Gun Safes
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A gun safe is a secure, protective storage container for firearms and/or ammunition for said firearms. The primary function of gun safes is to prevent access to unauthorized or unqualified persons and for burglary protection. Some more advanced gun safes are also designed to protect the guns stored inside against damage from fire, flood, or other disasters. Generally, gun safes are built with thick metal walls all around, sometimes of solid, single-piece construction for maximum security. Their doors are of similar construction, with any of a number of locking and safety features built in. Most gun safes include combination locks or keyed locks, as well as internal tamper protection that will automatically make the safe completely inaccessible should someone attempt forcible entry. Some gun safes incorporate advanced mechanisms such as digital locks or fingerprint identification to prevent unauthorized access. Or, they may utilize a combination of any of the above mentioned features. For added security, gun safes are often designed to be hidden from view, often behind false walls or other inconspicuous architecture, such as under a stairway. Similarly, walk-in gun safes, or gun vaults, can be created by building an entire room of a home or other building with safe-quality cladding. These gun vaults can also double as panic rooms or protective shelters in case of a natural disaster such as a tornado. Gun safes have largely replaced the once-popular gun cabinets, often made of fine stained wood with etched glass fronts, that were used to display and store guns in decades past. The desire for increased safety, as well as laws in many places which require access prevention, lead to the increased use of gun safes over gun cabinets. However, some modern gun safes are designed to resemble gun cabinets, using false wood veneer panels and thick, shatterproof glass.