Readers of this blog know that secure gun storage is a big deal for me.

Secure gun storage is three part system:

One: The strength of the storage container itself.

Two: How well the storage container is secured to the premises.

Three: How secure is the premises and the location within the premises where the storage container is placed.

There are a lot of garbage gun storage boxes put there made of flimsy material that can be opened in seconds with a claw hammer.  Those may provide some resistance to a child who comes across your gun box, but isn’t a deterrent to theft.

At a minimum, if you buy a gun safe, it should be tested to the standards of a UL RSC (residential security container).  I have recommended other containers, such as a Job Box, for gun storage.  I know what the UL RSC standard is, and a quality job site box will meet that standard.  It’s far better than the garbage import safe from Harbor Freight.

If you buy a good storage container but don’t secure it, that’s also not a deterrent to theft.  I recently wrote about anchoring a Cannon safe i purchased to an OSB floor.  I moved the safe myself with a dolly I bought at Costco.  So if it was not anchored down, a thief could carry the safe away with him using a similar dolly and open the safe at their leisure off site.

Lastly is the rest of the house.  No safe is impenetrable.  It’s a function of how much time and effort a thief wants to put into breaking into your safe.  If the thief has time on their side, they might do it.

I’ve heard horror stories of thieves spending days cutting into good safes in garages while the homeowner is away on vacation.

Put your safe in a part of the house where your security system covers it.

If a garage is all you have, get a wireless motion detection security system and put it in the garage and aim it at your safe.

Create layers of security to protect your guns.

Now, let’s turn to anti-gun Congresswoman Karen Bass and see what she did wrong.

Two firearms stolen in burglary at home of L.A. mayoral candidate Karen Bass

Two firearms were stolen during a burglary at the home of Rep. Karen Bass on Friday evening, the Los Angeles mayoral candidate said in a statement released Saturday.

Bass said she came home Friday to find signs of a break-in and called police. The thief stole firearms that had been “safely and securely stored” but left behind cash, electronics and other valuables, she said.

Bass communications director Sarah Leonard Sheahan confirmed to The Times that the guns belonged to the congresswoman and said they were secured in a Brinks lock box.

There we have it.

A Brinks lock box is not a gun safe.  It’s a thin metal box designed to keep employees from surreptitiously stealing cash from the boss’s office.  It can be pried open with a screw driver.

It also can’t be secured to the premises like a cable lock gun box.

That wasn’t secured in any reasonable way, that was nicely packaged for a thief.

I’m also tempted to call bullshit on the whole story since the thief took only the guns cash and jewelry.

I think the thief knew about the guns and this wasn’t some random break-in.

But whatever the case, my point remains unchanged.

When anti-gun people talk about secure storage, they have no idea what they are talking about.