Loaded or Unloaded In The Safe

[westernrover]

Do you take the wheels off your car when you park it in the garage?

I heard a man once say, "an unloaded gun is like a Ferarri with no tires."

 

[Pistolay]

I see no up side in keeping a gun loaded that isn't accessible for immediate use. It is a safety risk with little or no tactical benefit. If you need to open a safe to get to the thing, why not keep a loaded mag in the safe to get that thing into action if it comes to that?

I don't carry in the house. My loaded carry gun is in a minivault in my bedroom, and a duplicate is in the safe in the basement (same for my wife), and we can get to them in the dark. If someone ever did come into my house, I have to decide which one I can get to, and I don't need the added complication of having to load it. Also, my wife is strictly wheelguns, and if she had to grab one of mine while I'm wrestling with an intruder, I need it to be already loaded. She won't have the presence of mind to do it.

That said, all other guns in the safe are stored unloaded.

 

[doubleh]

I am king of the safe room and garage. I don't tell my wife how to store her stuff which takes up most of our other space and she doesn't tell me how to store mine. Even being three days older than the dinosaurs we still keep a neat home.

My guns are unloaded when in the safe although anytime I remove one I check to make sure it is. It is a long ingrained habit to always check a gun anytime one enters my hand, picked up or handed to, check for condition. I have managed to impart that to my children, their children, and the two oldest of their children. The other three are a little young to depend on them yet. I see no reason to have a loaded gun in my safe. If I ever need one I need it RIGHT NOW with no time to waste on opening a dial safe as mine are. Even a digital one is too slow to my thinking. I see the way my guns are stored as my business only and really don't care how anyone else thinks, RSO or not.

 

[Meeks36]

I certainly hope ppl didn't just skim over this.

#1 problem at home isn't bad guys, it's FIRE.

When the firemen show up, I will say ''this and this (problem areas, gas cans , propane etc) gunsafe is in room X and chambers are empty''

Cooking off cartridge is just a popper sound.

A chamber cartridge will FIRE a.k.a. send the bullet flying, be kind to your firemen folks!! CHAMBERS EMPTY, at a minimum!!

I wouldn’t be worried to
much about this in a decent safe. With handguns. Rifles on the other hand yeah unloaded for sure.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Well, I'm an RSO also, and I think he's being ridiculous. Maybe he simply felt sanctimonious. I have a few guns in my safe that remain loaded. Also some magazines for others that stay loaded. Different than my EDCs which remain loaded and are sitting out even when they are not on me at present. (bedstand or near me)

 

[Charlie98]

I see no up side in keeping a gun loaded that isn't accessible for immediate use.

That's kind of my thought. Same same with having a huge pile of loaded magazines stacked somewhere. Trust me, the safe is the last place I'm going to go if I need a firearm in a hurry.

 

[.308 Norma]

Everything that isn't in the safe or a gun case is unloaded.

I have several loaded firearms in different places round the house.

I'm GTG.

???
You might be "GTG," but I'm confused. Do you have loaded guns in your safe or not?

 

[.308 Norma]

Nevermind.

 

[LimaCharlie]

The only issue I can see is if the loaded round cooks off in your safe during a fire.

Some of my quick access guns are loaded in my fire resistant safe, others are not loaded.

 

[crstrode]

If an RSO freaks out at the sight of a loaded gun, he must automatically assume all guns are always unloaded.

That guy is a danger to himself and others.

 

[.38 Special]

A person with the temerity to lecture me about my guns in my home would not be my friend any longer, nor welcome into my home again.

 

[The Night Rider]

I see no up side in keeping a gun loaded that isn't accessible for immediate use. It is a safety risk with little or no tactical benefit. If you need to open a safe to get to the thing, why not keep a loaded mag in the safe to get that thing into action if it comes to that?

I keep my Glock 26 loaded in the safe. I switch it out with my 19 every time I go to the gym.

If I'm switching it out at least 4 times a week it makes better sense to me to leave it loaded.

I do everything I can to minimize unnecessary administrative handling.

 

[.308 Norma]

At that point he freaked out (just a lil) and said NEVER EVER keep a gun loaded in the safe with a round in the chamber.
I'm a RSO and you should not do that.

Maybe the guy got his training from the same people that write those "Brady" commercials I see on TV almost every night. You know the ones - the commercials where they tell people to "lock up" their gun(s) and ammo in separate locations.

