The average residential burgler, I am told, not that I would know anything about subject personally, at least not about being the AVERAGE residential burgler ;-) anyway, spends less than three minutes in your house. They grab things they see and that they know they can quickly sell. Guns are a favorite and if the thief has an extra minute, he'll check the obvious places (table beside the bed, etc.) This is why you should avoid gun cabinets and display cases.
Usually, when specific special things are stolen, guns, knives, coins, art, etc., it's not your average burgler; it's someone who knew those things were there. This person probably also knows a lot about you, your routines, which car you drive, which lights you leave on, etc.
This means you should keep your collection low-profile. I know you're probably proud of your collections, but you really have got to carefully choose who you show them to and certainly avoid any general publicity. Everyone who knows about my collection knows that all I keep at home are the pictures. The knives are in bank boxes.
Be especially careful of stranges who come into your house: delivery people, repair people, cleaning people, etc. If, for example, a delivery driver sees your collection, he might call a "friend" of his up and say, "Hey, I just saw a great looking collection of guns at 1234 S. 1st St. It's in a cabinet in the front room. Just go in through the front door, and it's on your left." A day or two later, a car appears outside your house. They watch for a day or two to learn your habits. A day or two after that, you come home and find your collection gone. A day or two after that, the driver stops at a different address to make a pickup instead of a delivery -- a little envelope of cash, his share of the take.
I am told that a residential alarm system reduces your chances of being broken into by about 25%. Your insurance company will probably give you a discount for having one.
I am told that most residential burglers enter through an open door or window. They break nothing. So, close and lock your doors and windows.
Burglers don't like lights, so install lights around your house and put them on photo-cells or timers so they're always on after dark.
If you can afford one, a safe is a great idea. But, don't buy a cheap "fire safe" which are often sold at Home Depot, K-Mart, etc. These are really not designed for security. They'll open quickly with a small crowbar. They are designed for fire protection (which is a good thing) and the way they do that is by storing moisture in the lining of the walls. In a fire, that moisture evaporating keeps the contents below the ignition point of paper. The ignition point of paper is quite high, though, and knives can be dammaged by exposure to temperatures well below it. Furthermore, that moisture can cause knives and guns stored in such containers for prolonged times to rust. If you decide to get a safe, get a good, heavy one and have it professionally bolted to the foundation.
When you buy your safe, buy the alarm contact option for the door. It'll cost a little more, but it costs a lot more to put in later. Have your alarm company wire that to a separate alarm circuit called a "holdup circuit." The holdup circuit is armed and disarmed with a separate code. So, when you disarm the rest of the house, the safe is still armed. Before opening the safe, you need to go to the alarm keypad and enter that separate code. There will be no light or indicator on the keypad to tell you that this circuit is armed. If you open the safe without disarming this circuit, the alarm will send a silent signal to the monitoring center. The monitoring center will check their instructions and it will say "Silent Holdup Alarm! Dispatch immediately without verification." They'll call your local police without pausing to verify the alarm with you.
Police are usually lazy about residential alarms (in Nashville, it took 30-40 minutes to get a response to an alarm in my neighborhood, and, here in Sherwood, Oregon, it took 17 just a few months ago). A typical reponse to a residential alarm is to send one officer who will begin with the assumption that the alarm false. A holdup alarm, on the other hand, is a different matter. These get serious response. Of course, setting one off accidentally carries a big fine. But, having one on your safe is perfect. This way, if anyone forces you to open the safe, your compliance with their instructions sounds a serious, silent alarm.
What if they know about the holdup alarm and force you to disarm it? This is one reason why a good alarm system has a "hostage code". Enter this code (use something you'll remember under stress such as the last four digits of your phone number) on your keypad and the regular alarm will disarm normally, the green light will come on, etc. The holdup circuit remains armed, but there's no indicator for it, so your attacker can't tell. As far as he knows, you have complied with his instructions and disarmed the alarm. But, while the alarm may appear to be responding normally, it's sending a silent alarm to the center. When it comes up at the center, it'll say "Silent Hostage Alarm! Dispatch immediately without verification." They'll call the police immediately. The police should treat this alarm seriously since they know it was deliberately sent, not just someone's cat walking in front of the motion sensor.
Not all residential alarms have these extra features. If you decide to get an alarm, you might as well get a serious one. So, shop around and get all the goodies.
Not all monitoring centers are good either. I got really, really mad at mine a couple of months ago when I accidentally tripped the thing (first time in over a year) and the operator who called to verify the alarm corrected me on my password (he hadn't heard me clearly). If he doesn't hear my password correctly, he should say, "Thank you very much Mr. Gollnick. We'll cancel that alarm. Have a nice evening.", and he should dispatch right now. I've deliberately tried them a few times since and they seem to have that problem fixed.
A good alarm center will also register a "hostage password" for you. If you're in a hostage situation and the center calls, you just say, "Everything is ok. I'm perfectly fine. I tripped the stupid alarm accidentally. The passcode is......" and they will say, "Thank you very much. We'll cancel that alarm. Have a nice evening." and they'll dispatch the police to a hostage situation. Meanwhile, your attacker thinks you've done just what you were instructed to do. Again, your hostage password should be something you'll easily remember with gun held to your head.
Of course, all of this breaks down if your attackers have cut the phone wires, which is trivial to do on most houses. So, spring a few more dollars for cellular monitoring.
If you can't have a safe in your house, then you need to rent space in one: bank safe deposit boxes. That's what I do.
Here's another issue you might want to think about: most home owner's and renter's insurance policies have special limits on "collectibles." It's often $5000. That limit will include all "collectibles" in your house, not just your knives.
Firearms are popular theft targets. They're also commonly involved in insurance fraud. As a result, many policies have even lower limits, often $500, on firearms.
You can have both of these limits raised, but you have to pay extra for it. Ask your agent what coverage you have and what you can get extra.
In all cases, insurance companies are likely to be quite critical of claims on collections. So, you need to take care to document your collections carefullly. Photographs are a good idea, or just use your camcorder. Don't forget to store the photos either off-site or in one of those fire-proof boxes.
Chuck
[This message has been edited by Gollnick (edited 06 July 1999).]
I need some ideas on what to do to keep my rapidly growing collection safe. My grandpa also collects (or did) knives, and is a life long member of the NRA..his house was broken into and 13 knives and even more guns were stolen...the guns were locked up...but apparently not well enough. what can i do to not make the same mistake?
