Safe Storage at Home, Without the Guesswork

Kalix PIN screen and Vault Readiness screen on a carbon background

Responsible storage is not one product you buy. It is a few simple habits that make sure the only person who can reach a firearm is the one who is supposed to. Here is how to think it through.

Start with who could reach it

Walk through your home and ask who could get to each firearm when you are not holding it: children, their friends, guests, roommates, a contractor, someone who breaks in. The answer decides how much security each firearm needs. A safe queen in the back of a closet and the pistol on your nightstand need different plans.

Choose the right layer

A gun safe or locking cabinet for the collection. Bolt it down so it can't be carried off.
A quick-access lockbox for a home-defense firearm you want close but secured.
A cable or trigger lock on anything stored outside a safe. Project ChildSafe works with local law enforcement to hand out free safety kits that include a cable lock.

Whatever you choose, keep the keys and combinations away from the people the lock is meant to stop. A key on the nightstand defeats the lock in the nightstand.

Store ammunition separately

Project ChildSafe recommends storing ammunition separately from firearms when they are not in use. It adds one more step between a curious hand and a loaded gun.

Kids, guests and visits

Talk to children about firearms before their curiosity does the talking: if they see one, don't touch it, leave the room and tell an adult. When kids visit your home, or yours visit someone else's, it is fair and normal to ask how firearms are stored.

In the car and on the road

A vehicle is not a safe. If a firearm has to stay in a car, use a locking container secured to the vehicle, keep it out of sight, and know the laws for every state you pass through. Storage and transport rules vary widely.

Secure storage puts time and distance between a firearm and someone who should not have it, including someone going through a crisis.

Keep your records as secure as your safe

A list of what you own, where you keep it and what it is worth is valuable to a thief too. Kalix keeps that record on your phone behind a PIN and fingerprint or Face ID, never on a Kalix server, and the Vault Readiness score in More flags when PIN protection, auto-lock or backups need attention.