I visited with a rep yesterday about an in-home security system. It is wireless and cheap and easy to install but the monthly monitoring fee is about $50 a month. My guns are all insured so even if they got taken, I would have the ability (and fun) to hunt for new ones. Anyone have a security system AND insurance?

Yes to both.

my security system has never needed to go off, but it sure does provide a degree of "peace of mind". luckily we have a firm in town that does them and putting one in wasn't really very expensive, in fact it was less than a good gun safe

Butch, they will put it in for free but the monthly monoitoring is $50. It's a cellular system.

We have a monitored security system and I have a policy on my guns through Collectibles Insurance.

http://www.collectinsure.com/

I have both plus a walk in vault with steel reenforced concrete walls 16" thick.

Best of all, my gal, Regina, (Miss Texas) knows how to use guns and wouldn't hesitate to shoot someone's ass!!

I learned years ago, don't mess with anything that can bleed for 5 days and live.

Yep, security system. I have the main house and a carriage house alarmed with a perimeter alarm and inside motion detectors. Not cheap to have installed but it is very good and the monitors are on the ball.

The thing about alarms is that you never know how much they deterred!

Safes and monitored security system.

Keep that K-gun safe, Dave.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

As I used to tell burglary victims who asked about systems after the fact, the best alarm comes with four legs and you feed it once a day. Mine is a 90 lbs. German Shepherd Dog.

Yes, a .45 Colt Auto or .45 Colt Single Action Bisley under the pillow.



Dutch

OK, Mike....I DID forget to mention that I have 3 Staffies...smallest is 75 lb.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

Two dogs, alarm system with door and area monitors and monthly monitoring is $30

yes...

Rich
DRSS

GarBy,

I won't tell your Staffies you forgot about them, if you don't tell my GSD that I also have two fireproof gun safes.

As a former salesman for bank equipment, including security systems, I don't see myself ever having one.

They may make sense for commercial locations, but they create a false consciousness for homeowners. "Tripped alarm = intruder" is as equally false, under many circumstances, as "untripped alarm = safe." Just ask a police officer how many home alarm reports they get for every break-in detected by a home alarm.

The most effective part of a security system is the deterrent provided by the sign posted outside your house. It makes your neighbors' homes without one look much more appealing. And there is no monthly cost.

If I had genuine valuables, which I don't, I'd get a nice strong commercial grade safe. I really like fire safes because they mitigate against two different types of problems. Any dope can break into a house. Good luck to a burglar getting into a highly-rated safe--it isn't in the cards unless they brought their jackhammer from home or you left your welding equipment out.

For actual safety, as opposed to detection, Lion Hunter has it right: most decent sized dogs do the trick.

What about home video surveillance?
Peter

Why would anyone tell every one on here whether they have one or not? Why not just post the code here?

465H&H

I don't mind telling. I have a commercial grade, combination hard wired and remote signal, monitored alarm system with windows and doors alarmed, glass break detectors and motion sensors. Plus a couple of outside motion detectors for some spotlights.

I also have two large dogs. Where the dogs are free to roam in the house, the motion detectors are aimed at doors and windows (in other areas also across open spaces,) so no cutting glass to enter, even where the dogs roam.

God help the fool who gets into the house, first there are the dogs, and then there is me. I keep a 9mm with two 18 round clips loaded 15 each in my nightstand, plus a 12ga and ten rounds of No4 buck in my office within my master bedroom suite.

If someone ever does manage to get in and then out before the monitoring company calls the police and the police respond - I live about two minutes from a county police station - when we're not there and the dogs are with us, then it is merely a property crime, and my full replacement value insurance will come in handy.

As a note, we have had only one false alarm in three years with this higher end system, and that was the result of human error, rear french doors were locked with the knob, but the bolt wasn't thrown, and the alarm went off during the night - when one of the dogs laid against the doors, I think. Our older system at our previous house was a pita, with too many false alrms, or sensors going off because of dead batteries.

JPK

Good comments JPK. I have an alarm system (not monitored) which false alarmed during the day really pissing off the neighbors! I was considering a video surveillance system as these are coming down in price. The main concern is what happens when you are not home. Also, once (only once) when we had the alarm set (at night), my wife let the dog out to pee, without resetting the alarm system! Major noise! At least we (and the neighbors) knew it worked!
Peter.

It is hard to use your pistol, assault rifle, and shotgun when you are not home. I have an alarm in the home and shop, safe bolted to the wall and floor, and good insurance. Mine is monitered.
Problem in the country is response time.
Butch

I have safes, all bolted down. A monitored alarm system. And as a last resort, if I'm home, a 12 gauge 16 1/4 in. barreled shotgun

If you do go video, be sure to get a DVR. Also, buy the highest quality cameras and be sure that they match the area being viewed (all the time cameras are installed that are only partially effective--even though they are expensive!). It does little good to take images if they do not help identify someone conclusively enough to stand up in court.

DVRs filter out the dead time in a way VCRs never did. And their ability to capture color photos are a great assistance in court. Also, the capability to email photos is a big deal.

Also note that if you have any workers at your house who know about the cameras, then you absolutely need to keep them in working order. Lawsuits have been filed and won against employers who did not (another part of the false consciousness I alluded to above).

Lastly, I'd make sure the video downloads images to an off-site location.

Good luck.

Thanks Michigan, I agree with just about everything you said. The offsite location of the DVR might be a problem. Not sure what you mean by:
"they match the area being viewed". Do you mean cover the whole area? The other problem of course is just because you have video doesn't mean you can identify the person(s)!
Peter.

Peter,

I can't tell you how many institutions I saw with inappropriately-lensed cameras. Every situation is a compromise--no lens on a security camera will see everything in its field of view well. We frequently saw the sweet-spot of viewing they did have was where nobody robbing a place would actually be or cameras it would be easy to avoid being seen very well on. For all I know, that issue went away, though. I've been out of the field for 6 years. I would not know if cameras that are now no longer taking just static views are within financial reach of residential applications. Back then, a security DVR cost thousands, too.

I am no networking guru. But it is now within the means of the average person to have a camera transmitting images to a website full time. In that scenario, it *seems reasonable* that a person could get that data recorded somehow, somewhere other than their home computer's hard drive.

One last thing on video and security in general: There are probably more half-baked security companies than there are shade-tree gunsmiths. There is no "get what you pay for" that I ever saw--you can pay through the nose and get hosed. If you want a decent firm, ask a banker from a mid-size or larger institution who they use.