Requirements for a gun safe for individuals

February 26, 2020
Legislation
Igitkhanyan Alevtina

Currently, there is no difficulty in purchasing a durable fireproof cabinet designed for storing firearms, since there are now a large number of domestic and foreign models on the market, the cost of which can be afforded by anyone.

When purchasing such equipment, you must remember that saving is in no case worth it. For example, it is not recommended to buy used metal cabinets. This is due to the fact that:

The doors may jam when opening.
Such safes may have defects that will facilitate a quick break-in.
And if the previous owner did not coat the protective cabinet with special anti-corrosion paint, the walls of this cabinet may also be damaged by rust.

It is simply unwise to install a used gun safe at home, especially since the previous owner may still have duplicate keys to the lock. As for the cheapest gun safe models, they need to be used only in three cases:

If only temporary storage of weapons in this safe is intended.
If the safe is located in a room that is under 24-hour surveillance by security personnel.
If the safe is located in a cabinet that has its own lock.

In other cases, it is strongly recommended that you still pay extra and buy a higher quality and more durable safe.

Very often you can find homemade cabinets for pistols and hunting rifles. They are inexpensive, and this is what attracts buyers. However, it is still recommended to refrain from purchasing them, since not all craftsmen comply with safety standards and regulations during the manufacture of this equipment.

How to store hunting weapons at home

When purchasing a gun, owners wonder what the rules are for installing a gun safe? The very first requirement is the location of the safe. The place should be inaccessible to prying eyes. Such places could be:

Closet or pantry.
A secret opening in one of the walls of the living room.
In a piece of furniture that has an additional wall.

In addition, the gun safe must be attached to the wall using anchor bolts. It is very good to install the gun cabinet on the floor and screw it to the floor surface. This fastening will provide additional safety to the product itself. This requirement applies to the gun safe of individuals and legal entities.

Legislative - legal basis

Decree of the Russian Government of July 21, 1998 No. 814 “On measures to regulate the circulation of civilian and service weapons and ammunition for them on the territory of the Russian Federation”:

In pursuance of the Law on Weapons of the Russian Federation of November 13, 1996, the Government of the Russian Federation approved the rules for the circulation of civilian and service weapons and ammunition on the territory of the Russian Federation. The rules regulate the requirements for the storage conditions of service and civilian weapons (together with their cartridges), which are set out in the chapter “Storage of weapons and cartridges”.

Regarding individuals, the requirements are set out in two articles:

Article 54 establishes the procedure for citizens to obtain from the internal affairs bodies the appropriate permits for the storage, use, and carrying of civilian weapons.

Article 59 of the Decree obliges citizens of the Russian Federation to store guns, as well as ammunition, at their place of residence. It is necessary to ensure their safety, security, and also to prevent unauthorized access by unauthorized persons.

Here is a list of permitted places where the gun is to be stored:

lockable safes;
metal cabinets;
boxes made of high-strength materials;
wooden boxes covered with iron.

That is, in fact, the rules for storing hunting weapons are not detailed. In particular, the dimensions of a safe for storing hunting weapons are not regulated.

Storage requirements do not regulate the dimensions of the safe, metal cabinet, the number and degree of secrecy of locks, or the method of installation (internal, padlocks). There are no requirements for installing an alarm system in the room, additional locks, metal boxes on metal entrance doors, or metal bars on windows.

There are no requirements for fastening or bolting safes, metal cabinets, or wooden boxes to walls or floors. It is said that the internal affairs bodies are checking the conditions for ensuring the safety of registered hunting weapons.

Also, the procedure for storing guns along with ammunition in places of temporary stay of citizens is not detailed. All that is required is to prevent unauthorized persons from accessing the weapon.

Athletes who are members of sports shooting societies and clubs are allowed to store weapons and ammunition at sports facilities. If athletes go to training camps or various types of competitions using sports shooting rifles, they are allowed to store a rifle arsenal at the location of the shooting competitions.

