I waited too long to get a gun safe

[garym1a2]

I keep mine in several locations. They may hit one place but probally not all of them. I also take pictures of all of them and their serial numbers and keep them online where I can always find them.

P.S., ditch the NRA decals and bumper stickers. The first time I had one on my car it was broken into. It was good at the time the gun was not in the car. Only lost a Radar detector.

[smokemjoe]

Feels like you been raped.

[lka]

Wow, that sucks!

I keep most of mine in a safe in a vault with number pad lock, I then have small wall safes hidden around the house in closets with HD guns in them

Sorry for your loss, I hope they get the ******** and get your stuff back, did they take anything else or were they just there for the guns?

[MBTcustom]

When you buy a safe, buy a good one, and bolt that sucker to the floor.
I installed 3/4" lag bolts 5" into the concrete floor, carpet be dammed.
I have been ripped off several times, (matter of fact, I just got a 1911 stolen out of the truck yesterday) every time it's because I didn't think it was worth locking up my stuff. No more. a gunsafe is cheap compared to the value of what you put into it.
Real sorry to hear about you getting ripped off.

When you go safe shoping, remember that you are making a bet with every thief that will ever consider your property for theft: I'll bet you everything of value that I own, that you wont be able to get my safe open, or get it off the property.
Think about it.

[Boerrancher]

Sorry to hear about you loosing your guns. I have several safes around the house for valuables and Tim is correct. A safe is bet against the thief's. I am currently having another built and it will be installed around the 4th of July. I plan on storing my reloading components and ammo in it. With the shortages of ammo, it has become a valuable commodity that in some cases depending on the amount is worth as much as a gun.

I also have multiple photos of every gun that I own with the serial numbers of the guns. I have done this for two reasons. The first being that some LE agencies in the area have a habit of "loosing guns" or not returning them unless you can provide a bill of sale for them. The photos are kept in different locations and even off site, as well as electronic copies of them in various locations. when it comes to the security of your guns you can never be too redundant.

Best wishes,

Joe

[km101]

The advice posted by Cajun Shooter is right on the money. Especially the part about the flyers and contacting pawn shops and gun shops. Don't rely on the PD to do it, as that may take days/weeks if they ever get around to it. You need to be proactive and contact these businesses yourself. The owners may be more cooperative with an individual than with an officer, as they may have had stolen property seized by officers in the past. Cover the pawn shops and guns stores as soon as possible as the thieves are going to sell the guns quickly for cash. Get to them before they disappear. If possible, offer a reward for the return of the guns, or information leading to them. This will sometimes get more/faster information.

Circulate information about the guns and serial numbers as widely as possible, and as quickly as possible. This is your best hope of recovering them. So get busy and get the info out.

[oldred]

I had a friend that his guns stolen recently and the perps used tools they stole from his garage to cut into his new safe! Actually if you look those things over, at least the ones I have seen, they really are not that hard to get into with just basic tools often found right at the home or garage. I was looking at some of the safes at Lowes a few weeks ago and thinking that if I had a reason I could get into one in a matter of minutes using only the tools I could carry into a home, but then I have been a metal worker my entire adult life so I know a few tricks but probably nothing a thief would not know.

[Silver Eagle]

If the local police department is being slow and with a "when I can get to it" mentality, keep pestering them about it.
Call every few days to get an update on the report. Escalate to the Supervisor (or higher).
Way too many crimes get shoved to the back burner. Make sure yours does not.

[schutzen]

Make sure your firearms are listed on the NCIC Computer as stolen. This needs to be done immediatly. I was robbed in 2011 and my sherrif was very diligent. My firearms were listed on NCIC less than 10 hours after being stolen. 72 hours after the robbery the ist gun was recovered in a traffic stop. Within 96 hours 6 of the 9 stolen were recovered.

Finishing the report and uploading the serial numbers to NCIC after someone gets back from vacation is not acceptable. The police are public servents and you deserve service in your time of need.

[pipehand]

Although I've primarily made a living as a pipefitter for the last 15 years, I've also done some time as a safe and vault technician- a.k.a. professional safe mover and opener. I still maintain my bond with SAVTA, and do some side work on openings and service calls.

One poster's insurance agent told him about a safe that was opened. Another poster wrote about safes being taken using electrical conduit. A good portion of my calls are to open safes that are attempted to be opened by burglars- they generally try to beat/cut off hinges, and break off combo dials and handles after the crowbar attack on the door doesn't work. 90+ percent of house burglars are crack/meth addicts with minimal skills, and minimal tools. If they had tools, the tools would be sold/pawned for more crack. Generally, they will use what you have in your toolshed to attack your safe.

