christianne wrote:So back to the topic at hand --
I have six cats (no one start calling me the crazy cat lady!!
) So I buy cat litter in bulk. Cat food in bulk. I also have four dogs -- so dog food is also in bulk.
Using the previous comments here regarding kitty litter of a specifc kind being appropriate to use -- and going back to the original question I had posted, which was the storage of my future firearm in a situation in which I cannot take my weapon with me -- such as a vacation, etc. And my original question went back to the instructor in the class telling me that thieves don't normally go into kitchens so to hide my weapon there. And that a gun safe - unless one bolts it to the floor - is not really safe.
So - now my question is - if I were to purchase a bag of this specific kitty litter - and I plopped it next to the rest of my kitty litter -- but used it for the specific purpose of hiding my weapon -- let's say I put it in one of those vacuum sealed bags I asked about- and then plopped it in the middle of the bag of kitty litter.
Would that be considered one of those safe - hiding in plain sight kind of things? I mean, is someone breaking into my house going to think "oh, with six cats, they are going to hide a gun inside the bag of kitty litter."
This is not for those times that I am home -- this is for storage of a weapon for a longer period of time. I am asking because again, being a newb, I just don't know this stuff.
And I promise -- I'm not an ATF plant or asking for nefarious reasons as I was accused of by some on another forum.
I highly doubt it would meet any legal standard of "safe storage" if there is such a standard required in your area.
That said - I can hardly imagine any thief (unless they're someone who knows you and sees you posting this online) taking a bag of kitty litter.
In my view, the gun safe is still the best option, even if expensive - but the instructor was not wrong about bolting it to the floor, that's pretty much a requirement unless it's very, very heavy.
With safes you want a model that: bolts down, uses a skeleton key or an abloy key, and- if biometric- can't simply have the pad pushed through the wall of the safe giving access to internals.
House key or tubular key styles are very easily defeated.
Retrofitting a GunVault with an Abloy lock cylinder is a robust and fairly inexpensive solution for storing one or two handguns, bolted to a large unwieldy piece of furniture, or in your car.
For long gun safes, I think one of the cheapest options that isn't crap is a Sentry Safe 14. Lighter weight than you might like, but can be bolted down and has a good electronic keypad, and the back-up lock is a relatively strong skeleton key style.
It's worth bearing in mind: even an imperfect safe that's bolted down can keep it safe from casual smash-and-grab thieves, and from unauthorized access by kids or dumb house guests, but at the same time, a more robust solution doesn't HAVE to cost more.