Location

The cabinet must be located at a distance of at least:

1 m from heating radiators;
1.5 m from the front door;
0.5 m from the windows.

It must be located away from windows and the front door so that this cabinet is not accessible to other people, such as intruders. And it is necessary to install it away from heating radiators, because this is required by fire safety regulations. If the ammunition is overheated, detonation may occur. And this, as we know, can lead to serious consequences.

Physical parameters

Before purchasing a gun safe, you need to think a little about the future. For example, today a hunter owns 1 rifle, and after some time he will acquire several more weapons. Therefore, in order not to purchase another gun cabinet in the future, you can buy an initially wide safe with additional trays, designed for the future.

The owner should know what the requirements for a gun safe for shotguns are regarding the depth of the cabinet. As for the depth of such a cabinet, 350 mm is quite enough. But if a person owns a rifle with an optical sight or additional attachments, then it is recommended to purchase a cabinet with a depth of over 500 mm. If this is not done, every time the owner puts his weapon in the safe, he will need to remove the optics. For some, this can create all sorts of inconveniences.

The height of the safe should directly depend on the type of weapon. However, it would also be wrong to select a cabinet strictly according to the length of the rifle, since there should also be an autonomous compartment on top, which is designed to store various ammunition. That is, it turns out that in order to roughly estimate what the height of the safe should be, you need to take the length of your rifle and add about 300 mm. The average height of a gun safe is about 1.75 m in height.

The width of the safe is about 300 mm. Plus, additional compartments account for another 200 mm. The compartments are designed to store various devices. Thus, it turns out that the minimum width of a gun safe should be at least 500 mm.

The purpose of tightening the rules for storing weapons

The Karelo-Finnish Laika is small in size compared to its relatives, the West Siberian and East Siberian Laika. The height of males does not exceed...

At the same time, the guards must check the storage conditions themselves, and the district police officers who did this before, in accordance with the last paragraph of paragraph 33.1 of the “Regulations for the provision of public services for issuing a license for hunting firearms.” Requirements for the installation of safe equipment are described in the state document of the Russian Federation 150-FZ “On Weapons”. In accordance with Russian laws, any weapon must be kept in conditions that guarantee safe storage of the products.

Locking mechanisms

There are currently three main such locking mechanisms. These include:

Coded. The door opens by selecting the right combination. This mechanism is very reliable.
Key mechanism. A door key is used for this. From the point of view of operation, such products are considered practical. They require you to have this key with you at all times. However, there are also disadvantages to such a mechanism. There is a possibility that attackers can take an impression of this key and subsequently make a duplicate.
Electronic mechanism. It is generally considered the safest. It is very difficult to find a combination for it. Electronic mechanisms operate from internal batteries. Their food needs to be changed. If this is not done, the battery may be discharged and the lock will no longer be able to work. And it will be possible to restore it either with a special master key, which is intended for such cases, or with the help of external contacts, that is, when connecting the battery.

What kind of lock the gun safe will have is up to each owner to decide for himself. The only thing you need to remember is that the safe door must have at least two locks, which must open alternately. That is, if one does not open, then the other will also be closed.

Storing ammunition in a safe

Under no circumstances should you store a weapon in a loaded state! Due to the fact that it is at least unsafe. Some gun owners believe that this requirement should be fulfilled exclusively by legal entities. However, in fact, these requirements also apply to individuals. Therefore, in order not to violate the requirements of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, ammunition must be stored in a gun safe separately from pistols and shotguns. And for this, the safe must have such a compartment. This compartment must be locked at all times to prevent unauthorized persons from accessing it.

Monitoring compliance with established storage conditions

Monitoring compliance with the conditions for storing weapons at home is carried out by authorized police officers who can check the safety of the weapon and its inaccessibility to unauthorized persons and even to citizens living with the owner of the weapon.

None of the relatives of the gun owner who keeps it at home should know where the key to the gun safe is. To check that a weapon is not accessible to family members of its owner, some police officers may resort to small tricks.

