Gun Storage Check Week 2026: Make Sure It Is Secure
Responsible firearm storage is a full-time commitment. This June, take the time to audit your security practices.
Dean Safe is a proud local participant in the NSSF Gun Storage Check Week campaign, encouraging all SoCal families to review their home security setups.
Every single year, millions of Americans purchase firearms for personal defense, target shooting, and hunting. But owning a firearm comes with a critical, non-negotiable responsibility: ensuring that it is stored in a manner that completely prevents unwanted access.
To address this vital need, Dean Safe is proud to announce our official participation in **Gun Storage Check Week (June 1 to June 7, 2026)**. This national initiative, organized by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearm industry, is designed to encourage gun owners and their families to review their home storage setups and ask themselves one fundamental question: "Are my firearms truly secure?"
- What It Is: A national safety campaign running June 1 to June 7, 2026, encouraging gun owners to review and upgrade their home security setups.
- Our Slogan: "Make Sure It Is Secure" is the core message driving this nationwide safety effort.
- Why It Matters: Secure storage is the single most effective way to prevent accidents, unauthorized youth access, theft, and suicide.
- A Second Week: NSSF will host a second Gun Storage Check Week September 1 to September 7, 2026, to coincide with National Suicide Prevention Month.
- Showroom Support: Dean Safe showrooms are fully stocked with lock boxes, cable locks, biometric safes, and full-size vaults to help Southern California families secure their gear.
As home security specialists with showrooms in Simi Valley, North Hollywood, and Culver City, we see firsthand how local families struggle to find the balance between fast access for home defense and absolute childproofing. Gun Storage Check Week serves as the perfect annual occasion to audit your storage gear, test your batteries, and upgrade obsolete lock boxes before an easily preventable accident occurs.
- The Critical Importance of Gun Storage Check Week
- Evaluating Your Options: Cable Locks to Full-Size Vaults
- The Home Defense Dilemma: Speed vs. Protection
- California Firearm Storage Laws: What You Need to Know
- The 5-Step Showroom Firearm Security Audit
- Firearm Safety During Family Crises
- Recommended Security Solutions for 2026
The Critical Importance of Gun Storage Check Week
Most gun owners store their firearms safely and responsibly. However, we can always do more to prevent firearm-related accidents, suicides, and thefts. Using Gun Storage Check Week as a deliberate prompt allows us to review current practices and make necessary changes to eliminate vulnerabilities.
No one wants their firearm in the hands of an unsupervised child, an individual in crisis, somem one who lacks safe firearm handling knowledge, or a thief. Yet, standard home burglaries in Southern California continue to target bedroom closets where unanchored safes and loose firearms are frequently kept. Securing your weapons when they are not under your direct control or carried on your person is the only reliable way to prevent tragedy.
If something bad happens because your gun isn't stored securely, you'll regret it, probably forever. Make sure it's secure.
Joe Bartozzi, President and CEO of NSSFThe core philosophy of this campaign is that security is not a passive purchase, it is an active habit. Over years of gun ownership, families grow, living arrangements change, and technology advances. A bedside lock box that was perfectly secure when your children were toddlers may no longer withstand the curiosity or physical capabilities of a teenager.
Evaluating Your Options: Cable Locks to Full-Size Vaults
When selecting a storage method, there is no single solution that fits every household. The correct choice depends on your lifestyle, your living situation, and the types of firearms you own.
Every single day on our showroom floor, we help families navigate what we call the ultimate balancing act: physical security versus access speed. On one end of the spectrum, you have maximum physical security (heavy, thick steel vaults that are incredibly pry resistant but take longer to open). On the other end, you have rapid accessibility (quick access bedside boxes that open in under two seconds but can be easily carried away by a thief if they are not bolted down).
Your goal is to find the perfect sweet spot on this spectrum based on your household's realistic threat profile. For example, a home with curious young children requires you to skew heavily toward physical security to prevent unauthorized access. Conversely, a bedside setup intended for immediate home defense requires you to prioritize fast, reliable entry.
| Storage Device | Relative Security | Relative Accessibility | Primary Use Case | Vulnerability to Tools |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cable Lock | Low | Slow | Temporary transit or compliance | High (easily cut with hand tools) |
| Quick-Access Pistol Box | Moderate | Instant (Under 2 seconds) | Bedside home defense handguns | Moderate (requires pry bar or leverage) |
| Modular Safe / Cabinet | Moderate to High | Moderate | Tight closets, upstairs rooms | Moderate (pry-resistant design) |
| Full-Size Gun Safe | High | Slow to Moderate | Bulk collection, long guns, documents | Low (requires commercial power tools) |
The Home Defense Dilemma: Speed vs. Protection
A common excuse we hear from gun owners on our showroom floors is: "If I lock my home defense gun in a safe, I won't be able to get to it in time during a break-in."
