Pennsylvania Game News - July 2009 - 62

Maybe yes, maybe no. Poor interpretations of the law, and/or liberal prosecutors or judges could jeopardize gun owners in the above scenario if their guns are stolen. Adding extra precautions to prevent firearms from being stolen from your house is important from a practical and legal standpoint. I live in an upscale suburban neighborhood, but still, the last thing I do every night is make sure that all doors and windows are locked securely. (Alarm systems are outside the scope of this article.) My firearms are stored in a large gun safe weighing 750 pounds, empty. It has thick steel walls, heavy locks and bolts; it is also fireproof for a lengthy period of time. Local youths or amateur burglars are unlikely to defeat my gun safe. Professional, technically skilled criminals are another story, but they normally know prior to entering a house what they are likely to find. Neither my guns nor finances warrant a professional’s attention. Gun safes come in different sizes and offer different levels of protection, so before investing in one, do plenty of research. I purchased a larger, heavier safe than I needed, because I wanted the extra weight it offered. I’m not saying that a 750-pound safe holding up to 100 pounds of guns cannot be carried off, but it will take a lot more than the average Joe to do it. Steel gun cabinets are another way to protect your guns from theft. They are available in different sizes and degrees of sturdiness, and each offers a different degree of protection. They are less expensive than gun safes, but also give less protection than most gun safes. “You pays your money and takes your chances.” Many gun safes and steel gun cabinets can be bolted to your floors or walls, which adds greatly to the difficulty of removing the safe. Realistically, burglars want to limit how long they remain in a victim’s house. A safe, cabinet or other device that slows a thief might just be enough to protect your firearms. Bolting a gun safe or steel cabinet to the floor or wall might just make the difference between losing and keeping your firearms. Locking firearms in a regular closet is better than not locking them up at all, and I’ve seen a couple of articles that showed how to build or modify a closet to withstand average burglary attempts. This is not one of those articles. A couple of tips, though, might provide enough guidance to get someone started on an extra security closet. Start by installing a steel door on the chosen closet and mounting it in a steel door frame. Add about three keyed deadbolts on each side of the steel door. That will probably defeat the creepy teen up the street who breaks into your place looking for easy pickings. Staying with the steel door and deadbolts scenario, beef up the closet itself by ripping out the wallboard, either inside or outside the closet, whichever works best or is necessary. Drill numerous parallel holes from bottom to top in the upright studs supporting the wallboard. Install re-bar rods through the holes to COLONIAL CRAFT HIDEAWAYS, USA, designs, builds and sells hideaway gun safes, panic rooms and gun rooms. Their products are not only attractive but also extremely effective. 62 GAME NEWS

Pennsylvania Game News - July 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - July 2009