I was contacted by Protocan, a manufacturer in eastern Ontario, Canada who has been supplying secure handgun storage boxes to police agencies such as the RCMP. Glenn Atkins, the President of Protocan Custom Metal Products Ltd., wondered if the members of the Eastern Ontario Handgun Club might be interested in his product. The next day he had a sample delivered to my door.

I was impressed with the gun box even before I opened the shipping carton. From the heft of the package it was obvious that a lot of metal went into its manufacture. My first reaction when I opened the carton was WOW! The quality of manufacture was immediately obvious. As you can see from the photos they have paid a lot of attention to producing a very theft resistant storage box. My wife was even impressed with the box's finish!

The full-length hinge is very heavy-duty and shielded in such a way as to prevent the hinge pin from being drifted out with a punch. The hasp for the padlock is protected on both sides by flanges welded to the lid. The design of the lid gives no purchase points for someone trying to pry the box open. This isn't a box that is going to be opened in a couple of minutes with a hammer and screwdriver!

While lots of toolboxes are used to store handguns, they are not designed to deter thieves. You can pay $20-30 for a box that will meet the letter of the law, while being little more than child resistant, or for about $50 you can buy a Protocan handgun storage box that will last a lifetime and give serious protection and real peace of mind.

Of course with a relatively compact box, a thief can just pick it up and walk out with the locked box and your gun. To prevent this there are five holes for mounting bolts to secure the box to a solid structure. Protocan has a quick release mounting bracket that would allow you to secure the box for storage or detach it and use the box for transport to the range. The mounting plate is a tray about 3/4 of an inch deep made from the same material as the lid. The tray has holes/slots to bolt it to a structure. Four pins will be welded to the inside of the tray to suit the four outter holes in the bottom of the box. The centre hole in the bottom of the box has a quick disconnect fastener that will secure the box to the tray. The four pins will protrude into the box to pevent someone from turning the box on the tray and removing it.

For the liability conscious, I cannot imagine any prosecutor attempting to charge someone for unsafe firearm storage or transport when you are using the same box that the RCMP uses! Of course you'll still need a secure looking device on your handgun and a good padlock to secure the lid. There's no point having a quality box like this and then closing it with a $5 padlock.

Now, more than ever, firearm owners have the onus of safely storing their firearms. It is up to you to protect your firearms from falling into the wrong hands - hands that could damage the reputation of all firearm owners. All shooting clubs should encourage members to ‘secure your gun and secure your sport’, to quote the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia. For the person with just a couple of pistols or revolvers it can seem unreasonable to spend as much on a quality gun safe as you did on your guns. With a bargain like the Protocan handgun storage box there is no excuse for failing to properly store your firearms.

If you want more info contact Protocan directly.