House / Pet Sitting... and Firearms!

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GeeRam
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Re: House / Pet Sitting... and Firearms!

#11 Post by GeeRam »

Dark Skies wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 9:40 am It's not an issue for me as my gun cabinets are in a study with a sturdy locked door which is also fitted with a movement sensor. I also have a camera in the room accessible via my phone.
Might be worth installing a lock on the door of the room for peace of mind if you have any niggling doubts.
^This.

This was how friends got around the cleaning lady coming once a week, they just said, you don't need to do this room (which was locked) as it was his office with live electrical equipment etc., so can't risk any disturbance. No access and no mention of firearms etc.
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bradaz11
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Re: House / Pet Sitting... and Firearms!

#12 Post by bradaz11 »

why lock the door to the room they're in? if they want to break into your cabinets while you are gone, you think a lock on the door to that room is going to stop them?

my view is it is a non issue. you are allowed to go and leave your house in control of your spouse (non fac) for extended periods of time with no thought or issues raised. If you have children, you leave them home alone if they are old enough and they may have friends over, again, this wouldn't trigger any alarm bells. so why would asking a friend, or hiring a service to do this be a red flag?

we have a dog walker, she has access to the house, and even knows roughly what time we would likely be home on a given day, is that a concern? no of course it isn't.

STOP MAKING UP ADDITIONAL RULES LEST THEY BECOME LAWS!

can you imagine if having an FAC meant you could never let anyone into your house when you weren't present - spouse and kids included, or wife / kids etc could never invite friends over. You could never have workmen in the house. Going away for 2 weeks? ooops, no, lodge your guns! f*ck that
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Re: House / Pet Sitting... and Firearms!

#13 Post by Pete »

What Bradaz said...

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Re: House / Pet Sitting... and Firearms!

#14 Post by Blackstuff »

GeeRam wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 4:35 pm
Dark Skies wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 9:40 am It's not an issue for me as my gun cabinets are in a study with a sturdy locked door which is also fitted with a movement sensor. I also have a camera in the room accessible via my phone.
Might be worth installing a lock on the door of the room for peace of mind if you have any niggling doubts.
^This.

This was how friends got around the cleaning lady coming once a week, they just said, you don't need to do this room (which was locked) as it was his office with live electrical equipment etc., so can't risk any disturbance. No access and no mention of firearms etc.
I wonder what the cleaner thought was in that room.... :squirrel: lol
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Re: House / Pet Sitting... and Firearms!

#15 Post by Sim G »

I had my house up for sale recently. The cupboard in which the cabinets were, I showed prospective buyers. One bloke shot clays and another prospective buyer asked would I leave a cabinets anyway as a “safe”.

The more you hide that you shoot, the more a “dirty secret” it becomes with the sport spoken of in hushed tones behind the hand and gun shops with blinds and shutters like a knocking shop…

If you trust someone enough to hoover under your bed, the surely you trust them enough to know “that’s the room I keep my guns in”…
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Dark Skies
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Re: House / Pet Sitting... and Firearms!

#16 Post by Dark Skies »

bradaz11 wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 6:47 pm why lock the door to the room they're in? if they want to break into your cabinets while you are gone, you think a lock on the door to that room is going to stop them?

my view is it is a non issue. you are allowed to go and leave your house in control of your spouse (non fac) for extended periods of time with no thought or issues raised. If you have children, you leave them home alone if they are old enough and they may have friends over, again, this wouldn't trigger any alarm bells. so why would asking a friend, or hiring a service to do this be a red flag?

we have a dog walker, she has access to the house, and even knows roughly what time we would likely be home on a given day, is that a concern? no of course it isn't.

STOP MAKING UP ADDITIONAL RULES LEST THEY BECOME LAWS!

can you imagine if having an FAC meant you could never let anyone into your house when you weren't present - spouse and kids included, or wife / kids etc could never invite friends over. You could never have workmen in the house. Going away for 2 weeks? ooops, no, lodge your guns! f*ck that

I lock the door when I'm out for a number of reasons. Security, peace of mind, plod like it when I apply for yet another variation. It avoids the occasional workman or houseguest seeing it. To them it's just a study.

It's not a token door. It's a solid wood door hanging off three stout hinges with three locks in alignment.
It's one more layer in a casual burglar situation, with a spiteful loud ear-piercing alarm seperate from the alarm system proper and a camera also separate from the alarm system. The door is also hooked up to my alarm. No housesitter is going to break down my door out of curiosity. But if they were able to wander about in my study they would know I had guns of some description. I have no idea nor control over whom they might casually mention that to or the kind of people they may know. So I take that risk out of the equation by keeping them in the dark.

