Most gun owners don’t usually think about how to hide a gun in plain sight. After all, the first instinct is to keep the firearm away from others, especially kids. You don’t want the weapon falling into the wrong hands, so why keep them hidden in plain sight?
Though it sounds counterintuitive, hiding a gun in plain sight is safer for you and your family in the long run. Not only do you ensure access to the firearm in times of emergency, but you also prevent placing it in such an obscure spot that you end up forgetting where it is. Additionally, you also dissuade burglars from wanting to check every nook and cranny by not hiding anything in one.
Curious how you can hide such a valuable item in plain sight without attracting more attention to it than necessary? Believe it or not, you have quite a few options. Let’s explore some of them.
Any area in your house can become a hidden gun safe, but converting something into one takes a bit of boldness and creativity. Have you considered hiding your gun behind a fake air vent or underneath a display shelf?
But why even try to cleverly hide your gun at all when a locked safe should do the job just fine? That’s because a determined thief can pry open your safe and take its contents if you’re not careful. The Center for American Progress Trusted Source Gun Theft in the United States: A State-by-State Analysis - Center for American Progress Gun theft is rampant in states across the country, leaving all of our communities vulnerable to violent gun crime. www.americanprogress.org provided a state-by-state list of stolen guns from 2012 to 2017, and the numbers are quite surprising.
If you want to know how to hide a gun in plain sight, here are some of your options.
Hiding your firearm under the bed is always a safe and obvious choice. After all, you want to be able to access the gun in times of emergency without losing precious time. If you’re being burgled while you’re sleeping at night, getting the gun from under your bed will only take a few seconds.
The downside, however, is that it’s also an obvious spot for burglars to check. If you’re unfortunate enough to have thieves while you’re away, the area under the bed is likely going to get checked. Keeping a gun safe under the bed is easy to spot, leaving your firearm vulnerable.
So how do you keep your firearm accessible to you but still safe away from prying hands? Consider shopping around for the best bedside gun safes. Unlike the typical storage safes that you just shove underneath your bed, these specially-made bedside gun safes also aim to stealthily store your gun for you.
For firearms larger than a typical handgun, hiding them in the garage is also an option. This is a better choice for guns that are only used for recreational purposes. But how can you hide something large, valuable, and potentially dangerous in the garage? Even the best gun safes are an easy target to burglars if not hidden well.
One option would be to hide it within a locker or chest that can stay in the garage, such as a large toolbox or a bench. Of course, this won’t work if you also have a set of expensive tools as this is a popular target for thieves.
Additionally, make sure you have proper climate control in your garage to prevent any damage to your firearms. The last thing you need is your gun malfunctioning from being left in the garage for too long.
Hiding a gun under the table is one of the most common tropes in movies, and for a good reason: it’s effective. It’s unassuming, it’s accessible, and it’s easy to implement. Companies such as Tactical Walls sell living room furniture that doubles as gun storage. They even implement security measures, such as RFID card scanners, to make sure the gun is securely locked away from everyone else.
If you can’t or don’t want to spend a fortune on specialized furniture for gun storage, you can manually add a hidden compartment to the furniture of your choosing. Though keep in mind that if you do this, it’s up to you to make the compartment as hidden and as safe as possible.
A picture frame box is indeed one of the most “plain sight” hiding places there are, and for good reason. Burglars are not interested in taking framed photos as they’re usually of no value to them. Exploiting that often overlooked aspect might very well save your life and your property one day.
So how does this work? Quite simple actually – by hiding your valuables behind the photo. The frame itself is constructed to be more like a box; after all, it needs to have enough space to hold some items inside. Depending on the size of the picture frame box, it can either slide out to one side or swing outwards with the help of hinges. Regardless of which design they employ, hiding your gun inside one of these picture frame boxes is a clever idea.
Gun concealment benches are another good choice when considering how to hide a large gun safe in plain sight. After all, most of these storage benches can double as living room furniture.
But to fool intruders, you need to make sure your concealment bench is not an ordinary storage bench. Though it’s tempting to buy any storage ottoman for cost concerns, they’re not very good for concealing your guns. They’re obvious and immediately give burglars a hint to check inside them for valuables.
