things that can burn, but rather chemical based things which are ‘combustible’, for example, matches or fireworks or gun powder, or petroleum or alcohol based cleaning stuff and chemicals (e.g. gun oil and grease, etc…
Boch was right on the money, these safes will cause guns to rust period. Do not store guns, or steel or brass cased ammunition (note: Brass contains zinc which can also be affected by the ‘out-gassing’) in these safes) or ‘combustible’ (see above) stuff in these safes. No amount of de-humidification or desiccant packs can protect these items from the moisture in the proprietary insulation.
Note: The steel affected are of the types commonly used in firearms construction.
I am not sure I agree with what this article says. I have firearms in gun safes, regular safes, locked desk drawers, and gun cabinets and have not had a rust problem with my firearms. So I am not sure what other environmental conditions will cause them to rust that quickly but I assume keeping them in a cool, dry environment with a light oil or other gun protective material will keep them in decent shape for a long time. Personally, I have not had that problem using a variety of storage techniques.
Did you not read this article’s warning from the safe manufacturer?
“SentrySafe products which offer fire protection have a proprietary insulation that has a high moisture content…” It then goes on to inform you that this is likely to cause objects inside the safe to be damaged by moisture.
Next time, please read the entire article before commenting.
I own a couple of these SentrySafe safes, and although I don’t store anything inside that rusts, some of the things I stored inside later got mold and mildew on them — now I know why!
To anti-gun people like this ill-annoy police department, safes that make guns rust isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.
“To anti-gun people like this ill-annoy police department, safes that make guns rust isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.”
Came here to say exactly that… 🙁
If you have a safe that can’t be used for firearms then don’t put firearms in it.
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