Fire / Gun Safe, Ready to Buy. What Other Security Precautions Should I Take?

OK, I’m getting ready to buy a fire safe, which is also a gun safe, from The Safe Place (THANK YOU for the help and no-nonsense advice. No, really!). I forgot to ask you when I called, what else, security-wise, should I be thinking about and/or buying to protect my valuables?

Answer:

Well, let’s start with the simple things:

• Good exterior lighting.
• Good, reasonably communicative relationships with the people who live around you (“Hey Marv, did John say he was moving? There’s a bunch of guys putting all of his stuff in a big moving truck?”).
• Good lucks on doors and windows. No house keys under the door mat.
• Locks on your car’s steering wheels. Bikes double locked.
• A really good alarm system --and some even better ALARM signs.
• Avoid flaunting your wealth, if at all possible (like no “Valuables Inside!” signs in the front yard).
• Don’t open your doors to strangers.
• Put a “Trespassers will be Shot” sign on the fence (if and when appropriate --as there’s nothing like some good old-fashioned deterrence).

Take these precautionary common-sense steps and I figure you’ll be about twice as safe as you were before you did them.