Hidden in plain sight

I had a DIY (Do It Yourself) post a couple of weeks ago called Hide a gun in a book where it showed how to hollow out a space in a book to hide a gun.

SayUncle Blog had a couple new links up regarding hiding guns in special picture frames (which I review in option #6).

I found a lot of new ways for creative gun hiding places which I will critique below. All the prices listed are subject to change.

1) Octagon Gun Clock – $40

Thoughts:
Awful thick for a clock.  Also, it looks pretty plain, so depending on how nice your house is it may not work with the decor.  Clocks are generally high up on the wall, so getting the gun quickly might require getting a chair over to where the clock is.  If you really don’t want to fool anyone with your gun clock, keep it at chest height for easy gun access.

2) Mantle Gun Clock – $35

Thoughts:
Looks like a good thickness for a mantle clock, so no problem there.  The one real problem I have again with this one is that if it doesn’t match your decor then its going to look out of place.

3) Steel In-Wall Safe (Handgun size) – $29

Thoughts:
These in-wall safes are definitely cooler then the previous options because you can put ANYTHING infront of them to hide the fact you have guns in there.  It also has the added advantage that it is lockable.  The one major disadvantage to this is that you have to saw a hole in your wall to put it in, and it needs to be between 2 studs in order to be secured properly.

4) Steel In-Wall Safe (Rifle size) – $120

Thoughts:
Pretty much the same thoughts here as on the handgun safe.  One big CON though.. this safe is only 3.75″ deep so that really limits the type of rifle you can put in here.  Forget putting your loaded M14 or AR-15 in this one, you probably need to stick to the hunting rifles and/or shotguns.

5) Biometric In-Wall Vault – $329

Thoughts:
Definitely the most “James Bond” of all.  You can dazzle your friends by swiping your finger and then having instant access to your guns and money.  You have to saw a hole in your wall again to mount this one, and another disadvantage is that it needs batteries to run the biometrics.

6) Hideagun.net specializes in two types of hiding places

a) Small (for handguns) – $80

b) Large (for numerous handguns and/or rifles) – $350

Thoughts:
The pictures are WAY too thick to pass as normal.  People are not used to seeing 4 inch thick wooden frames on regular pictures, and they will call you on it.  A better picture for the job would be a canvas art print where the canvas is stretched around the sides and is supposed to be thick, so people won’t even notice.  One plus is that picture level is about the perfect height to keep your guns away from kids, while at the same time maintaining easy access to them.  This company’s offering seems very pricey compared to the previous comparable options.

7) Remote Controlled Picture Frame Wall Vault – $480

Thoughts:
The fact that your open it by punching a code into a remote control (an RF (radio frequency) one at that!) defintiely earns some points in my book.  A negative aspect is that it is supposed to look like a innocuous framed picture, and just like the previous option it is WAY too thick.  It must be damn good quality though, because it is listed as weighing 55 lbs.

.8) In-Floor Safe – $130

Thoughts:
Pretty interesting option.  Since it is long and narrow it will definitely be harder to get your guns in and out of.  Plus being down at floor level will make it less convenient if you need it in a hurry.  Since it needs to go down into a floor, putting it in your cement basement is out of the question, it will need to go on one of your above ground floors.  This one would definitely be easy to hide, seeing as you could put pretty much anything over top of it and no one would suspect anything.  Sentry is known for their quality so I’m sure this would not disappoint if its an in-floor safe you’re looking for.

Thanks for reading!  Leave comments if I left anything interesting out.