I've always told people that I'd rather have a 500 pound safe bolted down to a slab than a 5,000 pound safe not bolted down.

Always buy a safe bigger than you need now, because you're going to buy more guns.

Any decent safe is better than no safe. All safes can be gotten into- given time and technology.

Bro Darrel, I'm sorry for your loss.

[Hogtamer]

Me too....found 3 of 9 in local pawn shops and bought them back. I hate a !*!#** pawn shop. Traced 2 others through pawn shops that had already been sold and bought them too. I told the police but of course the pawn shops had the paper trail, all nice nd legal. I didn't know my guns were gone until several weeks after the fact. The only good news was that I put some righteous fear into those pawners and go in to show my face every once in a while, and so do some deputies.

[daniel lawecki]

Sorry for lost I think everyone on this site should take pictures write serial #s down keep these records some where safe and have two copies of everthing.

[mroliver77]

My buddies uncle had 3 safes. The nasties opened one, pulled another through an outside wall and failed to open the third. They did steal his riding mower and set the house on fire before they left.

Police were pretty sure they knew who did it. Found one gun a few states away. He got no joy. No names.

Mebbe it is good that I have had to sell all mine to pay taxes and med bills.
J

[wgr]

Some years back someone broke into a guys home near gere. the safe was bloted to the floor, so they just ran a chain to it and jurked it out of the house. sorry for your loss

[FLINTNFIRE]

Hate pawn shops too , had not wrote down numbers on a 700 remington , saw it a few years later in the pawn shop across the street from the cop shop , told the owner , you could tell by his reaction and the price on it at the time that he bought it knowing the scumbag could not unpawn it ,, oh the police were so helpful , I told them where I bought it and that as the dealer had went out of business the atf would have his records in there out of business repository , they were of the decision that if atf would look it up for me , they would do something.
ATF will only trace or look up for LEO and perhaps for a dealers request , not a private person, No use for them or that dirt bag pawn shop .

[smoked turkey]

When I saw the subject line on the original post my heart just sank. I literally hurt for you and the loss. A while back my car was broken into and lost my CCW weapon (yes I should have kept it on my person). It is a terrible feeling. I hope you get a break through on getting them back. I sort of gave up on the LEA. I know they have a lot bigger fish to fry than my deal. Doesn't make it any easier though.

[wallenba]

I have a good safe and still worry about it. I try to be discreet when loading up the truck on range days. I back the truck up to the gate next to the back door, lift the hard, locking lid up on the bed, and before I bring the long guns out, I look around. The lid blocks the view from the front, my garage blocks the rear. Handguns go to and from the house in a cardboard box. Range bags and handgun cases advertise. Only my immediate neighbors even know I'm a shooter, and they don't know how many I have. When I return home from the range I watch for cars leaving that area that might be following me. Some local home invasions targeting gun owners seem to have been targeted that way. Things are a bit different in the Detroit area compared to a lot of you guys here. My neighborhood is a good one, and the Police are just two blocks away, I'm sure that intimidates some criminals.

[freebullet]

Man sorry for your loss. Reminds me of a song- I'd like to spit some beachnut in that dudes eye and...

[lka]

Sorry to hear about you loosing your guns. I have several safes around the house for valuables and Tim is correct. A safe is bet against the thief's. I am currently having another built and it will be installed around the 4th of July. I plan on storing my reloading components and ammo in it. With the shortages of ammo, it has become a valuable commodity that in some cases depending on the amount is worth as much as a gun.

I also have multiple photos of every gun that I own with the serial numbers of the guns. I have done this for two reasons. The first being that some LE agencies in the area have a habit of "loosing guns" or not returning them unless you can provide a bill of sale for them. The photos are kept in different locations and even off site, as well as electronic copies of them in various locations. when it comes to the security of your guns you can never be too redundant.

Best wishes,

Joe

Good idea with the photos, a good app is called Gun Log, it's secure and Encrypted you put the gun, price, SNs pics and a bunch of other info, in fact I need to update mine with the 101 and m-4.

[brotherdarrell]

Thanks for the comments and encouragement.

The last couple of days have been a little rough but life must go on. All the serial numbers are turned in with pics soon to follow, just have to get them off the computer. I am fortunate in that the Sheriff is a close personal friend and that while he wont get in the middle of it he will make sure due diligence is followed.

Being a victim sucks!!! Get a safe!!!

Darrell - thanks again