For example, officials go to a house where a weapon is stored when its legal owner is not at home and ask a family member to present the weapon to verify license plates. In this way, the employee provokes the relative to violate the rules on the inaccessibility of weapons. If a relative opens a safe and shows a weapon to a police officer, it will be confiscated due to a violation of storage rules, and the owner of the weapon will be held administratively liable.

Thus, persons who own weapons must strictly adhere to the rules for storing them and keep them completely out of reach of unauthorized persons.

Types of safes

Gun safes can be divided into the following categories:

Gun rooms designed for storing rifles, carbines and other weapons.
Pistol safes - these safes are small in size and designed for traumatic and short-barreled weapons.

A gun cabinet must meet one more requirement in order to be purchased: it must be fireproof. Preference should be given exclusively to thick-walled models made from durable steel sheets.

Based on their burglary resistance, gun cabinets can be divided into 5 main classes: from H0 to H5 (the higher the class, the better the quality of the gun cabinet). The price of this equipment is also increasing.

Some gun owners are wondering what kind of safe is needed for shotguns? Before purchasing a safe, you need to pay attention to its walls, for example, the outer walls must be at least 2 mm, and the treyzer partitions must be at least 3 mm.

If the wall thickness is less than these parameters, then such safes may only be suitable for temporary storage of weapons. As for fireproof safes, they have a special coating that can withstand open fire. Thanks to this, this gun cabinet is able to ensure the safety of firearms. And the most important thing is to prevent the detonation of ammunition.

Algorithm of actions for obtaining weapons

A citizen who wishes to use or simply have a weapon must fill out and submit an application for a license to store and carry weapons to the licensing department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. An application to check storage conditions must be received from it within 2 working days.

Important point! The application must indicate not the registered address, but the actual address where the storage is supposed to take place.

Then, within 30 days after filing the application, a local police officer must come to the applicant’s apartment (or house) and check whether there is a place for the weapon that meets the level of danger.

A written report on such inspection is drawn up. At the end of it, a conclusion is made whether the home of the person who wrote the application is suitable for storing weapons or not. And based on its results (and based on the results of passing other checks), the commission makes a decision on issuing or not issuing a license to a specific person to purchase a specific brand of weapon.

Making a gun cabinet

As for the production of a safe, this is a rather complex technological process. Special materials are used for its manufacture.

The highest quality gun safes are made exclusively from durable steel sheets. You can also use wood to make a cabinet for weapons, but it must be sheathed with metal on the outside. Such cabinets are cheaper, but they are not practical to use.

In addition to 3 mm steel sheets, to make a gun safe, manufacturers use materials such as:

Corners 2.5 mm.
Bolts, nuts, various fasteners.
About 4 strong steel hinges that can support the weight of the door itself.
Two castles.

Many modern manufacturers rely on such standard parameters as:

The depth of the safe must be at least 500 mm.
The width of the gun cabinet must be at least 500 mm.
The height of the safe is at least 1500 mm.

These requirements also apply to a safe for storing rifled weapons.

How to secure a gun safe yourself

To secure the safe in a permanent place, it is better to use reliable fastening means. They can be large anchor bolts from any manufacturer, if they are not included in the delivery set. Such fasteners are difficult to tear off without the use of a special tool, but they will allow you to securely secure the equipment.

For fastening, you should avoid plastic dowel plugs, as they can easily be torn out.

Blanks for the future product

Before proceeding directly to assembling the gun cabinet, craftsmen must produce such elements as:

The walls are two side, one back, lower and upper.
Frame box.
Door.

Next comes the manufacture of the frame and the actual assembly of the safe.

To do this you need to use a welding machine. The parts that were listed a little earlier must be connected to each other in accordance with the requirements of the technical documentation. The quality of welds is carefully checked by specialists. This is due to the fact that the strength of the product directly depends on how correctly they are made.