Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by wildzzz 873 days ago
Trigger locks and pistol lockboxes are really just to prevent someone from playing with your guns. A trigger lock obviously isn't going to prevent theft and pistol lockboxes can just be carried away. Although I have seen videos of a toddler dropping a pistol lock box and it pops right open. Maybe at least mount them? A real gun safe is used to actually prevent theft when properly secured to the floor. Although the bypass keys on many safes are not terribly secure. They can be picked or impressioned with the right tools. Although the chance that the burglar actually having the right tools on them might not be very high. A few months ago, I saw a neighbor receiving their new long gun safe. I saw the model name and looked it up to see that it uses a lever lock for the bypass. You can buy very simple impression tools for this kind of lock that will open it up in about 30-60 seconds. Given that it takes at least a few minutes for police to respond to an alarm, two guys can easily search a house, find the safe, pick the bypass lock, throw all the guns in a duffel and be gone before police show up. If I had the same safe, I'd put a small piece of tape over the keyway and JB weld a piece of tool steel over it. If I lose my key, I can certainly wait a bit to drill out a new keyway, not so much for a burglar. Although it would probably be rare for a potential burglar to see a gun safe getting delivered, it would offer so much information on what valuables are inside a house and how to steal it.

A lock is only as weak as an adversary is determined.