Is a Gun Safe Right for You

This is a guest post by Kevin Creighton

To be honest, I’m not a big fan of leaving loaded guns lying around the house because it’s like leaving the bleach jug in the refrigerator next to the milk jug: Something bad is going to happen, it’s not a question of IF, it’s only a question of WHEN. This problem increases when you have small children, as I do. My two sons are smart and have each been through the NRA’s Eddie the Eagle problem to help them learn to how to safely deal with guns, and that program really works, as I’ve seen how it changed their behavior.

But I also remembered how infrequently I obeyed my parents when I was a young child, and how many times I managed to get myself into situations where a lot of pain and injury was possible (and that was without guns in the house).

So I keep my guns locked up when they’re not in use. I have a gun safe for most of my collection, and in my safe room in my home, I have a quick-access gun safe which contains a loaded pistol, a flashlight and an old cell phone to summon help to our home.

I wanted to see if I was giving up speed or convenience by choosing to store a gun that I might need right quickly in a safe versus in a drawer. I borrowed two of my friends, Jaci Janes of Team Sig Sauer and and Robert Messenger of Self Defense Association Shooting Team, and  we decided to run a test to find out if a gun safe safe is a better alternative to leaving your gun in a nightstand drawer.

The results really surprised us.

A few notes about this test:

• Jaci and Robert are almost identically-skilled as shooters.
• They used identical guns, (Ruger LC9’s) and were both very familiar with how to use them in
• Robert was not familiar with how to use that gun safe because we wanted to simulate the pressure of figuring out how to open it correctly under stressful conditions
• The shots were so close together, the shot timer app on my phone couldn’t tell them apart.
• That’s my actual sock drawer in the test, and the gun safe that was in my downstairs closet. No hosiery was harmed in the making of this video.

The gun safe we used was a model from Paragon safes, but I swapped it out for the Hornady RapidSafe because it’s more secure and offers more access options.

Is a gun safe right for you? That’s a decision you’ll need to make for yourself based on your circumstances and who’s in your home. However, if you’re worried that you won’t be able to get to your gun on the day (or night) you’ll need it most, I think we’ve put that fear to rest with this test.

 

Kevin Creighton has led the marketing for a number of companies in the firearms world, and is an active competitor in USPSA, IDPA and 3 Gun. Kevin has trained with Bob Vogel, Rob Pincus, Rob Leatham, Gabe Suarez and others. He’s written articles on the new realities of gun ownership for Ricochet.com, Shooting Illustrated, BearingArms.com, the Personal Defense Network, Downrange TV and on his own blog, Misfires and Light Strikes.

Photo Credit: YouTube Exurban Kevin