Gunsafe keys? It's a secret!

[Gnasher]

We have 3 gun cabinets and 2 digital (6 digit) safes to keep the keys. My husband and I are both SGC holders but he has a firearms licence so we had to have separate storage for that, that I couldn't access.
Keeping the keys hidden isn't just about stopping your guns getting stolen. A 16 year old boy shot himself this week using his father's gun. He shouldn't have been able to access it but .....

We have been told by our FAO that a digital safe, that no one else knows the combination of, is an appropriate place to keep the gun safe keys. As said already, a determined thief will be able to break into a cabinet but they are not the only opportunists you may want to keep your guns stored securely away from. If you just hide your keys, it wouldn't be difficult for a family member to observe you/ work out where they are.

 

[lexikia]

We have 3 gun cabinets and 2 digital (6 digit) safes to keep the keys. My husband and I are both SGC holders but he has a firearms licence so we had to have separate storage for that, that I couldn't access. Keeping the keys hidden isn't just about stopping your guns getting stolen. A 16 year old boy shot himself this week using his father's gun. He shouldn't have been able to access it but ..... We have been told by our FAO that a digital safe, that no one else knows the combination of, is an appropriate place to keep the gun safe keys. As said already, a determined thief will be able to break into a cabinet but they are not the only opportunists you may want to keep your guns stored securely away from. If you just hide your keys, it wouldn't be difficult for a family member to observe you/ work out where they are.

Was thinking of buying one of these until i so link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOdmMb90YEE

 

[Skeet UK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ltK-bDbADa8

Interesting.  Also look at the smaller, push button safes around 20 mins in.  Actually designed to hold a small firearm, to be got at quickly..but...I don't see anyone putting a bit of bent tin in to push the reset button.

http://www.keysafe.co.uk/

Only Police Approved Key Safe in UK

 

[VicW]

I have considered a key safe but have one question,where do you put it in relation to the location of your cabinet?

A thief is going to realise that the safe may contain the key to the gun cabinet even though it is in an entirely different room,so he comes back tooled up to get into the key safe.

Perhaps what we need is a gun cabinet with the approved digital locking mechanism in SkeetUK's link.

Vic.

 

[Skeet UK]

I have considered a key safe but have one question,where do you put it in relation to the location of your cabinet?

A thief is going to realise that the safe may contain the key to the gun cabinet even though it is in an entirely different room,so he comes back tooled up to get into the key safe.

Perhaps what we need is a gun cabinet with the approved digital locking mechanism in SkeetUK's link.

vic.

I think hiding the key safe would be fairly easy, within reason.  certainly within what could be described as "reasonably practical".

 

[VicW]

If you have been burgled,as we have although i didn't have a gun cabinet at the time, you realise just how thorough your thief is at going through rooms,cupboards and drawers,nothing escaped the thief's attention including the fridge,freezer and oven !!

The police that turned up said, " Your lucky at least they haven't wrecked the place and crapped on your bed."

As I see it,the police recognised key safe SkeetUK mentioned could be bolted to the door of the gun cabinet.

Vic.

 

[a_mckenzie]

At the end of the day, you put your keys in a safe and a thief still manages to break into the safe then into the gun cabinet, you have done the best you could to secure your shotguns.

The police surly could not hold you at fault for the thief being a determined individual. 

 

[timps]

It is totally open to interpretation as to what is reasonable, a cabinet to the BS standard is going to survive a sustained attack for 5 minutes with specified hand tools. This is what the Home office deem as acceptable, you may need more security than that in a higher risk area. The safe in the video above can be opened with a slap in less than 30 seconds so cannot by anyone's standard be deemed secure. You might as well hang the keys on a hook next to the cabinet.

The key safe that is approved is only approved to be as secure as a domestic front door which is still short of your cabinet.

I think it would be very harsh of them to prosecute you, but fairness does not enter into it sometimes. If the thief found your keys you would be in the same boat. It is which do you have more faith in, for me personally the key is with me when I leave the house.

As I have said previously it's only an issue if someone gets to your guns, if no one does then the measures you have taken are working. The Police are only really interested when the guns have gone and believe me they are very interested. As my mate found just because you think it's secure doesn't mean the police will agree.

I would not put 1p in most of the safes I have seen, I broke into my mates fairly expensive one via the key override quicker than he could type in the combination to convince him to stop using it.

If you are going to use a safe get one that has been tested to an independent approved standard. A safe is like a magnet to a thief and these generic Chinese ones are useless, you might as well pile all your valuables up on one shelf with a note saying help yourself.

 

[Westward]

Well I can only repeat what I posted earlier. We are not required by law to secure guns against a determined thief. The police and everyone else knows that if a serious thief wants to steal your gun, your Mercedes or your combine harvester he will, and you wont stop him. But I don't believe for one second that the average opportunist housebreaker, even the career ones, have much interest in guns. They want stuff that can be quickly and easily converted into cash and no one's going to mosey off down to the local pub to try and sell a shotgun for £500 tops in the knowledge that if caught he's looking at 5 years. There really is no need to secure guns as if they're as desirable to a thief as jewellery of equivalent value. Considering that there are around 2 million legal shotguns in the UK and that loads of people are out on any Sunday transporting them in cars, the rate of theft is incredibly low. Most shotgun thefts seem to be from dealers which is pretty obvious when you think about it.

Under the law we are required to store guns safely to prevent unauthorised access and that's all. Historically there have been numerous accidents and even deaths from loaded shotguns stood up in the corner of the kitchen where kids or farm workers etc. could borrow them.

I firmly believe in co-operating with the police and that antagonising them by pointing out that they don't know the law is not a good idea! But in Gloucestershire at least, the inspecting officers don't expect us to have a mini bank vault. Any cabinet from a proper maker seems acceptable and in my experience they pay more attention to the location and installation than to the cab itself.

 

[Clanchief]

Suppose you did but not as eloquently. Only joking, sat with both sets of keys in my pocket with no idea where to put them. No rude suggestions please.

Ok one set place in a sealable bag, empty out a house plant pot and place same in with the roots and re pot, only you will know they are there and can get easily enough if you somehow, can't see why lose the main set.

As for the main set,,, inside the battery compartment of a dud remote cotrol that is no longer needed by the household, simply place in a drawer.

After 15 years working with prisoners, searching cells etc I do know how they secrete things and how their minds work, sometimes we need to look  for what should be there but is missing. We used endoscopes daily, to look into walls and sockets. some of the searching kit was amazing.

 

[colouredcob]

OMG this has gone from where to hide your keys to the size of my (Irish Draught)  horses to safe cracking!  I am seriously edumacated now.

I (being the paranoid one) am wondering now if to keep my cabinet key out of the house and at my place of work, just to be sure!