How to lock long guns easily

To frame the discussion, please exclude conversations about laws, about if you agree with my desire to lock them, or if you don't like guns at all.

I have a loaded pistol at the ready in an easy accessible manual locking safe. I have everything done for home defense in terms of safety and ease of access.

I also own a shotgun and an AR10 rifle. I would like to lock them up as well, either in my closet on a wall, in my closet in a locker of some form, or under my bed hanging from the frame (it's a wooden frame I designed and made, so it can easily be modified). I want to immobilize them, even if they are stored unloaded. Theft is not a concern. If someone gains access to my house, they also have access to my garage, and can get through anything. I am merely trying to discourage curious teenage individuals. I've considered the locking wall mounts, where the trigger lock is part of the mount. I've considered an old school locker, but finding enough room might be tough. I've considered simply building a wooden box under the bed and leaving one end as the door and adding a simple lock. All decent options. Money is tight.

Are there any others?

Gun safe?

Out of sight, out of mind.

Gun safe, or at least a lockable closet. Any kids? Kids=trigger lock.

I don't have any guns but if I did I'd have one in every room loaded. No kids, not a great neighborhood, wife is possibly a better shot than me. I'd also be really good with drywall.

Someone I know used to keep them in a void under the bed. Frame was a fully skirted oak unit, very solid. Didn't technically lock but one had to lift a king mattress and about 50lbs of lumber with one hand and remove another board with the other. It was about all I could do to get in there when I was 20 and used my gym membership. Usually required a second set of hands. 

I've used something like this in the past:

Fairly cheap and easy to get and use.  I had one on my SKS at one time, so it should work on pretty much any long-gun.  Use a little bit of nail polish on the key with a corresponding drop on the lock so you know which key opens which - assuming you don't have more guns than they make nail polish colors, of course!

In reply to wae :

Bass Pro sells a 3-pack of those keyed-alike for $30. 

I use either trigger locks like the one above, or cable locks pictured below to keep younger kids from getting into trouble they don't understand. 

But honestly, I think the best way to keep a guns safe is to teach kids about them. They are told at young ages that they can look at them whenever they want as long as they talk to me first. They can show them to their friends as long as I'm present. They also get to fire them any time I have them out at the range. That alleviates a lot of the mystery and curiosity as well as gives me plenty of opportunities to teach and enforce good gun safety. Once they have that down, I don't really care if they dig the guns out or even borrow them as long as we discuss it in advance. My father did the exact same thing.  

Typical trigger locks are bad enough that a friend of a kid can rap them on a table to unlock them. Typical cable locks are even worse. I am leaning towards the "build a long box under and attached to the bed and set up some form of door on the ends" option. Most people other than my family won't even know they are there.

Really bad picture, but I have a vertical rack in a closet that I have bolted to the wall.  
 

Mine is designed to hold 6 guns, but I would not be surprised if you can get one that will hold just two.  Also, there's probably ones out there that require you to provide you own padlock, so you can go with as nice of a one  as you want.

eastsideTim said:

Really bad picture, but I have a vertical rack in a closet that I have bolted to the wall.  
 

Mine is designed to hold 6 guns, but I would not be surprised if you can get one that will hold just two.  Also, there's probably ones out there that require you to provide you own padlock, so you can go with as nice of a one  as you want.

That is a terrible picture, but I squinted really hard and I think I get it. So it holds the gun vertically, and the lock is on a plate covering the opening?

In reply to Toyman! :

I agree.  I was taught from a very young age to shoot and respect firearms.  In PA, you have to do a hunter's safety course before you can get a hunting license, and that course was 90% about gun safety, including some pretty grisly films.

Tuna, good idea to lock them anyway to prevent accidents.  I like the box on the bed idea.  Easy to make it lockable, but also could be easy to pry open.  Maybe that in combination with the trigger lock?  Adding an extra step to make it fireable might work.

I treated myself last Christmas to a nice fire safe and they all go in there now.

In reply to tuna55 :

Yup, on mine, there are two hinged plates that meet in the middle, and there is a slot that the lock sitting on top of the rack the slides into the plates and a stationary part of the rack.  You'd probably need an angle grinder (or a hacksaw and a lot of time) to break it open.  Picking the lock would likely be faster.

