SteyrAUG
03-22-11, 00:00
Warning: Old Guy Talking About Olden Days Post
I can remember when gun safes were rare. Back in 1970s having a gun safe was as uncommon as having a car alarm. Sure some guys had them, but some guys also had a Rolls Royce. Guns were usually stored in a gun cabinet and only as secured as a thin sheet of glass (nobody would ever take the time to mess with a lock). A few security minded people would run a bicycle cable lock through the trigger guards and chain them all together. But gun cabinets were the norm, usually left unlocked that way if anyone ever did rob your house they wouldn't leave broken glass everywhere.
Gun racks were far more common than safes. I can remember more than one family home that had a wall rack in the garage. In the instance of my Grandfather a 1903 was on a wall rack, a 1911 was in his desk drawer and a Model 97 was leaning in the corner by the back door. These guns were never stolen.
I can even remember entire gun collections "on display" in living rooms proudly hung on the walls. I can remember more than a few police style gun racks in the home of collectors which were protected by nothing more than a simple padlock and the simple screws that held the rack on the wall. I recall one collector of Lugers with a little more than a hundred examples who protected his gun room with nothing more than a steel wrapped exterior type door with a dead bolt. I can even remember the NFA collector who kept his vintage Thompsons, BARs and other WWII full autos in a locked cabinet in the garage. The doors were secured with a simple padlock.
I can also remember gun racks in pickup trucks and some pretty nice Winchesters sitting in them. I never remember an instance of somebody breaking into a truck to steal one or to steal many of the pistols that sat in most glove compartments.
It isn't that there wasn't crime in the 70s and 80s, it's just that it was far less common because it wasn't tolerated. People have been robbing homes since there have been homes, but so long as you didn't live in a major city like NY or in a terribly depressed area of town you really could leave your house unlocked once upon a time. And if you actually did rob somebody there was an expectation that you would probably get shot doing it, everyone in the neighborhood who learned of it would turn your ass in and the cops really would take the time to investigate the crime and find you. You actually would be arrested, prosecuted and end up in jail.
Something like being followed home from the bank, having your home invaded, being tortured to relinquish your valuables and then having your home set on fire with you still in it with your family would be so completely unheard of they would talk about it for decades, it would rank right up there with the Manson family murders rather than simply something terrible that sometimes happens. Again, society simply didn't accept this sort of thing once upon a time. Keep in mind the Manson family members are only alive because of a change in the death penalty law and that only happened because CA is populated by insane people.
In 1981 my father actually got a gun safe and it was a very uncommon (and expensive) purchase and usually the mark of a very advanced collector. Unlike most gun owners my father also had things like Krugerrands and expensive cameras so the safe did make sense for him. There were also still four glass door gun cabinets in the home. Many of my fathers guns remained protected by unlocked glass doors.
And the house was never robbed while we lived there.
Fast forward a few decades and even my grandparents house in small town Iowa has been broken into no less than 5 times since my Grandfather passed away more than a decade ago. The fact that the little town has a huge illegal immigrant population is no small factor. Thankfully the guns have long been removed and weren't stolen. Can't say the same for everything else, they actually destroy more things than they steal as little old ladies don't have a lot of valuables. Part of me wishes I could catch these scumbags breaking into my Grandmothers house but if I did I would probably be prosecuted for shooting them because sadly these days society not only seems to tolerate criminals, they put their rights ahead of yours. And that is probably why my Grandmothers home has been broken into so many times.
I also wouldn't dream of leaving anything more valuable than a few C&R guns in a glass door gun cabinet. Not even in the same "doctors and lawyers" suburb I grew up in. It is true FL has Castle Law but it is also true that we have way more criminals than we used to have and even here society is far more tolerant of them than it used to be. After all that is "somebodies baby and he ain't done nothing really bad." They still run the risk that you might shoot and kill them, but that probably won't happen if they rob your house while you are at work.
Additionally gun racks in vehicles are a thing of the past. They now even break into police cars to get guns. That would have been unheard of in the 80s. Very few people are even willing to leave a handgun locked in the glove compartment for fear of it being stolen. Thankfully CCW has become commonplace enough this is no longer necessary for most people. Even trunk guns can be risky as most trunks can be opened from inside the car. I don't think anyone in their right mind would leave their guns in the garage any more.
So now any gun owner with more than a handful of C&Rs is expected to buy a gun safe or else he is actually considered by many to be "contributing" to the problem. Sad commentary indeed when blame is laid at the victim, it really is no different from the "look how she is dressed" attempt to blame the victim of rape. There is of course a certain wisdom in not "inviting problems" to find you.
I have now seen safe rooms which are comparable to an actual 1970s bank vault. Some gun owners have now become inventive in hiding rooms to store their guns in. These hidden rooms with guns locked in racks are a long way from the gun collection proudly displayed in the living room across from the huge picture window.
As gun owners times have certainly changed, and not always for the better. And it's a shame I can't display my favorite rifles on the wall or at least have my regular shooters on a rack.