This is a false choice. Modern fast-opening lock boxes utilize advanced biometric fingerprint scanners, rapid-access RFID chips, or mechanical Simplex push buttons that allow you to deploy a loaded handgun in under two seconds. These devices keep your firearm completely locked away from unauthorized users while ensuring it is instantly ready when you hear glass shatter in the middle of the night.
A solid, heavy-duty door mechanism is essential to prevent pry attacks from burglars looking to grab loose handguns.
If you keep a handgun for home protection, leaving it loose on a closet shelf or in an unlocked nightstand drawer is an unacceptable risk. A fast-opening bedside vault is the only responsible way to balance immediate accessibility with absolute safety.
California Firearm Storage Laws: What You Need to Know
For our Southern California customers shopping in our Simi Valley, North Hollywood, and Culver City locations, California gun laws impose strict criminal liabilities regarding firearm storage. Under California Penal Code Section 25100, criminal storage of a firearm occurs when you keep any loaded firearm within a premises under your custody or control, and you know or reasonably should know that a child (under 18) or a prohibited person is likely to gain access to it.
If a child gains access to an unsecured firearm and causes injury or death, the gun owner can be prosecuted for a felony, carrying significant prison time and permanent loss of firearm ownership rights. California DOJ approved storage devices are required by law when transferring any firearm, making the purchase of a certified lock box or gun safe a vital legal step for SoCal residents.
The 5-Step Showroom Firearm Security Audit
To help you participate in Gun Storage Check Week, our team has put together a quick, practical audit checklist you can perform at home tonight. Take five minutes to evaluate your setup:
Whether your safe uses a classic dial lock like this or a modern keypad, annual inspection of your locking mechanism prevents lockouts.
- Test Your Batteries: If your bedside safe uses an electronic keypad or biometric scanner, when was the last time you replaced the battery? If it has been more than twelve months, replace it immediately with a brand name, heavy-duty 9-volt alkaline battery.
- Check Your Anchor Bolts: Is your full-size safe or bedside box actually bolted down? If a thief can simply carry your safe out of the house to crack it later, your security is compromised. Ensure your safe is securely anchored to concrete foundation slabs or heavy floor joists.
- Assess Child Accessibility: Have your kids recently grown tall enough to reach the top closet shelf where you keep your quick-access box? Have they developed the fine motor skills to turn a dial or operate a key? Adjust your safe's height and placement accordingly.
- Validate Code Security: Do your kids, houseguests, or contractors know the combination to your safe? If you have ever spoken the code aloud or written it down, take Gun Storage Check Week as an occasion to reprogram your combination.
- Inspect Mechanical Components: Extend the locking bolts on your safes and ensure they cycle smoothly. If the door handle is stiff or sticking, apply a small amount of white lithium grease to the moving bolt work.
Firearm Safety During Family Crises
Responsible gun storage is also a vital tool in preventing self-harm. NSSF and Project ChildSafe have structured the second annual Gun Storage Check Week (September 1 to September 7, 2026) to align directly with National Suicide Prevention Month.
If a family member is going through a severe mental health crisis, temporary economic stress, or a major life transition, having instant access to an unsecured firearm significantly increases the risk of a tragic, impulsive decision. In these moments, temporary storage off-site, locking the keys away, or changing the safe combination can save a life. Taking these proactive steps is not a sign of weakness, it is the ultimate expression of responsible, caring gun ownership.
Recommended Security Solutions for 2026
If your home audit reveals a gap in your security layers, here are three highly recommended, top-selling solutions designed to keep your firearms safely out of the wrong hands.
A safety reminder from NSSF and the Firearm Industry Trade Association.
Let Us Help You Make Sure It Is Secure
Do not wait for a preventative security failure to audit your gun safety habits. If you need help choosing a California DOJ approved safe, configuring a quick-access bedside lock box, or organizing a professional home installation, stop by one of our three local showrooms or give our team a call today.
