Posted on 07/22/2015 7:34:34 AM PDT by w1n1
Not long ago, I was in the market for a small handgun safe. After visiting a local gun shop and bringing home something made by GunVault, I took my new safe out of its box, and wondered if I’d spent too much. Up close, the device looked insubstantial. A nagging suspicion motivated me to go online, where I quickly discovered research by Marc Tobias and Tobias Bluzmanis of Investigative Law Offices and Security Laboratories. Their work confirmed my suspicion about the safe. It could be broken into easily.
Tobias and Bluzmanis, who specialize in evaluating security systems, did an analysis of handgun safes in 2012. Their investigation began with a Stack-On product called the Strong Box. About 200 of these had been issued to personnel of Clark County Sheriff’s Department in Vancouver, Wash., after the ten-year-old daughter of a Clark County Deputy was accidently shot and killed by her brother who had managed to get a hold of his father’s department-issued handgun.
I Started Thinking of these Safes as Chinese-made, Battery-Operated Toys for Gun Owners.
The Sheriff’s Department instituted a policy that all department-issued weapons must be secured in gun safes. Thus the Strong Boxes, which were issued to personnel between 2003 and 2004. In 2010, however, the three-year-old son of Detective Ed Owens died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the boy’s sister was able to remove a handgun from their father’s department issued Strong Box.
Tobias and Bluzmanis found that the Stack-On safe in question could be vibrated open. Lifting it by one side several inches from a floor and dropping it was all that was needed. Their investigation then broadened into an examination of other Stack-On safes, as well as safes made by AMSEC, Bulldog Vaults and GunVault. None of the safes they examined proved secure. Tobias wrote a piece for Forbes magazine on their findings, and posted video of their examinations on his YouTube channel.
He also filed a class-action lawsuit against Stack-On in 2012, prompting Stack-On to settle out of court. Tobias and Bluzmanis are now examining Stack-On’s latest product designs and are considering filing another lawsuit. Read the rest of this Gun Safe Cracking story here and their testing procedures.
Most “gun safes” are scamware, they promise security, but can be opened with a can opener.
...and the REAL reason for his research is revealed...
In StackOn’s case, you get what you pay for. Many of them aren’t as secure as a school locker.
They keep small children out and slow burglars down.
It appears the majority of the problem may lie with “keypad” operated safes.
My gun safe has a conventional dial-type combination lock. I’m sure it can be “cracked” or “picked”, but there is certainly no pad that that can be “peeled away” to reveal the locking mechanisms innards.
....mechanism’s innards...
Sorry.
The only time our guns are in a vault is when we go out. Other than that, good luck.
It will keep the grandkids out, and that's all that's intended.
A determined thief can overcome almost anything, including hauling a big fancy gun safe off behind their truck.
I was watching a video at Gander Mountain showing professional burglars going after a big heavy 5 foot high “bank vault” style gun safe. They were using pry bars doing what the video referred to as a “peel” and it only took them about 10 to 12 minutes to break into that safe.
“using pry bars doing what the video referred to as a “peel” and it only took them about 10 to 12 minutes to break into that safe”
LOL I’ll have to try that method on one of mine. It takes be longer that using the combination lock. I have never gotten this one in particular open on the 1st try ever, quite maddening, but a bit of jubilation when it finally works.
Old school: Keep guns in Liberty Safe. Take one out at night and put it by bed. Put it back in safe in morning. No one is breaking into a Liberty Safe.
Can you link that video? I’m interested in seeing it....
I have no problem with people making a little profit exposing consumer fraud. If there wasn’t any profit in it, then it wouldn’t get exposed and we’d all suffer the consequences.
It wasn't an internet video (that I know of). It was on a monitor at a Gander Mountain store showing the flaws with many big gun safes. You might be able to find it on Youtube though. I'll let you know if I find it.
Those are not really safes in the anti theft sense. They are designed to make it very tough for a kid or unauthorized person to handle the gun, while keeping it available to you. They are VERY good at that.
The smartass writing this forgets one thing, it probably isn’t intended as a safe if you can put it under one arm and walk away with it. Its probably meant as a massive safety increase over sitting in a drawer.
If it can be carried out of the house, it’s not a gun safe. Its a gun case.
” however, the three-year-old son of Detective Ed Owens died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after the boy’s sister was able to remove a handgun from their father’s department issued Strong Box.”
“What? Yessir, -of course- it was stored inside the issued strongbox just as department SOPs require. Yes, those boxes we all resisted and bitched about. My 3 year old must have been a safecracker. In fact, I think I will now sure the box maker for a few million.
This story is so obvious it’s laughable.
Just open the closet.
A $99 bedroom safe, bolted to the floor of the closet, is a must own. You are protecting against robbery from a friend, teen ager, housekeeper etc. All jewelry can be put away for a quick outing. It will also keep a gun safely put away but within quick reach. Of course it is no substitute for the granddaddy safe that keeps the most important items. Coming home to a robbery and not having taken the smallest of protective measures will really ruin your day.
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