Closet as a gun 'safe'???

[Zee]

I have a co-worker who was discussing with me the other day reguarding his guns.
He said his safe is about to overflow and we were discussing the plausability of changing a small walk-in closet into a 'safe' of sorts.

The idea would be to replace the closet door with a steel entry door, complete with deadbolt.
Pulling the carpeting up and putting a hard surface floor in so it would not hold moisture, and put a humidity guage in to protect his investment.

Now, would these safeguards be enough so that he would be covered legally if someone took it into their head to break into his house, and take down the walls with an axe or sledgehammer.
Or, would he need more, like trigger locks?
One note, he'd probably keep the wall mounted pistol safe inside the closet as additional safeguard against someone taking the (probably) more desireable handguns.

I had no clue and told him I would pose this question with you folks.


Thanks in advance!

[alex-vitek]

Now, would these safeguards be enough so that he would be covered legally if someone took it into their head to break into his house, and take down the walls with an axe or sledgehammer.
Covered legally???

[Rob]

When I was a kid in the 70's, One of my fathers friends in Bay city.
Had a closet safe, I dont know if it was made with steel.
But if you didn't know about it, you would never find it.
He lived in a round house, and had a collection that would impress any collector.

From what I remember at least one wall in every room, had a rack of M1's.
I seen a few M16's, Thompson's with drum mag's, Grande Launchers.
Hundreds of handguns, including from what I was told a dirty harry collection.

The closet safe was hugh and there were shelf's from the floor up that were stuffed with boxs of guns.

[Zee]

What I need to know:

If my co-worker coverts a closet into a locked 'cabinet' (deadbolt, styeel door, etc) and someone breaks into it, are your fireamrs considered 'locked up' or is the powers-that-be going to say you make the guns accessible??

Say, some juvenile delinquent breaks into his house, and then smashes a wall down to get into this closet, are the authorities going to say "well you had em locked up about as good as you could' or would this type of arrangement be too little protection?

[Bob_T]

Axe or sledge???

If it is typical drywalled interior walls, one can go through them with just a foot, no tools required.

Seems to me like a rather foolish idea. If anyone got in to his house and found the locked steel door, they would probably assume there were valuables behind it and be able to gain easy access.

[Bob_T]

Oops, forgot about the question. I would think that in a civil suit you could be toast though I'm not a attorney. It would be the same as locking a gun inside of a canvas dufflebag with a little padlock through the zipper tabs. Not very secure.

[Dave Edwards]

What I need to know:

Say, some juvenile delinquent breaks into his house, and then smashes a wall down to get into this closet, are the authorities going to say "well you had em locked up about as good as you could' or would this type of arrangement be too little protection?

I'm not a lawyer, but I'd say that you could have whatever you want just sitting on the floor, and you would not be in any trouble if someone broke in and snatched them. On the other hand, if you had allowed a juvenile to be in your house legally and they illegally got your guns, by whatever means, then you're liable. This law went into effect a couple of years ago.

Shoot straight.

[Kurgan]

A reinforced closet would work well but it's going to take some construction.

1/4" sheet steel welded together inside the closet walls. The steel would be the 'wallpaper' next to the wallboard. A steel door or even jail gate inside the regular door jam. Essentially, you're building a rudimentary safe inside the closet.

Yeah it's a lot of work but for those with the materials and welding equipment, it's easy.

Or

Take an existing steel gun locker/cabinet....Stack On, etc.....put it inside the closet and using some large bolts and fender washers, bolt it through the floor and with backing plates below.

[Jim Simmons]

I've thought about this question for a while and my decided legal opinion is it beats the heck out of me.

Civil liability: If it is more difficult to break into than a standard locking door, I would think that would be adequate, because there is case law saying that for civil liability purposes, a break-in is not a reasonably foreseeable circumstance. Whether that principle would be applied in such a case is not clear. But I think it could be argued to be applicable.

The child liability statute: Again, I'm not really certain, especially as such a statute would be too new to have been interpreted by an appeals court

[Outdoorzman]

Try this http://www.deansafe.com/amsec/vault.html