Information Safety devices: Locks, safes and laws

Summary

▪ Federal law requires a safety device with any handgun purchase through an FFL

▪ California law requires a safety device with every gun sold through an FFL

▪ California has a Roster of Firearms Safety Devices

▪ "Safe" is a generic term, with a wide variety of types


Laws

Federal law at 18 USC 922 (z) requires a safety device for handguns

(z) Secure Gun Storage or Safety Device.-
(1) In general.-
Except as provided under paragraph (2),
it shall be unlawful
for any licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer to sell, deliver, or transfer any handgun to any person other than any person licensed under this chapter,
unless the transferee is provided with a secure gun storage or safety device (as defined in section 921(a)(34)) for that handgun.

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where 921(a)(34) is

(34) The term "secure gun storage or safety device" means-
(A) a device that, when installed on a firearm, is designed to prevent the firearm from being operated without first deactivating the device;
(B) a device incorporated into the design of the firearm that is designed to prevent the operation of the firearm by anyone not having access to the device; or
(C) a safe, gun safe, gun case, lock box, or other device that is designed to be or can be used to store a firearm and that is designed to be unlocked only by means of a key, a combination, or other similar means.

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California law at Penal Code 23635 requires a safety device with every gun sold through a CA licensed FFL

23635.
(a) Any firearm sold or transferred in this state by a licensed firearms dealer, including a private transfer through a dealer, and any firearm manufactured in this state, shall include or be accompanied by a firearm safety device that is listed on the Department of Justice’s roster of approved firearm safety devices and that is identified as appropriate for that firearm by reference to either the manufacturer and model of the firearm, or to the physical characteristics of the firearm that match those listed on the roster for use with the device.
(b) The sale or transfer of a firearm shall be exempt from subdivision (a) if both of the following apply:
(1) The purchaser or transferee owns a gun safe that meets the standards set forth in Section 23650. Gun safes shall not be required to be tested, and therefore may meet the standards without appearing on the Department of Justice roster.
(2) The purchaser or transferee presents an original receipt for purchase of the gun safe, or other proof of purchase or ownership of the gun safe as authorized by the Attorney General, to the firearms dealer. The dealer shall maintain a copy of this receipt or proof of purchase with the dealer’s record of sales of firearms.
(c) The sale or transfer of a firearm shall be exempt from subdivision (a) if all of the following apply:
(1) The purchaser or transferee purchases an approved safety device no more than 30 days prior to the day the purchaser or transferee takes possession of the firearm.
(2) The purchaser or transferee presents the approved safety device to the firearms dealer when picking up the firearm.
(3) The purchaser or transferee presents an original receipt to the firearms dealer, which shows the date of purchase, the name, and the model number of the safety device.
(4) The firearms dealer verifies that the requirements in paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, have been satisfied.
(5) The firearms dealer maintains a copy of the receipt along with the dealer’s record of sales of firearms.

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(b)(1) and (b)(2) allow for the Safe Affidavit

The Roster of Firearms Safety Devices Certified for sale is online at https://oag.ca.gov/firearms/fsdcertlist.

For CA, a safe need not be listed on the Roster if it satisfies the requirements at https://oag.ca.gov/firearms/gunsafe

An acceptable gun safe is either one the following:
a A gun safe that meets all of the following standards:
1 Shall be able to fully contain firearms and provide for their secure storage.
2 Shall have a locking system consisting of at minimum a mechanical or electronic combination lock. The mechanical or electronic combination lock utilized by the safe shall have at least 10,000 possible combinations consisting of a minimum three numbers, letters, or symbols. The lock shall be protected by a case hardened (Rc 60+) drill resistant steel plate, or drill resistant material of equivalent strength.
3 Boltwork shall consist of a minimum of three steel locking bolts of at least 1/2-inch thickness that intrude from the door of the safe into the body of the safe or from the body of the safe into the door of the safe, which are operated by a separate handle and secured by the lock.
4 A gun safe shall be capable of repeated use. The exterior walls shall be constructed of a minimum 12-gauge thick steel for a single walled safe, or the sum of the steel walls shall add up to at least 0.100 inches for safes with two walls. Doors shall be constructed of a minimum one layer of 7-gauge steel plate reinforced construction or at least two layers of a minimum 12-gauge steel compound construction.
5 Door hinges shall be protected to prevent the removal of the door. Protective features include, but are not limited to: hinges not exposed to the outside, interlocking door designs, dead bars, jeweler's lugs and active or inactive locking bolts.
b A gun safe that is able to fully contain firearms and provide for their secure storage, and is certified to/listed as meeting Underwriters Laboratories Residential Security Container rating standards by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL).

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Laws discussion

There is a conflict between Federal and California laws - while the Feds allow a 'safe' to satisfy the storage or safety device requirement, BATFE has no equivalent to CA's Safe Affidavit, and they will not accept CA's form. So, a CA buyer might use the Safe Affidavit for long guns, but it does not satisfy Federal law for handguns.

The simplest answer is to buy one of the 6-dollar gun locks. Most new guns in 2024 include a gun lock, but occasionally one of those does not satisfy CA law, so a different gun lock must be purchased so the FFL may deliver the gun.

In 2024, there is no requirement to use any of these safety devices. That may change; Portantino has introduced SB 53 in the 2024 session. If passed in current form, it would require guns be stored in boxes listed on that Roster, or with gun locks on that list applied.

As of April 13, that bill has moved from the Senate to the Assembly since the gut and amend, and is held at the desk there, not assigned to a committee.


Safes - technicalities

The point of a safe is to slow down access to the things within. Given tools, time and skill, any safe can be opened, eventually, without the key or combination.

My favorite discussion of gun safes is here, http://www.6mmbr.com/gunsafes.html. It's very complete, and they keep it updated.

But a few notes ...

• Underwriters Laboratories rates safes: Brown Safe has a good discussion of ratings here: http://www.brownsafe.com/categories/faq/Protection_Levels.html

• Almost all things marketed as 'gun safes' - including Liberty, Cannon, Fort Knox and others - are rated as "Residential Security Containers"; there are actually now 2 RSC ratings: RSC1 which is burglary resistance for 5 minutes, and RSC2 which is burglary resistance for 10 minutes. UL also has ratings for tool resistance at 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and 60 minutes.

• A lot of safes are not tested and rated by UL - such tests and ratings cost money, and safe manufacturers may choose not to spend that money that way.