Gun Control Reform Activism

Choosing a Gun Safe

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When looking at the different thickness of steel in the chart above, you may be tempted to think that the differences are so small that there couldn’t possibly be much difference between a 12 gauge safe and a 10 gauge safe, it’s only 1/32 of an inch difference, most rulers don’t even show hash marks that small. Yet consider that two safes with identical dimensions from the same manufacturer, one in 12 gauge and the other in 10 gauge, weigh 595 lbs. and 882 lbs. respectively. The point here is that a little bit of extra steel adds a lot of extra weight and strength.

Real security from an actual attack, rather than simply keeping the curiously innocent out, begins at 11 gauge, which is 1/8th of an inch thick. This is the thickness at which you begin to see safes with a UL RSC (Underwriters Laboratories Residential Security Container) certification. With an RSC label, you’ll know that the UL has certified the safe to withstand at least 5 minutes of attack with common tools such as pry bars, hammers, and axes. You might be thinking that 5 minutes isn’t very long, but keep in mind that is the minimum amount of time the safe had to withstand attack, many safes take much longer to get into and require a lot of noise to do so. When you consider that most home robberies are smash and grab type where the thieves want to get in and out quickly, spending more than five minutes making a lot of noise trying to bust open a safe will discourage most thieves.

There is no such thing as an impenetrable safe. Given enough time and the proper tools any safe can be opened. What you are buying when you spend more money on a heavier safe is more steel and that translates directly into more time required to break in. Your added investment is putting extra minutes between your valuables and the thieves who are trying to get to them. When deciding how thick the steel in your safe needs to be, consider factors such as where you live. Are you in a rural or urban area? Do you have alert neighbors nearby, or is your home in an area where a thief could spend hours making noise virtually unnoticed? What other layers do you have in your home protection plan, such as an alarm system or dogs who will bark at strangers? Is your home occupied throughout most of the day and night, or empty most of the time? In an urban area with neighbors close by and a fast response time from police, 11 gauge will serve you very well and 10 gauge is even better. In a more rural setting where a thief could spend significant time unnoticed in your home (and in a rural setting you are more likely to have heavier tools on hand which can assist the thief) you should consider a heavier safe, 7 gauge minimum, or even ¼ inch or thicker.
[1]emphasis added
https://www.gunup.com/advice/choosing-gun-safe