 

[commygun]

depends on which safe.

Storage will be unloaded. Quick open bedside safe loaded.

This, pretty much. There's a shotgun and 9mm carbine at the front of the storage safe that have loaded magazines but have nothing chambered.

 

[EIB0879]

???
You might be "GTG," but I'm confused. Do you have loaded guns in your safe or not?

Yeah my bad. Outside the safe-loaded. Inside the safe- unloaded. Inside a gun case-unloaded

 

[9x56MS]

Carry guns stay loaded for me. Unloading a carry gun makes little sense to me.

4 Primary Rules of Firearm Safety

• Always Keep Firearm Pointed in a Safe direction. Never point your gun at anything you do not intend to shoot. ...
• Treat All Guns as Though They are Loaded. ...
• Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger until You are Ready to Shoot. ...
• Always Be Sure of Your Target and What's Beyond It.

Did you know my Dad?

 

[.308 Norma]

Yeah my bad. Outside the safe-loaded. Inside the safe- unloaded. Inside a gun case-unloaded

Thanks! That's generally the way it is with us too. Although, my wife has a Disabled Hunter Permit (atrial fibrillation) now and is legally allowed to shoot from a motor vehicle as long as it's not moving or on a public road. Consequently, we spent a lot of time this deer season driving around on our friend's ranch looking for a deer to shoot. And while we were driving around, my wife kept her loaded rifle (without a round in the chamber) in an unlatched gun case on the back seat in our truck.
We didn't see any legal deer this year, but if we would have, it wouldn't have been much of a problem for my wife to step out of the truck, get her rifle out, jack a round into the chamber, and shoot - using our truck as a rest if need be.

 

[I6turbo]

As someone else said earlier, none are loaded in the storage safe(s), only in the quick-access safe beside the bed. It would take me an extra 3 - 5 seconds (and generate a little noise) to put some rounds into the shotgun or AR that I'd be grabbing from the storage safe in a situation that I thought was too ugly for what's in the quick-access safe. I guess I'm taking my chances that I could spare those seconds, but I realize it might not work out that way and I'd be sorry.

 

[JTHunter]

As I don't have a "safe", just an old-fashioned wood & glass cabinet, all but one of the guns inside are loaded. There are 5 rifles, 2 handguns, and a 12 ga. pump. It is one of those handguns, a .32-20 revolver, that is the one not loaded.
Another 12 ga., a SxS, my GP-100 .357, and an AK are on a wall mounted rack beside the bed. There are 4 other handguns sequestered around the house for easy access - JIC.
NOW, before anybody jumps my case, I live alone, no kids, no visitors except an occasional repairman, as all of my remaining relatives are at least 150 miles north of me. Ex-wife died in '06 and ex-g/f in '18. Never had kids so no worries there.

 

[hutch51]

Unloaded in the safe. They're checked when I put them in and again when I pull one out.
I have thought about the fire problem in the past. A loaded round can be a problem, unloaded ammo just cooks off, and that mainly drove my decision. Yeah I'll have bigger problems in a fire but the responders won't get shot
The EDC stays loaded but it's not in the safe.

 

[small town life]

Revolver will always be loaded. The rest remain 0 in the chamber.

 

[Old Dog]

The good news about this thread is that it seems everyone is able to justify their own personal gun storage habits, articulating how and why it works for them, but the big takeaway os, everyone posting is emphasizing that they are particularly concerned about Rule #1 and strive to observe it on every occasion their firearm(s) is/are accessed.

 

[Pat Riot]

Do you take the wheels off your car when you park it in the garage?

I heard a man once say, "an unloaded gun is like a Ferarri with no tires."

Thank you!
I was going to make a similar point only I was going to use the removal of gasoline before stowing in the garage.


I keep several guns loaded on my big safe and in the small pistol safes. Rifles and shotguns have loaded magazines but an empty chamber. Revolvers and semiautos are loaded in pistol safes and a couple of each are in the big safe.

As has been said, my home, my safe, my rules.

 

[DeepSouth]

If a gun is in my safe I am 100% certain it is either loaded or unloaded.

I always check when I get any gun out. I do leave the long guns with empty chambers. Other than that I’ll have to check to know.

 

[kerreckt]

A gun is useless it is unloaded unless you want a paper weight. It is your safe and as long as you are aware of their status that is all that matters. Does being an RSO make you an expert on all gun related matters? I don't think so!