A Holiday Checklist for Gun Owners

Three Quick To-Dos Before You Invite Guests Over

Holiday prep runs on lists, and the guest room and the grocery order are always on them. Firearm storage rarely makes the cut, even though a full house changes who moves through your home. 

Gun safety must be considered before you invite anyone over. If a niece opens every closet door she passes, or a visiting uncle takes the room with the nightstand box while hunting season overlaps with the first of these family visits, your guns are something you cannot forget about. 

A residential gun safe only protects your family when the lock works, you remember to lock it, and only the right people hold the code. Checking these things takes about as long as making up a guest bed, but can easily be forgotten in the hustle and bustle of hosting guests during the holidays.

Keep reading for what to check before guests arrive and when to call a professional.

Read more: A Holiday Checklist for Gun Owners

READ MORE: A Gun Safe is the Gift of Security for the Hunter or Enthusiast in Your Life 

1. Test the Lock Before Anyone Arrives

Start by opening the safe and locking it again. Electronic and biometric locks run on batteries, and a weak set can leave you locked out of your own safe. Swap the batteries before a busy stretch, and find the backup key or override that came with the safe so you know where it lives.

If your safe has a fingerprint reader, re-print any finger that fails more than once. Dry skin and cold hands are common reasons a reader may hesitate, and a long winter supplies both. On a mechanical dial, run a full open-and-close cycle and listen for the bolts moving freely. A sticky bolt or a rough-feeling dial is worth a service call this week, not the morning a guest needs something out of the safe. Do this a week or so ahead, so any necessary repairs have time to be made.

2. Review Who Has Access and Where Guns Go

It’s always a good time to know who knows your gun safe code or holds a key, but it’s especially important before the end-of-year gatherings. Adult children who have moved out and a house sitter from last summer may still have access to things you never meant to keep for very long. Change the combination or code if the list has grown, and keep spare keys somewhere other than the nightstand drawer or a hook beside the safe.

The guns themselves need the same attention. Put anything that came out for the season back in the safe before the first guest walks in, unloaded, with ammunition stored separately. That is a common safe-storage practice, and it matters most when children or overnight visitors are in the house. If you keep a quick-access box by the bed, lock it whenever someone is in the house, especially if a guest is sleeping in that room.

3. Put Valuables Behind the Same Lock

A gun safe protects more than firearms. A busy house has more foot traffic than usual going past the drawers where jewelry and cash usually sit. A safe gives those items a locked place to wait out the visit. 

Gifts that arrive early, like a watch or a piece of jewelry, can sit there, keeping them out of curious kids’ sight. Vehicle titles and family heirlooms belong there, too, as long as the safe has a fire rating that matches what you are storing. A fire rating states how long the interior stays below a set temperature, so read the label before you trust irreplaceable papers to it.

Contact Our Team Today 

Greeley Lock & Key has helped homeowners protect what matters since 1975, and the holidays are a good time to put that experience to work. If you are replacing batteries or shopping for a first safe, our team can help before guests arrive. 

Stop by our Greeley showroom to compare locks and steel in person, or contact our team here to schedule professional delivery and installation. Safes can weigh several hundred pounds, so leave the moving to trained technicians. The sooner you call, the easier it is to fit the work around your holiday dates.