Pistol storage

Hi i have a 1200 lb floor safe made in the 1880s which has been modified to accomadate three sliding drawers lined with felt which the handguns sit in their upright position without any trigger locks on them i can easily fit 40+ handguns in there.

I was told by the CFO that i didn't need trigger locks on them was because safes aren't readily easy to open as for my long guns i have an antique gun cabinet that locks also and they needed trigger locks on them. My gun room is monitored 24/7 with motion detectors and barred windows my friends call it the Fort Knox room LOL.
 
Back on topic: I have one of those "shoe storage" thingys with the clear plastic pockets that I hang on the inside of my locker door. One pistol for each pocket.

Like this:

organizeeverything1_2087_6421498715
 
Thanks Can-Down, that's what I was looking for. My concern is will the leave wear marks on the pistols from taking them in out of the storge locker? As for the safe issue, I'll just leave the trigger locks on them, it's safer anyways.

The rotary pistol rack shown should not ever mark the finish, if you are really concerned you could line the contact points with a thick felt strip and that will not hurt anything at all.


so give me the facts please...

The facts are that there is no definition of a safe in either the firearms act or the criminal code, which leaves a huge gray area available for the police to charge you with unsafe storage. If it worries you, put locks on your restricteds or buy an honest-to-god firearms safe (as defined by the safe manufacturer) and store them in that. This is just another example of deliberate ambiguity designed to allow abuse of legal firearms owners by government agents.

Mark
 
I had my guns seized by RCMP briefly last year. The locking plastic case and trigger lock were not a issue. I guess it's all in the particular officer.
 
excerpt from http://www.nfa.ca/node/132
A sheet metal gun safe, or other locked metal container fits the description of "safe" in Black's Law Dictionary. So does the thick-walled fireproof box with a combination dial that most people think of when they think of a “safe.”

Here my friend is the rest of the exerpt from the NFA you conviniently forgot to mention:

Regulations define how firearms may be stored, transported or displayed for each class of firearm. The actual Regulations will be what a judge in a court will look at.
There are no actual definitions in the regulations as to exactly what is considered a secure locked room, receptacle or container (any place with an unbarred window is NOT). In the case of a person charged with illegal storage, it will be a police officer who will first decide whether your storage facility is legal or not.
It will then be up to you and your lawyer (with National Firearms Association assistance) to “prove” to a Judge, or to persuade the Crown prosecutor, that your storage was correct under the law. Persuading the Crown saves the cost of a trial.

A restricted handgun can be stored, trigger-locked and unloaded, in a locked container that “cannot readily be broken open or into” or in the usual secure vault, safe or room “that is kept securely locked and that is constructed so that it cannot readily be broken open or into.

and here is the real thing and exerpt from the Canadian Firearms act:
Storing Restricted and Prohibited Firearms
Restricted and prohibited firearms must be stored:
1. unloaded; AND
2. unable to be fired by using a secure locking device and stored in a sturdy, securely
locked, container or room that cannot be easily broken open or into; OR locked in a safe, vault or
a securely-locked room built or adapted for the safe storage of restricted or prohibited firearms;
AND
3. in a place where ammunition for the firearms is not easy to obtain. Ammunition can be stored with
the firearm, if the ammunition is stored: in a securely locked container that cannot be easily
broken open or into; OR locked in a vault, safe or room specifically designed for the secure
storage of restricted and prohibited firearms.

secure locking device = cable lock/trigger lock

BTW I really don't care how you store your guns. even if you keep them in an old shoebox in the trunk of your rusty old lawn tractor...:D
 
I liked the idea of the shoe storage bag, but that would not be practical with my storage. I was wondering about some photos I've seen on this site where the pistol is sitting on a base with a magazine (or shaped like a magazine) attached to it, then the pistol simply slides over it. Any ideas on where to buy them or how to make them?
 
