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“We’ve already got trigger locks with all handguns, and now we’ve got to pay someone to test them? Give me a break.” – Daniel Davies, owner of Mary’s Pistols, re: proposed Washington law to require police departments to test locks and gun safes before giving them to officers [via officer.com]
I don’t think I’ve ever owned a safe that didn’t have a UL or other test lab marking on it. Because safes are security devices and the insurance company that covers your valuables wants to know how good they are. So why would they need a special law for this?
Jobs for the boys. A potential attaboy for the pols. A big old bill for the taxpayer. Sound familiar?
Spending money to make it look like we’re doing something. It’s the new American way.
this is an interesting video, but it leaves me with more questions than answers. Could we have a “how to” type of video on how to select a safe that is not going to costs my first born child or as much as my car?
Costco usually has a Cannon Sentry 24 gun on sale delivered for $799 ($999 regular). Yeah, it has the electronic lock unfortunately, but it’s hard to beat that price.
What’s wrong with electronic locks?
I just prefer the dial sort, mainly because I’m terrible about changing batteries. One less thing to think about.
That video was actually more strenuous than what safes are tested for, and I doubt the salesman’s own safes could stand much more than what was shown in the video.
A UL Residential Security Container (the standard for just about anything that weighs less than half-a-ton) is certified to last for 15 minutes against one person, using tools, with the safe PROPERLY mounted.
That safe was dumped backwards on the floor, allowing the person with the digging bar to use his WHOLE weight on it, and the second person with the crowbar, and it still took 4+ minutes to open.
Costco also has the Bighorn Classic ECB19 (another 24 gun safe) for even less delivered.
The keys on buying: UL Listed RSC (so you know it can stand up to some real abuse: anyone but a pro will give up), a decent fire rating, NO KEY OVERRIDE! (locks are easy to pick: if you can open the safe with a key, its not a safe) and, if a digital lock, the battery must be changeable from the outside (so you can’t be locked out on battery failure)
I’d go with the child. They’re using cost centers, rather than profit centers.
They should be testing cops, not locks.
Right. This whole thing is a result of Officer Owens claiming that his 3 year old had defeated his “faulty” department issued safe. Owens stated he had complained about it. If he knew it was defective, why did Owens continue to rely on it with kids in the house? The follow-up investigation claims the safe had simply been left open for days. Either way, taxpayers pay. Both in dollars and more negative gun press.
Maybe we should be testing for defective officers.
good point.
Exactly, I carry a gun, every night i unload it and use a lock (given out free from the local sheriff’s office) and i bet you even with the key, and a loaded clip, no three year old would be able to harm themselves with it. You leave your gun loaded, with one in the chamber, and in an open and unlocked safe, its your own damn fault.
The gun lock i use: http://www.huntley.il.us/images/gun_lock.jpg
You leave your gun loaded, with one in the chamber, and in an open and unlocked safe, its your own damn fault.
Finally, some sense about this case. Kudos.
Thank you Ralph
Any idea what brand safe that was? It wasn’t a Liberty, I don’t think, because the tape patch wasn’t big enough to cover their typical door graphic.
I get the point he was trying to make, but the video was a little disingenuous. First, if you don’t bolt your safe to the ground, you’re doing it wrong. Second, in my case, and in the case of my best friend, neither of us have enough room in the room where the safe is located to throw it down on the floor and work on it like that, even if they weren’t bolted down.
Totally, a friend of mine was looking to get a safe put into his walk in closet. They would have had to open up the floor to bolt metal beams to the house’s frame in order to not only support the weight of the safe, but also to bolt it down.
Am I the only one who has a Liberty safe solely to comply with Title 18 USC? I occasionally have an old friend come over to the house who is a proscribed person because he had too much fun in college. I don’t care if some safe-cracker breaks in. That’s what insurance and safe-deposit boxes are for. All the criminals seem to have multiple guns already. My city’s buying back guns off the street and the criminals obviously just sell back the dogs in their collection. It’s like recycling for bad guys. “Who stole this piece of s..t, Jerome? Sell it to da mayor!”
The only proscribed persons who might be come into my home won’t have an invitation. I have a safe to deter theft, but that’s the only reason.
That amazes me. You never have anyone in your house who had a second misdemeanor DUI (at least under PA maximum possible sentencing), got thrown in the bin, or was busted with a few grams of cocaine? How do you have a party with more than six people?
Huh? WTF is a “proscribed” person? In Pa. it’s somehow your responsibility to know your guest’s criminal history? Or do they have to wear a sign or something? And you can be arrested for assciation or something? WTF is this country coming to…
I think they should test the jails in NYC, seems pretty easy for scum to get out rather than into our safes.
It’s harder for scumbags to get into The Tombs than it is for them to get out.
To get in all you have to do is say “sir, where can I check my handgun?” The rest get out at arraignment, thanks to lawyers and their girlfriend’s cash.
I lvoe how in California when you buy a rifle, hell, a stripped lower receiver, you have to buy a $6 lock. What a joke. For shits and giggles, I took a bolt cutter to one of em and it sliced through with 1/10th the effort I was expecting. If you bent it back and forth enough times you could crack the cable. Ridiculous. FOR THE CHILDREN!