How are you going to find the house that has weapons worth stealing but doesn't have a safe?
Such houses are extremely rare. I'm going to assume you have never attempted this silly scheme for obtaining free guns. Most police cars have a shotgun under the front seat; have you tried looting those? I don't recommend it. This has to be the most ridiculously out-of-touch comment I've ever seen on HN.
No, they are not. The most common storage system I've encountered is a wood cabinet with a framed glass door. Some people have safes they'll keep some of their guns in: it's where you keep the nice ones to prevent hanger rash. The rest are near a door, on a night stand or behind a truck seat.
And yet, over 250k guns are stolen every year (in the US), mostly from houses and cars.
There's a variety of things going on here:
1. The bar for "gun worth stealing" is often "any gun". Just in the same way that the bar for stealing a car is "any car". Thieves aren't exactly targeting Kia and Hyundai because of their great resale or scrap value.
2. The vast majority of houses with guns aren't keeping them locked up in safes.
Mostly from cars, because paying Billy to tell you where his truck will be parked tomorrow night is how you buy a gun from Billy without a background check. Not saying this is right; just saying this isn't "theft" but rather a different law being broken.
2. The vast majority of houses with guns aren't keeping them locked up in safes.
> The 2016 survey found that 46 percent of gun owners stored all household guns locked, of whom 22 percent stored them in a gun safe or cabinet, 13 percent in a gun rack, 6 percent in a locked gun case, and 5 percent in another locked location
Cabinet = crowbar opens in seconds
Rack = easier than a cabinet
> Mostly from cars
It's like 50% from cars, yes. Still well over 100k stolen from houses
Curious how stat considers if gun is stored on person instead of safe.
Also the reason why people end up with guns in cars is often because of dumbass laws like forcing you to abandon the weapon before going into a liquor licensed restaurant, park, daycare, post office, etc. Theyd rather the gun get stolen and carried by a crim than a licensed carrier walk into the post office.
Removing carry restrictions I think would significantly lower accounts of unsecured (car) storage. Only takes one time of going into post office or picking up your kid at daycare and now you're tossed into stats of someone who doesnt keep all guns secured at the home safe.
> Curious how stat considers if gun is stored on person instead of safe.
No idea, I'd guess it doesn't get included in the numerator or denominator
> Also the reason why people end up with guns in cars is often because of dumbass laws like forcing you to abandon the weapon before going into a liquor licensed restaurant, park, daycare, post office, etc. Theyd rather the gun get stolen and carried by a crim than a licensed carrier walk into the post office.
Such houses are extremely rare. I'm going to assume you have never attempted this silly scheme for obtaining free guns. Most police cars have a shotgun under the front seat; have you tried looting those? I don't recommend it. This has to be the most ridiculously out-of-touch comment I've ever seen on HN.