The magazines are there temporary for now, and I know that stands would optimize the space. Here's what I'm wondering, would the guns get scuffed from taking them on and off the rack over time? Probably not, but was just wondering if that happend to other people. I kinda like showing them off when you open the doors.

HO, I bought a roll of "tool mat" from crappy tire and lined my entire safe with it. The worst I do now is bang the guns into each other. You should be able to line your shelves nicely. It's basically what mechanics & machinists etc line their tool box drawers with.
 
HO, I bought a roll of "tool mat" from crappy tire and lined my entire safe with it. The worst I do now is bang the guns into each other. You should be able to line your shelves nicely. It's basically what mechanics & machinists etc line their tool box drawers with.

This stuff

htt p://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/Tools/ToolStorage/ToolChestAccessories/PRDOVR~0580941P/Non-Slip%252BDrawer%252BLiner.jsp
 
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I was wondering about that. But the cabinet is locked and bolted extremly well to the wall studs with anchors. The cabinet dosn't look anymore solid than the rifle cabinet I purchased from Home Hardware and is an all steel construction with hinges on the inside of the cabinet. The lock is on a swivel with 2 rods bolting the door on top and on bottom, like my gun cabinets. I normaly use them for transport (trigger locks), but it definitly wouldn't hurt to have them on all the time, plus it's probably the law.

The way I see it is - if you reinforce that cabinet with angle irons and round headed bolts and put nuts and lock washers on the inside, bolt on or weld a strong hasp and buy a good padlock, in addition to the factory lock, you proved that it was modified to secure the guns, no? I would reinforce the doors as well. You can then line it with felt and rubber and cover any sharp edges and make it nice.

In that case you would not need trigger locks. But if you leave it as it is, a prosecutor can shake your tree and tell the judge that a home hardware cabinet is not meant for gun storage but tools.

It is important to bolt the container to a fixed structure or largepiece of furniture that can not be carried by one guy.
 
A judge will often refer to expert opinion. Relevant experts like, say, people who make safes. Maybe even a company that makes gun safes and cabinets. See they make gun safes, and they call them "safes". They may also make gun cabinets, which get this....they call "CABINETS". A "gun cabinet" is not a safe, it says so right on it or the box it came in. If I were a judge, and some smart as$ came in to court trying to tell me that his Mastercraft "Tool Cabinet" was a safe, I would kick the living poop out of him with the worst possible punishment the law allowed.

You'd probably do much better claiming ignorance and requesting leniency for making at least an honest effort to comply with storage regs.

That your best possible (and overly optimistic) scenario is that you only lose your guns for a year or so and pay tens of thousands in legal bills, should really make some of you think a little harder before you tell a guy he's just fine.

If a cop decides you're out of regs, you've already lost.

Now if you don't want to bother covering yourself that's fine. The regs are rather stupid. You can go right ahead and store them on your coffee table. But don't be telling other people that there's no potential catastrophic legal consequences that they will carry with them for the rest of their life when you're not going to be covering him.

If you want to be cute with the judge, you can have at.
 
I think you’re right on this one a modified cabinet is still not a safe SPECIFICALLY built or modified to store guns.

I’ll break it even more => •Lock the firearms in a vault, safe or room that was built or modified specifically to store firearms safely.
They are being specific on the type => vault, safe, or room. None of those 3 containers are cabinets.

In this case then, even if you modify a cabinet like Fort Knox, that is not one of the 3 mentioned and therefore trigger locks are required. :D:D:D
 
Funny? I was pissed...well and mildly amused. I tried looking for the contact information for Garrison but nothing so far.....

Hopefully, my safe is hidden away well enough no one would find it. :p


This is what I did. Just cut out one of the numbers in that open code and your safe is "safe" again! :) I just kept cutting around the number with a knife until it wouldn't work. When you do this it eliminates the use of the number above and below so you just have to use a code using the other 7 or so numbers and two letters......

SafeNumberCutOut.jpg
 
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