Guns & Storage Units: What Are the Rules?
People collect all kinds of things, either as collections or as investment strategies, and one category of collectibles that is consistently popular remains firearms. Guns are a great investment tool if you know how to, and have proven to increase in value year after year. Of course, once your safe fills up, or you are living in a housing situation that is either unfriendly to firearm storage, or just isn’t a good place to store them, what can you do with them?
Let’s take a look at this situation and see what you need to know about gun storage and self storage units.
Understanding Local Laws and Regulations
Every single municipality, county, and state operates under different laws, ordinances, and rules. What goes in your town and county may not work a county over, and rules can change a lot when you cross state lines.
Fortunately, here in Oklahoma, the rules for firearm storage are very free. So, if you have a collection or even just one or two that you don’t want sitting around the house, go ahead and keep them in our storage facility in Ponca City!
Storage Facility Policies and Restrictions
You should definitely check with your storage facility to make sure they don’t have any rules against storing firearms there. Even if the local laws are fine with it, if the storage facility doesn’t approve guns being in your storage unit, you will get in trouble. At the least, they will probably kick you out.
We won’t, so if you are in the local area (Ponca City), make sure to check out our storage facility. Also, check back often for updates on new locations!
Preparing Firearms for Storage
Okay, so you know that checking the rules about gun storage is on you. If you are in the Oklahoma and Kansas area where we operate, it’s not likely you’ll run into any local or state ordinances against it, but check anyway. Rules change often, so it is up to you to keep up to speed with them.
But enough of that. Let’s talk about gun storage itself.
What do you need to do to prepare your guns for storage?
The first thing you need to know when you store firearms is that moisture is their #1 worst enemy. You absolutely must keep them dry, and by dry we don’t mean keep them out of puddles (although that is always good advice).
Guns will be destroyed if you don’t control moisture, but thankfully you can control it a few ways. The very first thing you must do, no matter what methods you choose for moisture control, is to thoroughly clean your gun(s). Once they are clean, you need to apply a thin coat of oil over all metal components and wipe it down.
This will save you a lot of headaches and heartache.
Safe and Secure Storage Options
Alright, now that your firearms are clean and oiled (but not oily; you don’t want to do that), how do you store firearms?
One way to store them is in a safe. This is one of the easiest ways to store guns safely and securely, and you can easily control the moisture in a safe by adding silica packs (or other comparable moisture removers) to the safe.
Storing Firearms and Ammunition
There are certain ways that you should go about storing your guns and ammunition for optimal outcomes, especially long-term storage where the guns will be out of the loop for a while and not being used and cleaned.
First and foremost, always treat every firearm as a loaded gun so go ahead and put a trigger lock on it. Safety first when you store firearms. Always lock the action of the gun in self storage.
Next, when your guns are in a self storage unit, make sure you can control the moisture level where they are. If they are in a gun safe, make sure that you have moisture removing packets available to control moisture. We have said this a lot now, but it is the #1 threat to your firearms in storage facilities. Safe gun storage starts with secure guns and dry guns. Also, and we mean this, check with state and local laws to make sure there aren’t any special provisions for gun storage in self storage units.
Firearms safety is the #1 priority of all gun owners and it does not stop at the storage space gate.
Okay, on to how to store ammunition. Ammunition should always be kept separately from your firearm, ideally in a lockable hard case. Pelican Cases are a great option, or any of the less expensive cases that are built like Pelicans are excellent. These are tough and lockable cases that store a lot of ammunition.
And, like you gun safe or however you are planning on storing your firearms, make sure to keep the ammunition dry. A handful of silica packets in the storage case makes a huge difference.
Insurance and Liability Considerations
Your guns are expensive commodities, especially if you’re a collector. You need to check with your insurance carrier to see what they cover in storage, specifically firearms. If they don’t, you’ll definitely want to get a policy that explicitly covers firearms in storage. In fact, not just that covers firearms explicitly, but that covers them for the value that you have in storage. Will it cost more? Probably, but not a lot. But you will sure be happy if anything were to happen to them.
Best Practices for Storing Firearms
To wrap this up, let’s hit the best practices for firearms storage in your storage unit.
- Store firearms with a trigger lock. There is no downside to this, so make sure you do it.
- Put your firearms away clean and lubricated, and make sure you control moisture. If they are in a safe or storage locker that is sealed, put some anti-moisture materials in there. Silicone gun socks are also a great tool to use for extended storage.
- Always store ammunition separately from firearms. This goes for everywhere, not just in the self storage unit.
- Always keep your magazines unloaded in storage, if you are storing magazines. This is a safety concern, but it is also a practical concern. Magazines are best kept empty for long-term storage to rest the springs.
- Finally, double-check the state and local laws, and the rules of the storage unit.
Final Thoughts
Storing guns requires you to do some legwork first to ensure a good outcome. First, make sure you can legally do it in your area. Second, you need to make sure they are securely locked and secure in general. Third, you need to make absolutely sure they go in clean and stay dry. And fourth, store your ammunition separately and keep it dry and locked up.
My Storage Box is a secure self storage unit that has no problem with firearms storage. We suggest you lock them up in a safe or similar storage locker and check on them regularly to catch any corrosion or rust while it is minor.
Finally, make sure you padlock your storage unit, although we suggest that for everyone. My Storage Box is very secure, but don’t leave anything to chance.