I can remember when gun safes were rare. Back in 1970s having a gun safe was as uncommon as having a car alarm. Sure some guys had them, but some guys also had a Rolls Royce. Guns were usually stored in a gun cabinet and only as secured as a thin sheet of glass (nobody would ever take the time to mess with a lock). A few security minded people would run a bicycle cable lock through the trigger guards and chain them all together. But gun cabinets were the norm, usually left unlocked that way if anyone ever did rob your house they wouldn't leave broken glass everywhere.
Gun racks were far more common than safes. I can remember more than one family home that had a wall rack in the garage. In the instance of my Grandfather a 1903 was on a wall rack, a 1911 was in his desk drawer and a Model 97 was leaning in the corner by the back door. These guns were never stolen.
I can even remember entire gun collections "on display" in living rooms proudly hung on the walls. I can remember more than a few police style gun racks in the home of collectors which were protected by nothing more than a simple padlock and the simple screws that held the rack on the wall. I recall one collector of Lugers with a little more than a hundred examples who protected his gun room with nothing more than a steel wrapped exterior type door with a dead bolt. I can even remember the NFA collector who kept his vintage Thompsons, BARs and other WWII full autos in a locked cabinet in the garage. The doors were secured with a simple padlock.
I can also remember gun racks in pickup trucks and some pretty nice Winchesters sitting in them. I never remember an instance of somebody breaking into a truck to steal one or to steal many of the pistols that sat in most glove compartments.
It isn't that there wasn't crime in the 70s and 80s, it's just that it was far less common because it wasn't tolerated. People have been robbing homes since there have been homes, but so long as you didn't live in a major city like NY or in a terribly depressed area of town you really could leave your house unlocked once upon a time. And if you actually did rob somebody there was an expectation that you would probably get shot doing it, everyone in the neighborhood who learned of it would turn your ass in and the cops really would take the time to investigate the crime and find you. You actually would be arrested, prosecuted and end up in jail.
Something like being followed home from the bank, having your home invaded, being tortured to relinquish your valuables and then having your home set on fire with you still in it with your family would be so completely unheard of they would talk about it for decades, it would rank right up there with the Manson family murders rather than simply something terrible that sometimes happens. Again, society simply didn't accept this sort of thing once upon a time. Keep in mind the Manson family members are only alive because of a change in the death penalty law and that only happened because CA is populated by insane people.
In 1981 my father actually got a gun safe and it was a very uncommon (and expensive) purchase and usually the mark of a very advanced collector. Unlike most gun owners my father also had things like Krugerrands and expensive cameras so the safe did make sense for him. There were also still four glass door gun cabinets in the home. Many of my fathers guns remained protected by unlocked glass doors.
And the house was never robbed while we lived there.
Fast forward a few decades and even my grandparents house in small town Iowa has been broken into no less than 5 times since my Grandfather passed away more than a decade ago. The fact that the little town has a huge illegal immigrant population is no small factor. Thankfully the guns have long been removed and weren't stolen. Can't say the same for everything else, they actually destroy more things than they steal as little old ladies don't have a lot of valuables. Part of me wishes I could catch these scumbags breaking into my Grandmothers house but if I did I would probably be prosecuted for shooting them because sadly these days society not only seems to tolerate criminals, they put their rights ahead of yours. And that is probably why my Grandmothers home has been broken into so many times.
I also wouldn't dream of leaving anything more valuable than a few C&R guns in a glass door gun cabinet. Not even in the same "doctors and lawyers" suburb I grew up in. It is true FL has Castle Law but it is also true that we have way more criminals than we used to have and even here society is far more tolerant of them than it used to be. After all that is "somebodies baby and he ain't done nothing really bad." They still run the risk that you might shoot and kill them, but that probably won't happen if they rob your house while you are at work.
Additionally gun racks in vehicles are a thing of the past. They now even break into police cars to get guns. That would have been unheard of in the 80s. Very few people are even willing to leave a handgun locked in the glove compartment for fear of it being stolen. Thankfully CCW has become commonplace enough this is no longer necessary for most people. Even trunk guns can be risky as most trunks can be opened from inside the car. I don't think anyone in their right mind would leave their guns in the garage any more.
So now any gun owner with more than a handful of C&Rs is expected to buy a gun safe or else he is actually considered by many to be "contributing" to the problem. Sad commentary indeed when blame is laid at the victim, it really is no different from the "look how she is dressed" attempt to blame the victim of rape. There is of course a certain wisdom in not "inviting problems" to find you.
I have now seen safe rooms which are comparable to an actual 1970s bank vault. Some gun owners have now become inventive in hiding rooms to store their guns in. These hidden rooms with guns locked in racks are a long way from the gun collection proudly displayed in the living room across from the huge picture window.
As gun owners times have certainly changed, and not always for the better. And it's a shame I can't display my favorite rifles on the wall or at least have my regular shooters on a rack.