Choosing the Best Gun Safes to Protect Your Family

Dixie Safe & Lock Service Inc. • June 13, 2019

Pistols on Gun Safe — Houston, TX — Dixie Safe & Lock Service Inc.

You should be commended for searching for a new, reliable gun safe. Gun safes are an important safety measure for responsible gun owners, especially if you have a family. Even if you don’t have children in your home, it’s still important to secure your guns behind a lock.

According to a report compiled by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), almost $500 million worth of firearms, approximately 1.2 million guns, were stolen in the nation from 2012 to 2015. That averages out to approximately one gun ever two minutes.

Unfortunately, Texas led the country in gun thefts from both private owners and gun dealers. It’s estimated that 177,000 guns were stolen in Texas during that period – approximately $79 million worth of firearms. Surveys have found that the gun owners at the highest risk for gun theft are those who frequently carry their guns outside of the home and those who don’t adhere to safe gun storage practices.

According to a 2018 report in the Journal of Urban Health, roughly 4.6 million of the nation’s children live in a household with at least one unlocked and loaded gun. Children are more perceptive and cleverer than many parents give them credit for. Roughly 73 percent of kids nine years old or younger in households with unsecured guns knew where their parents kept the family’s firearms, and approximately 36 percent admitted that they had handled the guns. In many cases, the parents of these children believed their kids did not know where the guns were hidden.

Another study found that less than 20 percent of crimes committed with firearms were attributed to legal gun owners – nearly 80 percent were committed by people who weren’t the legal owners of the firearms they used during the crime.

Locking up firearms in a reliable, high-quality gun safe is an integral part of responsible gun ownership, and Dixie Safe & Lock Service Inc. is committed to providing the best firearm storage solutions to Houston area gun owners.

What to Consider When Searching for a Gun Safe

Ideally, your gun safe should be built in to a wall or bolted to the floor. Most gun safes are designed with features that enable gun safe owners to anchor the safe.

Wall Construction and Material Is Important

Although the construction of the door on a safe is important, there’s more to a gun safe than the locking mechanism. It’s important to choose a gun safe that can withstand blunt force and fire. At Dixie Safe & Lock Service Inc., we carry and install gun safes that are rated for 30 minutes to two hours of fire and burglary protection.

Locking Mechanism Options

The most popular gun safe locks are combination, electric and biometric.

Combination – These locks require no power, need little maintenance and it’s difficult for an observer to successfully memorize and replicate the sequence, which is especially valuable if children are in the home. The main downside is they are slower to open and more difficult to operate than the other options. If you do get a combination gun safe, the brand you purchase is important, because a low-quality combination lock may not provide reliable performance in the long term. If you do ever want to change the combination you need to call a locksmith out.

Electronic – The main downsides to electronic locks is it requires power – generally batteries – and if you forget the combination even a locksmith may struggle to get it open. The pros include ease of use, additional features, such as penalty lockouts for repeated wrong entries, and you don’t need a locksmith to update the entry code. Although there is a myth that wear on the frequently used numbers can give away your code, this generally isn’t the case. Most key pads are made from wear-resistant materials.

Biometric – These safes are the fastest and easiest to open but they can also be inconsistent. If your fingers are dirty the biometric scanner may not work until you’ve adequately cleaned them. They’re also the most expensive option and require battery power.

Fire Resistance

The typical house fire is approximately 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. Polymer guns will start to melt when they reach approximately 480 degrees Fahrenheit. A quality gun safe is crafted using materials such as gypsum, which boasts special properties that insulate items in the safe and provides much better protection than most standard safes. Gun safes have different fire ratings that indicate how long the safe will protect its contents in the event of a fire.

As of June 2018, the average response time for first responders in Houston was just over six minutes. The speed with which they can put out a fire depends on the extent of the fire, but in general the longer the contents of your safe can stay cool in a fire the better.

How Much Space Do You Need in Your Safe?

It’s important to think ahead when you’re shopping for a safe. One of the most common complaints gun safe buyers have is they should have bought a bigger safe. If you think you’re going to expand your gun collection, or you want to store other important items such as documents, birth certificates, passports or other valuables in the safe in addition to guns, you may need a safe that can hold more than just the firearms you currently own. Before you make a choice, think about your current and future needs and take some measurements to ensure the gun safe you buy is the right safe for you.

Professional Installation

As previously mentioned, it’s vital that gun safes be bolted down or built into walls so the safe itself can’t be stolen or easily moved. In addition to rekeying or resetting gun safe combination locks, Dixie Safe & Lock Service Inc. also offers reliable, high-quality gun safe installation services. Our experts can help you understand key gun safe features and give you advice on the type of storage solution that may be best for your collection and safe storage needs. Give us a call at (713) 643-5767 to learn more about our gun safe and installation services.

Number	First Name	Last Name	Email Address
1	Anne	Evans	anne.evans@mail.com
2	Bill	Fernandez	bill.fernandez@mail.com
3	Candice	Gates	candice.gates@mail.com
4	Dave	Hill	dave.hill@mail.com

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