Edit:  Yeah, picking the lock was faster, I just did it in about a minute the first time, and 15 seconds the second time.  A good lock is going to be the most important thing if you are more worried about curious kids than actual malicious intent.

eastsideTim said:

In reply to tuna55 :

Yup, on mine, there are two hinged plates that meet in the middle, and there is a slot that the lock sitting on top of the rack the slides into the plates and a stationary part of the rack.  You'd probably need an angle grinder (or a hacksaw and a lot of time) to break it open.  Picking the lock would likely be faster.

 

Edit:  Yeah, picking the lock was faster, I just did it in about a minute the first time, and 15 seconds the second time.  A good lock is going to be the most important thing if you are more worried about curious kids than actual malicious intent.

What brand is it? What is that type of lock called?

Don't see a brand on it, but here's a closer picture

It actually seems fairly durable, it's just that the lock cylinder on it is crap (like a lot of cheap gun locks).  If you can find something that just has a hole for a regular padlock, you can just get a decent one.  Heck, even a high end masterlock is probably good enough.

On the AR, there is also the option to remove the bolt carrier group and store that in a different, secret spot than the rifle. Add a lock to the trigger, and nobody is doing anything with the rifle unless they spend a lot of time working on it.

It might work for the shotgun, too.

Got a welder?  It might be cheaper to make something than buying one.  I did some looking on my lunch break, and could not find what I have for sale anywhere.  I might need to do some more googling.

eastsideTim said:

Got a welder?  It might be cheaper to make something than buying one.  I did some looking on my lunch break, and could not find what I have for sale anywhere.  I might need to do some more googling.

That's a good idea. I sure do.

Any inexpensive lock can be defeated in minutes. They only keep honest people honest.

Anything fastened to wood or built out of wood is a prybar away from being gone.

You can buy a small locking gun cabinet for about $150 on Amazon. If you want them secured, I would probably go that route. 

tuna55 said:

eastsideTim said:

Got a welder?  It might be cheaper to make something than buying one.  I did some looking on my lunch break, and could not find what I have for sale anywhere.  I might need to do some more googling.

That's a good idea. I sure do.

In that case, some flat plate and bar stock should be able to be made into a rack, and you can use a bar stock or piece of L channel as a removable locking bar.  Won't stop a dedicated thief (they'll just break stuff), but with a good quality lock, it'll make it hard for someone who wants to get access to the guns without being detected.

eastsideTim said:

tuna55 said:

eastsideTim said:

Got a welder?  It might be cheaper to make something than buying one.  I did some looking on my lunch break, and could not find what I have for sale anywhere.  I might need to do some more googling.

That's a good idea. I sure do.

In that case, some flat plate and bar stock should be able to be made into a rack, and you can use a bar stock or piece of L channel as a removable locking bar.  Won't stop a dedicated thief (they'll just break stuff), but with a good quality lock, it'll make it hard for someone who wants to get access to the guns without being detected.

That's what I am thinking. I'll use the floor as the plate I think, and just have a locking bar located to hold both guns pointed upwards. I can make the bar very large in diameter and bend in or weld on the "L". If I face into the wall, then you'd have to destroy the closet to actually get it loaded or get it out of the rack. I'll look around a bit more. We have a waterjet here at work I can use, so I can always get a little clever if I want with side panels too.

In reply to eastsideTim :

The closet I can find to what I am guessing from your picture is this:

I like the idea of building a small locker or rack inside of an existing closet.
Safety training for all of the kids is a good idea. A healthy respect and understanding is a good way to mitigate a lot of dumb stuff. 
 

In addition to the excellent suggestions here already, you could just remove the bolt(s) and keep those in a safe. Then the guns would be entirely inoperable. That may be more difficult on the shotgun, however. 

Check Facebook marketplace for a deal on a small safe that you can stuff in a closet.  Lots of people buy an 8 gun and realize they want more space.  

What about getting a good solid core door on your bedroom or other closet and putting a deadbolt on it? 

Or make your own heavy duty cable lock?