Also, when living in London I was the victim of a burglary, I never want to have a useless flatfoot in my house again. Two days after the event we had a visit from plod who dusted for prints. The bloke was practically gushing over how professional and neat the burglar had been. "Of course we'll never catch him." I got the impression the dabs guy would have preferred to have dated him. "Look how he's carefully removed the putty to pull the glass quietly out, even the pins are gone. And he took the putty, possibly because he'd taken his gloves off to do it and didn't want prints lying in it. Very clever."
We'd lost a lot of stuff and had files ransacked. And this guy was creaming himself at his professionalism.

I digress. The extra security is another layer between me and the headlines 'HUGE CACHE OF FIREARMS STOLEN FROM LOCAL GUN NUT' or 'unbelivably, the local resident had an armoury with barely any security.'
No copper is going to be able to say I didn't play my part.
Not even my close neighbours know I have firearms. So I'll never have the nasty neighbour trying to create grief by lying about me brandishing / threatening / whatever with guns.
That's just how I roll.
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Re: House / Pet Sitting... and Firearms!

#17 Post by bradaz11 »

Dark Skies wrote: Wed Jul 27, 2022 11:16 am
-snip-To them it's just a study.
-snip- No housesitter is going to break down my door out of curiosity. But if they were able to wander about in my study they would know I had guns of some description. I have no idea nor control over whom they might casually mention that to or the kind of people they may know. So I take that risk out of the equation by keeping them in the dark. -snip-
Darkskies, that's all good, but it's from an extra layer break in perspective, which is fine - not required by law, but fine, but the thread and my point was not about burglaries, its about people in your home. it was, if you think they'd have a go at your cabinets, do you think locking a door would stop them?

from you description, I would think that sort of person left in charge of your house would most certainly be trying to get in that room because as you say its a highly hardened door in a normal house! OMFG whats in there?? no one is viewing it as 'just a study' lol. furthermore, if it was the sort of person to tell others you have a metal box in your room, you think they aren't going to tell those exact same people about this magical super door???

nothing is secure, it is simply resistant. given time, all things are openable. and easier if you come prepared.
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Re: House / Pet Sitting... and Firearms!

#18 Post by Dark Skies »

bradaz11 wrote: Wed Jul 27, 2022 6:31 pm
Dark Skies wrote: Wed Jul 27, 2022 11:16 am
-snip-To them it's just a study.
-snip- No housesitter is going to break down my door out of curiosity. But if they were able to wander about in my study they would know I had guns of some description. I have no idea nor control over whom they might casually mention that to or the kind of people they may know. So I take that risk out of the equation by keeping them in the dark. -snip-
Darkskies, that's all good, but it's from an extra layer break in perspective, which is fine - not required by law, but fine, but the thread and my point was not about burglaries, its about people in your home. it was, if you think they'd have a go at your cabinets, do you think locking a door would stop them?

from you description, I would think that sort of person left in charge of your house would most certainly be trying to get in that room because as you say its a highly hardened door in a normal house! OMFG whats in there?? no one is viewing it as 'just a study' lol. furthermore, if it was the sort of person to tell others you have a metal box in your room, you think they aren't going to tell those exact same people about this magical super door???

nothing is secure, it is simply resistant. given time, all things are openable. and easier if you come prepared.
Well, I'm not in the habit of leaving my most valuable asset in the hands of someone that would behave like that. A housesitter in my world would only come from my circle of friends and family.
I just assumed that was standard practice. The door looks normal from the outside and the keyholes can't easily be seen because the corridor leading to it is dark. S'truth, sometimes even I fiddle faddle around trying to locate the keyholes.

I like the fact that I could go into the garden and leave any workmen (rare in any event) to do whatever and not be concerned they may be able to stumble across my gun cabinets and gear and have their interest pique.
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Re: House / Pet Sitting... and Firearms!

#19 Post by Pippin89 »

I dont have a lock on the door where my gun safe is kept. But I shut the door whenever we have visitors/workmen. And there is a curtain covering the safe itself. To most, unmentioned, it is just a closed door they wouldn't give it a second thought. To the curious few who might be nosy and want to see what's in there, they would open the door to see some racks of shelving, mostly full of tools, and an airing cupboard. It would take an extremely nose person to go further and actually see the safes.
The alternative is that the door is open, there is no curtain, and every house guest/workman walks past on their way to the toilet and sees a gun safe.
As Dark Skies says, adding those extra layers of security keep us out the headlines and protect our sport for a bit longer.
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Re: House / Pet Sitting... and Firearms!

#20 Post by Polchraine »

Have you considered removing the bolts & foreends and taking them with you? Or storing them elsewhere for the duration?


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