As one who has been the victim of burglery, on more than one occasion, I can not stress enough the importance of keeping your firearms safely secured in your home. No, I don't have kids, and rarely have visitors, so I don't mind keeping some guns loaded, but I have learned the hard way, that you MUST keep them secured.
So, a few years ago, I bought a safe, a real safe. I'd tried before with the cheap gun lockers you can find at Wal Mart but 16 gauge steel is nearly as easy to break into as aluminum foil, and does not keep your weapons out of the hands of burglers.
My safe lives in my basement and is well hidded even there. However, as my living space is in the upper level, I needed a place to secure handguns that I carry regularly, close at hand. So a few months ago I bought a wall safe. It took me about 2 hours to cut the hole, re-frame the space and mount the safe, but it's well worth the hassle in my opinion. My wall had studs on 24\" Centers instead of 16\" that was standard for most places, and that the safe is designed for, so there was some beefing up of the wall to do. One 2X4 stud and a hand full of screws and I was set.
This wall safe is made from 12 gauge still, has a dead bolt lock and is lag screwed onto the framing members on all 4 sides. It cost me just $65 from HF. Could someone still get into here? Probably, but it'll take them a lot of time, and that is IF they can find it. My wife hasn't even found it yet and she lives there.
