Gaye Levy
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A dilemma for many of us is how to keep a personal weapon accessible if we need it, yet safely hidden from prying eyes. Here in my own household we have a safe but keeping our weapon of choice locked up is not going to help us if there is a middle of the night intruder and we can not get to it. The compromise, and not a very good one, has been to keep our accessible firearm a drawer in the nightstand.
When Minutemen Cabinets came to me a couple of months ago and told me about their “bookshelf” cabinet, I became excited. This could possibly be the answer I had been looking for – namely a nicely finished wooden shelf that matched my décor and allowed me to hide a firearm in plain sight.
Since that time, Minutemen Cabinets has become a sponsor of this website and additionally, has offered to provide one lucky Backdoor Survival reader with a Minutemen Concealed Storage Cabinet of their own in a fantastic new giveaway.
I will get to the details of the giveaway in a moment but first let me tell you about the cabinet.
Minutemen Concealed Storage Cabinets for Firearms and Valuables
Minutemen Cabinets look like bookshelves. They include a completely hidden set of latches, locks and hinges that when activated, reveal a drop down box. Inside the box is a light as well as a foam insert that can be custom fitted to your firearm.
The included foam insert was easy to configure. First we traced our weapon with a sharpie, then cut the foam away with a knife.
As you can see, in our 21” cabinet there was room for two personal weapons.
The way you open the cabinet is with a magnetic key. It is a bit tricky to use at first (okay, a lot tricky for a dunce like me), but once you figure out where to place the key, a quick squeeze to the shelf itself will open it up. The there are two keys so that you have a spare, always a good thing.
Installation is easy but is best done using two people. All of the hardware is included along with instructions for pre-drilling the holes to match up with the studs in your wall. Note that the load capacity of the 21″ concealed storage cabinet is 20 pounds. I found that even when fully loaded, the shelf did not budge – no doubt a credit to my two good-looking installers!
I could go on abut the cabinet but honestly, the best thing to do is to pop on over to the Minutemen Cabinets website and check out the specifications of the various models they offer. Each comes in a variety of finishes and if my review unit is any indication, the finish work is going to be as nice as a piece of high quality furniture.
Is the Minutemen Cabinet a Gun Safe?
No. Minutemen Cabinets are not a replacement for a gun safe. What they are is a “hide in plain sight” option for firearms and valuables offering quick and easy access. Personally, I believe this is a much better solution than a nightstand where it is easy to leave the house and forget it is there.
The Giveaway – Win a Minutemen Cabinet
To enter the giveaway, you need to utilize the Rafflecopter form below. Select one or more of the options after signing in using your email account or Facebook, the choice is yours. The best way to start is by clicking on “Free Entry for Everyone”. After that, each option you select represents an additional entry. There are a number of different options so pick and choose or select them all.
Update: This giveaway if open to our friends in Canada as well as the US.
The deadline is 6:00 PM Pacific next Tuesday with the winner notified by email and announced on the Rafflecopter in the article. Please note that the winner must claim their prize within 48 hours or an alternate will be selected.
Note: If you are having difficulty with the Rafflecopter, attempt to clear your browser cache to see if that helps. Instructions are here: //www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browsers-Cache. If that does not work, contact support at [email protected].
The Final Word
It has always bothered me that we had two handguns sitting next to the bed, basically out in the open. To have an easy-to-access storage solution is a godsend. Now that I have practiced using the electronic key (Shelly never did have a problem), I can get to the items stored in the Minutemen Cabinet in just the few seconds it takes me to walk over and open it up.
At night, we go to the cabinet, remove our handgun of choice, and leave it by the bed until the morning when we tuck it safely away again in the cabinet.
Let me close with a quote by Samuel Adams that is prominently displayed on the Minutemen Cabinet website.
“The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.”
I know you will be impressed by the workmanship of a Minuteman Cabinet. Please do visit their website, and, of course, enter the giveaway!
Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Gaye
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102 Responses to “Minutemen Cabinets: How to Hide a Firearm in Plain Sight”
If you want a fighting chance when someone breaks into your home have a gun or two close by. Know how to use it and know how to put in another filled magazine quickly. The minutemen cabinet would be a good way to have a weapon in every room.
Individual choice, but must train with whatever you choose. Don’t go buy a gun and stick it in a drawer, do t buy a stun gun and never becoming familiar with it.
Knowing whether or not you are capable of doing what needs done.
A broad knowledge and common sense, maybe a good set of nerves and a mindset to do what you have to do. Baseline is so varied like others have said. It is hard to cover all the bases and situations out there.
A wealth of great comments so far. I must agree with the ones that state a baseline needs to be the mindset of survival. Not just having situational awareness or being armed and ready to defend oneself and family, but realizing that someday may come and the tools and preparation are well and good but without the mindset of survival there exists the potential for hesitations and less than desired outcomes.
Baselines vary, but you need to be realistic about what you are capable of. Just because you have a gun and training and licensing, doesn’t mean in a real world situation you have the nerve to take another human life. And a paper target is quite different from a moving one (or several) coming at you. Just because a woman takes a self defense class doesn’t mean she can adequately defend herself against a group of larger guys. By all means, practice and train, learn new skills, and be ready to take care of yourself, but know your limits, know what you would and wouldn’t really do.
Oh my, This is wonderful…. Would love to win this!!!
Thank you for all the time and information you give us!!!
What do you feel is the baseline a prepper should have in terms of self-defense knowledge and skill? Each one of us need to know how far we are willing to go to protect our family and make sure the family is aware of how far you’re willing to go so they will not be surprised, scared, etc. when you have to go that far.
I like this concept, I wonder how the shelf can be better secured so my teenager can’t access the contents.
I think the baseline for defense is going to be a good understanding of your own capabilities, and the environment you are in. From that baseline, you can build up in any direction that you so desire, from gunplay to bladework. In our world, having a handgun is not always an option (anyone fly recently?), so having non-weapon based ways to keep yourself and your loved ones safe is critical. Situational Awareness and the ability to avoid conflict can go a long ways.