Be it from prying eyes, fingers or leaders, hiding your weapons is an integral part of safely owning firearms, and never more than when it comes to your handguns. Tips and tricks for keeping pistols undercover and accessible in the home has been a deep and long running theme in our comment box, and though we’d never endorse rashness, here’s the dirty to keeping your handguns out of sight (but never out of mind).
Editor’s note: This is number one in a series on basic techniques and methods to keeping your handguns concealed and safe in any environment. Stay tuned for more solutions on hiding your handgun at work, underground and on your person.
In the home
When hiding your handgun, consider whether the storage length will be long or short term and always look for places in your home that are by their own virtue not frequented often by others. Under a cabinet would be a decent balance of security and accessibility for back up guns requiring longer term storage.
Make no mistake, stashing guns around your house is serious business–the safety[amazon asin=B007ZNU532&template=*lrc ad (right)] of others is at stake so there is no room for error. For this reason, an honest and informed (and even professional) assessment of your living space and conditions is crucial. Where as a couple living alone in the woods with few visitors may get away with storing their frequently carried 1911 in an old boot in their shoe closet, a family of five has a lot more to consider.
The down
The first decision is between long and short term storage while the paradox here is between security and access. A corollary consideration is who are you really hiding your guns from: Kids? Thieves? Jackboots?
The decision and method you chose to hide your handgun will fall somewhere between the extremes of concealed carrying your gun at all times and burying your handgun as a super long-term survival strategy. When making this decision, more than ever, terrain and circumstances dictate tactics.
Short term solutions are ideal for every-day-carriers. Storage styles fall on a spectrum between two categories, [amazon asin=B003CSZYO4&template=*lrc ad (right)]“go-to guns” (primary weapons that can/will be accessed at a moments notice) and “backup guns” (guns that are better hidden and harder to access, but may hold some specific strategic value). These back-up guns toe into the arena of long term solutions which apply more to BBQ guns and survival treasures (more on these in future installments).
The dirty
When children are a part of the equation, look for high spaces and unfrequented (not “forbidden”) places–on the top shelf of Dad’s closet of mystery may not your best option (but then again, depending on your brood, it might). Also realize that education is the only real long term solution to keeping your children safe around guns.
When it comes to hiding your handgun, custom solutions are often the best (and most satisfying) solutions.
[amazon asin=B0053EQM32&template=*lrc ad (right)]Inevitably, someone is going to call out this article for divulging tactics and they will be right–adopting what is readily known is at odds with the philosophy you’ll need to abide by when keeping your handgun out of sight. Take the information here as inspiration and seek out creative and adaptive solutions on your own for full effect (custom solutions are often the best solutions).
The best place for your handgun may be on your person and in a gun safe at all other times.
The solutions
Rapid access safe from Hornady use a credit card swipe to access. These storage devices come in many different sizes and make use of other technologies like fingerprint detection and wrist units. Others use classic combination locks.
Small rapid access safes utilize a variety of technologies and can be stored discretely (and some quite creatively) in any room of the house, but they are all cost prohibitive. To be sure, these are superior options for any gun owner looking to sidestep the access/security paradox, but for the other half, situation and terrain should, as always, determine tactics.
Magnetic latches come in various styles, are usually quite cheap and offer a range of adaptive solutions for the creative gun owner. Their real value is in ability to store and remove your handgun easily and repeatedly via magnets, though hooks and other apparatuses may be more appropriate.
Protip: On many guns with metallic components, magnetic latches can make great, cheap fast access mounting mechanisms.
Bathroom
Whenever hiding a handgun in “plain sight” (with very little security, the towel/sheet method would qualify as such to this author) do a full and honest assessment of your living conditions before and have another, more secure storage spot on the ready if your circumstances change.
- Check out any linen closets or bathroom cabinets for space to hang a small gun just above the door on the wall/panel closest to you (so that the gun would be directly over the head of someone rummaging through the[amazon asin=B003GE1HEK&template=*lrc ad (right)] space). Most closets are “shallow” and have molding around the door frame for cursory concealment. While a burglar might go through your bedroom closet more carefully, in the bathroom they likely will not. Note, this method is not suitable for walk-in closets.
- The tank of the toilet is a viable (though not ideal) back-up option for storage–just make sure the handgun is double (or triple) wrapped to avoid any moisture coming into contact with your gun or ammo.
- Under the “beach towels” or “dog sheets” (just not under the bath towels you use regularly) on a high shelf is an extra thrifty, low-tech fix for the washroom.
