Gun safes are necessary for the proper storage of arms and munitions, sometimes even mandated by law. Gun racks have always been used by collectors for displaying their rifles and pistols, but the use of safes is fairly recent, likely due to a political climate that is increasingly inhospitable to the private ownership of firearms.
Such, then, is all the more reason for the conscientious collector to purchase and use gun safes, to forestall criticism over lax security measures. Of course, the anti-firearms lobby will always be against private firearms, but fully adhering to all applicable laws and, moreover, best practices should rob them of one more avenue of attack.
After all, gun control is gathering more and more support as fewer and fewer Americans are aquainted with such pastimes and rites of passage like hunting or military service. Gun safes can help to promote a more positive impression that could be politically useful. Indeed, one of the most oft-heard complaints from the anti-gun crowd is over firearms security. Taking this talking point away from them would be a major achievement in the fight over gun rights. Thus, making a show of demonstrating proper firearms security would be in ever gun owner’s long-term self-interest as a collector.
Ultimately, however, it must also be recognized that firearms are potentially dangerous and should be treated as such. The intimate familiarity of firearms owners may have desensitized them to its frightening effects on non-owners, who have always comprised the majority of fellow citizens. And it is true that people are hurt – seemingly all the time – quite accidentally, never mind through conscious intent, a fact that feeds upon itself, making a mountain out of a molehill. Still, as onerous as it may be, taking the attitude of educating non-owners as opposed to politically fighting them is likely to more more productive than anything else.