Three Year Old Gun Lock Box Cracker

Obviously the little guy didn’t figure these techniques out on his own… interesting nevertheless:

You can read the full story at forbes, and check out Marc Tobias’ Youtube Channel for lots more videos on the topic.

Calling these “Safes” as the article does is actually a misnomer, because these are obviously more like “lock boxes”.  The 2003 Vancouver, WA accidental (negligent?) self inflicted shooting of the 3 year old was terrible, but no matter what the official report says I’m still skeptical that the gun wasn’t accidentally left out in the open where the kid saw it.  I’m sure the fact that the “safe failed” means no criminal charges, whereas admitting to leaving the gun out probably amounts to criminal negligence?  A terrible thing for the family to live with either way.

If you want to see more yet on the topic, check out a previous post I made on hacking firearm lock boxes from a past DEFCON hacking conference in Las Vegas.

Thoughts?

Hat tip: Scott, Ryan


Comments

13 responses to “Three Year Old Gun Lock Box Cracker”

  1. BrowningBottoms Avatar
    BrowningBottoms

    “It’s fun for a girl or a boy.” Yeah!

  2. Steve069 Avatar
    Steve069

    I’m gonna call BS on this. The company I work for sells at least 3 of these STACK-ON models… and which I agree they are of inferior quality to others…a 3 year old is not going to be able to break into them without help from an adult.

    They advertise the 3yr old dropping one of the safes on its side and then opening it like a microwave door, but when you watch the video its never shown. Then you have a guy drilling holes in all the right places like mcguyver and then claiming its so simple to break into. You wouldn’t know where to drill without taking it apart in the first place. Then he sticks some oddly bent piece of piping into a crevice and claims its so easy to activate the latch….IMHO they could have put a slab of aluminum to obstruct the piping, but this company would drill through it with a black and decker and then continue on.

    Sorry, but these guys are not being realistic. The day my 3yr old figures out how to open a lock with a straw and pull my G19 out shoot someone is the day I win the lottery.
    ===and I hate stack on safes===

  3. Great, now I have to be on the look out for 3yo gun safe bandits….

  4. MrMaigo Avatar

    A lot of “safes” are stupid easy to break into, why even bother?

    1. My thoughts exactly.

  5. The ones where all the kids had to do was drop it, yeah they have a point that is a little too easy to break into.

    The ones where the kids knew the combination, or uses something to shim it, doesn’t really prove that they are unsafe as few kids are going to do that. Locks are there to keep honest people honest, or to stop a criminal of opportunity. No matter how good your lock is, a determined criminal will get through. Decide what your risk profile is and purchase based off of that.

    1. considering that the whole point of these things is to prevent your gun being stolen, i would think that you’re dumb not have the thing screwed down to a SOLID surface, at least a drywall stud or two.

      second, why would you leave the thing where your kid can mess with it anyways? they run the battery down and then you have to dig out the key to get into it…

  6. dave w Avatar

    The only purpose for a gun safe or gun cabinet, depending on your budget, is to meet any minimum regulatory requirement of your state, province, municipality, country and/or insurance company.
    The defcon vid is a true classic, i recently re-watched it for its entertainment value alone.

  7. I just have a problem believing that any “safe” is made so crappily that just dropping it six inches would allow it to open.

    1. they use a spring loaded plunger on a solenoid to run the electronic part of the locking mechanism. newtons law, “an object at motion tends to stay at motion…” is whats going on here, you only have to overcome the force of the spring with inertia. a hammer would work too, incidentally…

  8. sancto Avatar

    I don’t speak Spanish, so I’m going to assume the adult says… “I think guns are dangerous and kids shouldn’t have access to them. So I’m going to teach my son to break into any gun safe he finds at a friend’s house.”

  9. You gotta get a safe, that’s the bottom line. I just picked up the P22 Gun Safe from maximumsecurity.com and it’s SOLID!!

  10. No safe is really safe. Anything can be broken into. Its a matter of motivation. All it really does it make harder for the bad guys to get to your guns. Hopefully you or LEOs can show up before they’re breeched.