There are many reasons why deciding which safe to buy for firearm storage in a gun owning household is an important decision which should not be taken lightly. Firstly, maintaining safety within the household (especially if children are present) by locking guns away when they are not being used is highly important.
What is the difference between a gun safe and a regular safe? The main difference between a gun safe and a regular safe is what goes inside. Gun safes are specially equipped for holding guns safely and are known for being extra secure. Gun safes will also normally cost more than regular ones, for obvious reasons.
Finding the right type of safe for the storage of your personal items such as jewelry, cash, photographs or memorabilia, weapons, etc. is an important decision to make. What will best protect your personal possessions from theft or loss, and what will keep these items safe? More importantly, what specifically is it that you are protecting?
Whether it’s weaponry, such as a gun, or expensive personal items such as jewelry and cash, heavily affects what type of safe is right for you and your home. Why should a gun owner choose to purchase a gun safe over a regular safe, when the regular safe is usually cheaper?
Gun Safe Vs. Regular Safe: What’s the Difference?
One of the most common causes of gun deaths in the United States is the accidental firing of a gun by an individual, usually a child, who is not familiar with the weapon or does not know how the weapon works or the ways in which it needs to be maintained.
There has long been a debate over whether or not gun safes and regular safes are interchangeable products that can both be used for the protection of guns.
In looking closer at the issue, however, there are multiple reasons why gun safes and regular safes should not be used interchangeably, and why guns should be kept exclusively in safes that are specifically designed for the storage and protection of firearms.
In order to maintain safety within the household and to keep the firearms in proper, healthy working order, gun safes will provide a much better, cheaper experience for the gun owner in the long run.
While a gun safe may cost more than a regular safe, in the long run it will prevent the consumer from having to pay for maintenance and repairs.
There are three important characteristics of gun safes that set them apart from regular safes:
- Availability of proper storage racks
- Humidity and water damage
- Mandatory door seal
Gun safes provide these important aspects of protection for firearms that are not included in regular safes.
The availability of proper storage racks in a gun safe will keep firearms within a household protected from damage by keeping them properly stored in an upright, confined position rather than a haphazard means of storage in which firearms can be scratched, broken, or marred.
By maintaining guns in an upright position, they are more able to be better cared for in that dirt, grime, and erosion from intense outdoor exposure will not be made worse or become more immediate and pressing issues for the gun owner.
Maintaining an organized gun storage space is a major characteristic of gun safes, and is one which should not be overlooked by the gun owner.
Humidity, or, more importantly, the lack thereof, is another important factor of gun safes. Due to the fact that regular safes are primarily intended for the protection of personal items such as jewelry, documents, cash, memorabilia, and other things to this effect, which in general tend to require humidity levels of about fifty percent.
At this humidity level, the storage of guns would not be an ideal or even viable option due to the rate at which the humidity levels would cause the metal of the firearms to rust.
This can cause not only cosmetic issues, but functionality issues as well. When a gun rusts, there are a number of different issues that can develop in the gun.
One major issue is that the rust can affect the ability for the trigger to work effectively and efficiently, therefore creating difficulty in the gun’s ability to be fired properly.
The last of these three important characteristics of gun safes is the door seal that is included in the construction of gun safes, which is in major part tied to the humidity levels inside the safe.
On the doors of gun safes, it is required for its construction to include a seal that prevents moisture from leaking into the safe. This protects the safe and its contents of firearms from becoming rusted and damaged by water levels in the air, which is an important aspect of firearm storage in order for gun owners to protect and properly maintain the firearms in their possession.
An important difference to realize when looking at gun safes versus regular safes is what exactly the specific purposes of each of these safes are.
One major purpose of a gun safe is to maintain gun safety within a household, and prevent any firearms in the household from being used irresponsibly, such as, for example, being fired accidentally by an unsuspecting child.
Because of this, gun safes are typically far less secure than regular safes that have properties such as anti-theft benefits.
To gain a closer look at what exactly it is about gun safe construction that is not nearly as oriented toward anti-theft as regular safes are, it is important to look at the specific characteristics of gun safe production versus regular safes.
The thickness of a safe’s walls do much to protect from fire damage, water damage, and theft.
Both gun safes and regular safes tend to have walls with a substantive thickness to them in order to protect the items that are being kept inside them. Aside from this, the interior design of the safe is important.
Inside a gun safe, there is space and design that allows for the upright storage of guns with a variety of barrel lengths, while regular safes tend to have open space to stack, organize, and store a variety of possessions for safekeeping. These differences are important when considering what your needs are when searching for a safe.
Another major purpose of gun safes is to protect firearms from rust, damage, and other majorly negative effects upon the functionality and physical state of a gun.
By maintaining a dry environment with low humidity, gun safes are a much better bet for gun owners, as this environment will protect the physical body of the gun from issues such as rust and other damage.
When gun owners don’t keep a careful watch over the environment in which their firearms are being kept, the damage that ensues can be incredibly detrimental, and even fatal, to the gun itself.
By simply choosing to store one’s guns in a gun safe, which has the specific and intended purpose of protecting firearms from such harm, gun owners can sidestep gun damage.
Many gun safes are produced without fire or burglary protections, because their main intention is not to keep firearms safe from fire or theft, but to keep them stored safely to prevent misuse or damages such as rust.
Gun safes are maintained as dry, rust free environments in which guns can be stored and locked safely away to prevent any accidents or misuse of weapons.
Similarities Between Gun Safes and Regular Safes
Gun safes and regular safes are similar in a number of ways. In the most basic sense, both gun safes and regular safes are metal cabinets that have been designed to be used in order to store and protect personal items such as jewelry, cash, documents, etc.
Though there are some differences between gun safes and regular safes, overall they are very similarly constructed units for storage.
