When you keep a gun for home defense, you have to balance speed of authorized access against security.
Your circumstances will impact what methods you use to secure your weapons.
This will limit your storage options, but responsible gun ownership includes safe storage.
Another thing to consider is your homes layout.
Certain areas may be better places to store a gun due to the amount of time you spend there.
Other places may be poor locations due to the lack of space or accessibility.
How you store a gun is influenced greatly bywhereyou can store one.
Staging vs.
Storage of Firearms
Pre-positioning of firearms for home defense needs is sometimes called staging.
A staged firearm is a gun that is stored in a ready-to-use condition.
Like a fire extinguisher, they are intended for emergency use.
Some people people I respect, mind you make a distinction between the storing and staging of firearms.
For the purposes of this article, I use the terms storing and staging interchangeably.
Lets get into each of them now.
Exposed Storage
Exposed storage is when you lay out a gun in plain view for easy access.
Exposed storage offers no security at all, but it may offer the fastest access.
Exposed storage is responsible only when you trust everyone else that may have ready access to the firearm.
Further, it should be secured when left unattended.
Hidden Gun Storage
Hiding a gun uses concealment as a form of security.
While some methods of hidden gun storage offer some measure of access control, many methods do not.
At its most basic, hidden storage can be as simple as keeping a pistol in a desk drawer.
Tactical Wallsis one of the premier companies when it comes to building home decor with defensive functionality.
The company offers a range of furniture and built-ins that are purpose-built to store guns.
Many of these concealed gun storage solutions are quite handsome and will fit into a well-appointed home.
One of the companys top products is the Top Locking Shelf.
Id recommend visiting the companys website for other unique covert gun storage ideas.
There are other secret gun storage solutions to consider.
You could, for example, hollow out a large book to conceal a pistol within it.
Sitting on a kitchen counter or desktop, the book would look like any other reading material.
Yet, it would offer fast access to a defensive weapon.
I call these devices lock boxes.
Typically, they can be bolted to a large piece of furniture or studs in your walls.
Some units are tethered with a steel cable to help prevent theft.
Variations of the emergency access box also exist for rifles and shotguns.
Some of these devices are designed to conceal under your bed while others mount to a wall.
For my needs, I have aSpringfield XD Service model pistolstored in aHornady RAPiD gun vaultnext to my bed.
(Clickhereto read my XD Service Model review.)
This is a supplement to my SAINT rifle and part of myhome defense gear.
The Hornady lockbox offers fast access via a keypad and an RFID fob on my keychain.
Final Thoughts
You are the master of your own domain.
Hidden gun storage only works when people dont know about it.
A locked gun storage solution offers better security but often at a higher monetary cost and slower access.
Find the balance of how to store a gun that works for you.
Then, with training guns or unloaded firearms, practice accessing them.
When an emergency comes, you dont want to fumble with a lock or hidden access latch.
