Security Suggestions, Ideas?

Adirondack · June 22, 2009, 08:03 PM

It seems that one of the great ironies of life is you spend most of you life not worrying about something then one day start worrying about it, preparing for it, then it happens.

Well for me that certain thing is securing my firearms collection; first it was just securing from my young son who took an interest in guns, then next from theft and fire.

Last night I heard that my uncle who had a gun collection that was truly priceless had his gun safe broken into and his entire collection stolen. I don't have all the details yet but my uncle and his sons are well known in the trap shooting circles and were even each national champions in the past. Many of these shotguns were one of a kind custom made originals won during competitions so it must just be making my uncle sick thinking about his loss.

A couple months ago I started doing research on gun safes and as can be seen from an earlier thread, I ended up buying a safe from Sturdy Safe. I feel pretty good about the quality and security of the safe I bought but I know the safe that my uncle had was far more substantial than what I have or could afford and all that was for not because his safe was broken into and his collection was stolen.

So now I'm thinking that what I have done so far is not good enough. Does anyone have any good suggestions about securing your collection? I did read of a good gun insurance company from a recent thread that I plan on giving a call to but are there other ideas such as: cameras, motion detectors, additional reinforcements to the gun safes, facades to hide a safe etc, thanks.

jephthai · June 23, 2009, 02:45 PM

Consider also that his setup may have been insufficient considering the value of his collection. The classic approach in risk assessment is that your safeguards should be commensurate with the value of your asset. If it is too hard to get your stuff, a criminal won't spend the time on it. A truly priceless collection merits a substantial investment to compromise it.

Unless you want to tell the whole Internet what your collection is, only you can determine the value of your stuff. You probably don't have to protect yours as much as your uncle had to protect his.

This assumes, of course, that your attacker knows details about your collection -- if your uncle's bust was a random act of burglary, then I would start to question whether it was really as safe as you think it was. A strong safe that's properly secured (bolted down, etc.) should take many hours to break into.

Adirondack · June 24, 2009, 05:09 PM

Yes I agree on the risk assessment and probably there was more that my uncle could have done but without getting into too much detail, it's hard for me to imagine anyone having a more secure setup than what my uncle had. He is an ex-banker and had an actual safe holding his collection verses the RSCs that most of us have. He also has over 100 acres with his house set right in the center and limited access to his property. They have a guest house that they rent out though and they think it might have been one of their former tenants. I didn't get a chance to talk with them yet but he is a pretty conservative guy so I'm sure he had everything insured just not to the extent I'm sure that the collection is actually worth.

I've decided to go the insurance route myself. The Collectible Insurance company that was recommended on a previous thread proved to be quite a good deal. The Better Business Bureau had them rated as an A- with no complaints on file so I gave them a call, got a quote and started my policy. I'm not stopping at that though, I'd hate to lose what I've spent years acquiring.

June 22, 2009, 08:03 PM	#1
Adirondack Senior Member Join Date: May 28, 2009 Posts: 107	Security Suggestions, Ideas? It seems that one of the great ironies of life is you spend most of you life not worrying about something then one day start worrying about it, preparing for it, then it happens. Well for me that certain thing is securing my firearms collection; first it was just securing from my young son who took an interest in guns, then next from theft and fire. Last night I heard that my uncle who had a gun collection that was truly priceless had his gun safe broken into and his entire collection stolen. I don't have all the details yet but my uncle and his sons are well known in the trap shooting circles and were even each national champions in the past. Many of these shotguns were one of a kind custom made originals won during competitions so it must just be making my uncle sick thinking about his loss. A couple months ago I started doing research on gun safes and as can be seen from an earlier thread, I ended up buying a safe from Sturdy Safe. I feel pretty good about the quality and security of the safe I bought but I know the safe that my uncle had was far more substantial than what I have or could afford and all that was for not because his safe was broken into and his collection was stolen. So now I'm thinking that what I have done so far is not good enough. Does anyone have any good suggestions about securing your collection? I did read of a good gun insurance company from a recent thread that I plan on giving a call to but are there other ideas such as: cameras, motion detectors, additional reinforcements to the gun safes, facades to hide a safe etc, thanks.

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June 23, 2009, 02:45 PM	#2
jephthai Senior Member Join Date: July 5, 2007 Posts: 463	Consider also that his setup may have been insufficient considering the value of his collection. The classic approach in risk assessment is that your safeguards should be commensurate with the value of your asset. If it is too hard to get your stuff, a criminal won't spend the time on it. A truly priceless collection merits a substantial investment to compromise it. Unless you want to tell the whole Internet what your collection is, only you can determine the value of your stuff. You probably don't have to protect yours as much as your uncle had to protect his. This assumes, of course, that your attacker knows details about your collection -- if your uncle's bust was a random act of burglary, then I would start to question whether it was really as safe as you think it was. A strong safe that's properly secured (bolted down, etc.) should take many hours to break into.

June 24, 2009, 05:09 PM	#3
Adirondack Senior Member Join Date: May 28, 2009 Posts: 107	Yes I agree on the risk assessment and probably there was more that my uncle could have done but without getting into too much detail, it's hard for me to imagine anyone having a more secure setup than what my uncle had. He is an ex-banker and had an actual safe holding his collection verses the RSCs that most of us have. He also has over 100 acres with his house set right in the center and limited access to his property. They have a guest house that they rent out though and they think it might have been one of their former tenants. I didn't get a chance to talk with them yet but he is a pretty conservative guy so I'm sure he had everything insured just not to the extent I'm sure that the collection is actually worth. I've decided to go the insurance route myself. The Collectible Insurance company that was recommended on a previous thread proved to be quite a good deal. The Better Business Bureau had them rated as an A- with no complaints on file so I gave them a call, got a quote and started my policy. I'm not stopping at that though, I'd hate to lose what I've spent years acquiring.