So you’ve decided that you need to buy a fire proof safe for your home but you don’t know where to start? Today safes are more complex (and sophisticated and protected) than ever but we’re here to help you understand the buying process when it comes to fire proof safes.

Firstly, let’s go over just what a fire proof safe is – these sorts of safes are designed to release moisture during a fire. That means that as the outside of the safe gets hotter and hotter, the inside can maintain a mild temperature so that papers and other valuables are less likely to catch fire. This moisture release ensures that the temperature inside the safe won’t raise to a level at which these precious objects would ignite. Most safes are rated by how long your papers and valuables would be protected. Some small safes have a half hour rating but most carry a rating of between 1 and 3 hours total.  Typically these sorts of safes will protect any documents that you as a home or small business owner require. If you work at a large scale company that protects official records you might require a four hour safe. In addition to these sort of ratings, safes may also be tested by an independent organization called the “Underwriter’s Laboratory” (or UL for short). These ratings mean that the safe has been sanctioned by an independent organization and not just the manufacturer and have a different (but complementary) set of ratings. For example, a UL Class C safe is proven to protect papers to a temperature of 1700F for one hour. This is equivalent to a One Hour Rating.

If you are aiming to protect more than just your papers, you might also want to consider a media safe. Now more and more people are storing their precious valuable documents electronically – often by CD or DVD. Electronic media is more sensitive to heat than is paper, these special media safes are better protected and more heavily insulated.  As a media safe has to maintain a lower internal temperature than a safe designed for paper goods, it is safe to store your paper in a media safe but not safe to store your electronic media in a paper safe.

Understanding this complex set of safe rankings will help equip you with the tools to chose the best safe for your needs and the needs of your family.

I was really curious about which handguns our customers thought were the best and perhaps the most popular.   If you ever want to participate in a long discussion then this is the  exact topic to bring up.   Needless to say, people are passionate about their choice in handguns right down to point where they own multiple variations and even historical models of a particular handgun.    So, just after a week of collecting responses here are a few of the handguns that came up the most often.    Mind you this not an official survey, or my opinion, this just a few handguns that kept coming up in almost every discussion.

Beretta Px4   (lots of options in size and weight)
Beretta 92
M1911
(note: for some reason the S&W 38 spec was not mentioned as much as I thought it would, but I can’t leave it out)

Here are few great links about the guns mentioned above and one link to a spirited discussion of handgun popularity.

http://www.berettausa.com/shop-by-department/firearms/handguns/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1911_pistol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38_Special

http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-19448.html

When you are ready to select the perfect pistol case for your preferred handgun, then come talk to us.  We will look up the exact dimensions of your handgun and match it to a pistol case.

There is always something going on in Washington about gun laws – it’s clearly a very hot button topic in the political sphere. People feel very strongly one way or the other about gun and gun control. Well, the most recent news in Washington comes by way of the “Obama Gun Reforms.” The president will need to walk a fine line between keeping Americans safe, putting guns into the hands of those who have proven they are responsible enough to use them as they should be use, and maintaining our constitutional right to bear arms.

These new sets of reforms are being crafted by the Department of Justice in Washington. While no one know for sure what sort of a bill will be presented to the US Congress, Obama has given us some insight into his stance on gun control in previous speeches. In a recent op-ed for the Arizona Daily Star, Obama advocated for longer state-to-state coordination with respect to gun data, expedited background checks and enforcement of laws already on the books.

It doesn’t sound like it is anything too drastic but just more and clearer legislature to make sure that guns stay in the hands of those who are supposed to have them. I like to think that if we can get gun controls to a place where they are safe, there won’t be so many anti-gun advocates out there.  We can come up with a system of gun ownership that is safe without being to controlling.

Do you have any suggestions for the new legislature? Are you worried that stricter gun laws will make it harder for you to be the responsible gun owner that you are? Or do you agree with me that new gun laws will only keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people? This is a very controversial subject so we’d love to hear some of your thoughts.

Here in the US we’re used to having our freedom to speak, our freedom to act, our freedom to bear arms. We are so incredibly lucky to live in a country that values freedom in the way that we do.  And the very best part is that not only are we granted these rights in name, but also we are allowed to exercise these rights every day.  What is always surprising to me is how many other first world, democratic, civilized countries do not confer many of these same rights. While the second amendment – or the right to bear arms – is a distinctly American right to have, It seems unusual to me to think that other countries do not have this same right. (The second amendment is based in our American history as a British colony who had to fight without a named army against the British soldiers who occupied our soil for many years. We were only militia who fought with private weapons for our own freedom and sovereignty. ) Take, for example, many countries in Europe certainly do not confer the right of gun ownership on their citizens.

Yet, even without this right, it seems like the trend may be towards the kind of American freedom that we have come to know and love. There is news out of the UK that legal gun ownership is increasing. Although it pales in comparison to US gun ownership, in March of 2010 there were over 140,000 firearm certificates issued to citizens of England and Wales, and another 580,000 shotgun certificates for a total of over 1.8 million guns in England and Wales. Considering that the population of England and Wales is around 55 million people, that is actually a fairly high proportion of guns to the population – it means that approximately one in 76 people have a license to own a gun in England and Wales.

The article from which these statistics are taken includes a quote from St. George Tucker from his 1803 Blackstone’s Commentaries on American Law. It is a lovely reminder of the importance of the Second Amendment in American history and law today and how it was formed and seen around the time of the founding of the American state:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep,(sic) and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty …. The right of self defence is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction. In England, the people have been disarmed, generally, under the specious pretext of preserving the game: a never failing lure to bring over the landed aristocracy to support any measure, under that mask, though calculated for very different purposes. True it is, their bill of rights seems at first view to counteract this policy: but the right of bearing arms is confined to protestants, and the words suitable to their condition and degree, have been interpreted to authorise the prohibition of keeping a gun or other engine for the destruction of game, to any farmer, or inferior tradesman, or other person not qualified to kill game. So that not one man in five hundred can keep a gun in his house without being subject to a penalty.

From here it seems like a good thing that the English people are regaining their right for self-protection and arms ownership. What do you think??