If you’re particularly concerned about the costs of a concealment bench and would rather use an ordinary storage bench instead, consider implementing another layer of security for your guns. Keep other items in there that wouldn’t normally be considered valuable, such as blankets and spare pillows. Then, stash the gun somewhere in between the items, preferably in a secured and locked box. A gun hidden inside a picture frame box would be a good example of this.
Mirrors are quite an overlooked part of the house and are usually taken for granted. Most people only use them to check their appearance before going out of the house. But that’s what makes it such a good storage place – no one ever expects anything hidden behind them.
Depending on the size of your secret mirror, you may be able to hide larger guns behind it. Keep in mind that this option usually requires you to mount them into the wall; this may not be viable for you if you don’t own your house.
But if you do have the option of installing this in your house, go for it. You have quite a few options for location – by a hallway, near the doorway, or even inside your bedroom. As long as it’s in a place that would normally have a mirror, you can successfully hide your guns and other valuables there.
Cabinets are always a good choice when it comes to hiding things. Because it’s usually displaying a bunch of different items, burglars wouldn’t think to look behind or on the side to check for any hidden compartments.
Thankfully, you have a lot of choices when it comes to hiding your firearms in your cabinet. Several of the best hidden gun safes can be integrated seamlessly into your closet, bringing security, privacy, and subterfuge to an even higher level.
When considering how to hide a gun in plain sight, no one would ever think of doing so underneath a display shelf. After all, why would intruders care about a random shelf that’s being used for displaying photos and other useless trinkets?
Believe it or not, you can buy specially-made display shelves that have a hidden compartment underneath. They look just like any other wooden shelf that you mount on the wall, but with a twist: a section opens downward to reveal a storage compartment. This secret “door” is usually held in place by magnets, and they can be opened using RFID cards that only you would keep.
Depending on the size, concealed flags could be an option when planning how to hide a large gun safe in plain sight. Larger flags can accommodate larger firearms and other items, while smaller ones can provide easy but safe access to handguns and the like.
Of course, we’re not talking about fabric flags that get hung on the wall; these are too obvious and provide no security at all. Instead, we’re referring to specific flag displays that are made with wood or a similar material. You display these as you would other framed displays, which means they can conceal a storage space either within their frame or behind them. Other designs even incorporate the hidden storage on the flag itself by using certain sections of the flag as a hidden compartment.
When it comes to hiding things in plain sight, using fake air vents or wall outlets is right at the top of the list. Then again, who would think to rummage through air vents for items?
Because the space inside air vents is usually taken for granted, a well-placed fake can hide just about anything for you in plain sight. To make things even better, these air vent concealed storages are inexpensive when compared to other hidden gun safes.
The only disadvantage to this option is if you don’t own your dwelling. Fake air vents usually require you to carve a hole into the wall, so this is out of the question if you’re renting your place.
As a gun owner, there’s no requirement to hide your gun safe. The minimum is to just keep it locked away from everyone else, but is that enough? Why is it important for you to consider how to hide a gun safe in plain sight?
Believe it or not, gun theft is a major problem for private gun owners. A study from Harvard estimated that there are about 250,000 reported gun theft incidents every year Trusted Source Whose guns are stolen? The epidemiology of Gun theft victims Attempts to reduce the number of stolen guns may do well to focus on individuals and places where most gun theft occurs. dash.harvard.edu , with many more going unreported. Additionally, a 2018 study Trusted Source Gun Theft and Crime - PubMed Some law enforcement officials and other observers have asserted that theft is the primary source of guns to crime. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov also revealed that 20 percent of recovered guns are accompanied by charges of illegal firearm possession.
Are hidden gun safes enough to prevent yourself from being the next target of a gun theft? Every town, a non-profit organization focusing on gun control, seems to think so. They are actively advocating for increasing public awareness about responsible and safe gun storage practices.
Trying to plan how to hide a gun safe in plain sight might be a tedious exercise, but you should do it for your safety and peace of mind. There’s nothing more reassuring than knowing your gun is safely and securely stashed, and even better when you know you can access it when the moment matters.
But at the same time, some of the options listed above may either be too pricey or physically impossible depending on your situation. That’s why it’s important to carefully consider your needs with what you own. A picture frame box storage or an under-the-table compartment might be enough if you only have a handgun, but not so much if you own something with a longer barrel. Regardless of what you choose, always make sure it’s the right combination of security and accessibility.
