Homeland Security means a number of things to me, all important, all involving our continued survival as a nation of free men and women, and all involving the continuation of our Constitutional Rights and our ability to exercise them.
Many things have happened over the past number of years that have both weakened our rights as well as supported and enhanced them. The recent spate of anti-gun lawsuits by various civil rights groups or municipalities have sought to weaken these rights tremendously but the continued and well publicised failure of these suits to enact any change has actually strengthened our positions on the 2nd Amendment. In addition, the significant numbers of states allowing the right to own/carry firearms and the reciprocity between many states have helped bolster our cause.
However, one issue that many seem to overlook regarding Homeland Security is a frightening statistic that results from one of the most basic violations of any security concept - the theft of personal items from our homes.
So many of us own firearms that the total number of firearms under private ownership in the United States of America is actually incalculable. Some have estimated the number of firearms under private ownership at more than 80 million - that's just the approximate numbers of citizens who own guns, not necessarily the numbers of working firearms in the hands of private citizens. Yet for many our views on securing these firearms, a treasured or prized purchase, family heirloom, or functional necessity are painfully ignorant of how many of our prized possessions are stolen every year.
Years ago I became aware of a curious statistic - many, many more firearms are stolen every year than are ever found or recovered. So, a basic question is - where do they all go? Or, who has them? You could go on and on with the rhetoric of who, whether it's a group, a conspiracy, or whatever that steals these things and stockpiles them for whatever purpose but rarely do people ask how they can secure themselves from that sort of theft.
I will admit to being that ignorant. I had always believed that living out of the city and in a fairly remote and difficult location to access gave me one edge and that having trained dogs always at home gave me the additional security I felt was necessary.
But, maybe not. Fortunately I've never been robbed at home but have lost valuable possessions from my vehicles - only once. I learn quickly. But lately, without a wife at home for a human presence and one who could call for Police assistance or defend herself and our home, I had taken to dispersing my various possessions in innocuous locations around the house so that if someone ever did manage to break in it would be difficult for them to locate everything of value and walk away with it. But yet, it was inconvenient and not all that secure and my friend once remarked that if I ever got hit, even once, I could get 'wiped out'. He was right and it gave me cause to reflect how I might be able to secure my more valuable possessions. I figured I could physically secure a sufficient area myself using any number of means but was almost at a loss as to where and how to begin.
Two weeks ago a magazine came from Shooters, and they advertised a 7 gun safe by HOMAK for $80. Cheap insurance. I bought two. They both fit into the same closet with ample room leftover to stack up a few of the lesser valued rifles between them. I assembled the first one last night - it took me about 2 hours but it is a sturdy vault that is easy to piece together and secure in that you have to rip out connecting wall studs and use a torch to cut it open before you can get to what you want. It weighs only 80 pounds but it can be bolted to the wall and to the floor and with two, a security cable can be run through trigger housings to secure others stacked between. Cheap insurance, and now I feel better about my own particular form of Homeland Security.
It's a basic logic. If I can't secure something as dangerous to misuse as a firearm how long will it be before someone says they should all be stored at the local Police Station. I figure that if it is my right to own and possess firearms it is my responsibility to assure they do not fall into the wrong hands. I'm trying my best to better exercise that responsibility now.
Many gun vaults and safes are heavy and difficult to install. They are great deterents to theft. Those I purchased are quite secure and help me exercise my responsibility. Again, my insurance was cheap, less than the cost of one of my rifles or pistols and I would encourage all who read this to consider some of your own Home(land) Security. It may help us enjoy our rights for a few centuries more. Mikey.