The similarities between these units begins with the general plan of construction for the design of each product.
In terms of thickness, all safes are generally built with thick metal walls to protect the interior from external forces such as water, air, and fire, as well as active forces such as burglary and theft.
These similarities include:
- Thickness of safe walls
- Purpose of safe
- Elements that protect against theft and damage
The thickness of these walls does vary between types of safes among those built for guns and those built for general safekeeping and protection, but in general the thickness of a safe is an important aspect that is included in the production of all safes.
The similarity in the structure of gun safes and regular safes are similar in shape, as the structure works to provide more storage.
The purpose and intention of both gun safes and regular safes are similar in many ways, as well.
For a regular safe, the primary intentions are to protect important personal items from theft, burglary, fire, water damage, and any other natural or human-inflicted damages on one’s personal items protected within the walls of the safe.
Gun safes operate in a very similar manner, with similar intentions. With separate protections and characteristics to protect guns more so than other personal items such as documents, cash, jewelry, or other things, gun safes have the overall intention of protecting an individual’s guns from rust, misuse, damage, and even theft or fire in many cases.
Between these similarities, gun safes are quite similar to regular safes in their structure, function, and intention, with small differences that cater more toward the protection of firearms rather than other personal items.
Can You Keep a Gun In a Regular Safe?
In short, the answer to this question is: yes, you can. A gun can be kept in a regular safe, but it is then left without the many benefits that come with storing a gun in a safe designed specifically for that purpose–a gun safe.
A regular safe will protect against theft, loss, and in many cases even fire damage, but it will not protect against issues such as humidity, water damage, or rust.
Here are some examples of the ways in which firearms could be damaged by being stored in a regular safe:
- Rust due to the lack of a door seal to keep out moisture
- Lack of proper storage to maintain the physical body of the gun and prevent issues such as scratching, marring, and denting.
- Regular safes are not typically serviced annually or biannually, as gun safes usually are. This leaves the firearms stored inside the regular safe vulnerable to being damaged.
Without these protections, a gun owner’s weapons are left incredibly vulnerable to the elements in particular, but to any number of other factors, as well.
The overall purpose of a gun safe is to protect one’s personal belongings, but in a way that caters specifically to firearms, which have many intricate parts that must be protected and maintained in order to remain functional.
And, though a regular safe is a place to lock up guns to protect them, the overall purpose of a gun safe in particular is not something that should be easily overlooked, as the benefits that it provides for the gun owner and the weapons themselves is extremely beneficial in maintaining one’s firearms over time.
Another important aspect that a gun safe possesses but a regular safe does not is a bolted attachment to the floor, which keeps it held more sturdily in place, stable, and prevents it from being stolen by burglars.
Regular safes, though they do possess safety measures such as this, they are not entirely built in the same way that gun safes are so as to allow them to be more stable.
In terms of affordability, regular safes tend to range from $600 to $800, while gun safes can range from anywhere between $700 to over $1000.
Though gun safes are pricier than regular safes are, the perks that they offer do provide far more benefits to gun owners than regular safes do.
Without these benefits, gun owners do run the risk of facing damage, instability, and corrosion in the keeping and maintenance of their firearms.
So, to reiterate: yes, firearms can be kept in regular safes without running any immediate risks, but by storing firearms in a gun safe instead of a regular safe, gun owners will save more money in the end on maintenance and repairs.
Without spending more down the road, gun owners will be able to keep all of their guns in a safe, stable environment so that they don’t have to worry about the state that they are in, whether or not that state will deteriorate, and whether or not they are vulnerable to theft.
How To Use A Gun Safe Vs. A Regular Safe
Here, it is important to recognize why you are using the safe–is it for the protection of your belongings, or is it more than that? Many individuals who use gun safes do so in order to not only protect their firearms, but to ensure that the individuals in the household are safe from misuse of the firearms and/or accidental firing of the weapon.
When this is a major factor to consider in buying a weapon, knowing how to properly use a gun safe versus a regular safe is quite important.
With a regular safe, knowing the combination and keeping the box private, clean, and well kept is what is important to pay attention to. With a gun safe, however, it is important to pay attention to these things and more.
What are the important responsibilities of owning a gun safe versus a regular safe?
- Gun safes need to be regularly serviced either annually or biannually
- Gun safes need to be regularly cleaned to prevent dust and dirt build up from harming the locks on the safe and the mechanisms on the guns being stored inside it.
- Gun safes need to be placed responsibly in a household in order to prevent accidents, misuse of the weapons, and damage to the weapons.
Firstly, it is important for a gun safe to be regularly serviced. Most towns will have technicians who are certified, and a quick Google search will help you locate and contact them.
The lock itself on the safe should be looked at either annually or biannually, in order to keep them in working condition. Cleanliness is another important part of owning and maintaining a gun safe.
When left unclean, dust will begin to accumulate which can cause the locks and mechanisms to become sticky.
Applying oil can help with this issue. While this is not a comprehensive list of the ways to use these types of safes, these simple steps will set you on the right track to organizing your guns in a safe, clean, and well maintained manner within your household.
And lastly, making sure that the gun safe is properly secured in a responsible place where children, unauthorized individuals, and burglars cannot reach it is absolutely necessary. When deciding where to place a gun safe, it is critical to keep these things in mind.
Overall, gun ownership does not have to be something to be worried about in your daily life. By properly storing and maintaining the guns within a household, while keeping the gun safe itself in healthy condition, you can enjoy being the proud owner of a variety of firearms to experience, care for, and utilize.
When acting responsibly, there is no need at all to worry about whether or not an accident will occur or a dangerous mistake will be made.
You can feel protected, safe, and well taken care of in your home by making careful decisions about how and where in your home your guns will be stored. Being a responsible gun owner is just that easy!