Around 32% of U.S adults own a gun. If you are among these people, you need to protect your gun from theft. That is why you need to always keep it in a gun safe. When you keep your gun in this safe, children and intruders will not access it. There are many types of gun safes that you can buy when in need of a safe. One of these types of gun safes is a biometric gun safe. However, biometric gun safes have pros and cons to consider.
Below are more details on this type of gun safe before diving into the biometric gun safes pros and cons.
What is a Biometric Gun Safe?
A biometric gun safe is a gun safe whose locking mechanism features a biometric fingerprint scanner. This scanner usually captures the pattern of the valleys and ridges of a person’s finger. The captured information is then analyzed by matching software. This software usually compares this pattern to the registered fingerprints. If the pattern and registered fingerprints match, the person can access the safe and vice versa. These scanners ensure unauthorized people do not gain access to gun safes.
The Pros of Biometric Gun safes
Biometric gun safes have become quite common nowadays due to the benefits associating with them. Below are more details on biometric gun safes pros while cons come later.
No Keys to Lose
When using a gun safe that uses a key and lock system, you will often find yourself worrying about where you have kept the safe keys. At times you might end up losing this key. Losing such a key is usually a security risk since an intruder may find it and open your safe. Also, getting someone to bypass the gun safe’s lock system after losing the key may cost you a lot of money.
When you buy a biometric gun safe, you will not have to worry about losing your gun safe keys. So, your guns and ammunition will always remain safe.
Easy Access
When faced with a security threat, you will need to easily take your gun from the gun safe. That can be hard when using a traditional gun safe since you will need to start finding the safe’s key or remembering the lock’s passcode. However, when using a biometric gun safe, you will easily access your gun. All you will need to do is to press your finger against the biometric system scanner.
Biometric Gun Safes Can Store Many Fingerprints
A biometric gun safe can store more than one fingerprint. Some of these safes can actually store up to a hundred fingerprint images. Therefore, in case of an emergency, you will not be the only person who can get guns from your safe. Your spouse or another family member can open the safe and get the gun even in your absence.
You Can Store More Than One Gun in a Biometric Gun Safe
As a gun collector, you may worry about where you will keep your guns. The best option to go for is a biometric gun safe since you can store more than one gun in such a safe. Some people store up to seven guns in this type of gun safe.
Biometric Safes Come with Pry-Proof Technology
Biometric gun safes are usually pry-poof. Therefore, no matter how much a person tries, they will not open your safe. As a result, you will always have peace of mind knowing that no unauthorized person can access the gun or ammo stored in your gun safe.
You Will Not Need to Remember a Passcode
You need to input certain passcodes to gain access to some gun safes. If you forget these passcodes, you will need to look for a locksmith to help you bypass the safe lock. However, with biometric gun safes, you will not have to worry about remembering passcodes since you will be using your fingerprint to unlock the safes.
Biometric Gun Safes are More Secure than Other Gun Safes
When using a gun safe that uses a key and lock system, your child may find the safe key and open the gun safe. Also, when using a keypad safe, your child may guess the passcode and open the gun safe. However, with a biometric gun safe, you will not have to worry about all this. That is why they are more secure than other gun safes.
The Cons of Biometric Gun Safes
Like any other product in the market, biometric gun safes also have some cons. Below are more details on the biometric gun safes cons.
Biometric Safes Need Power to Work
Biometric safe fingerprint scanners need power for them to work. That is why biometric safes have batteries. When these batteries run down, the fingerprint scanners stop working. So, if your biometric safe battery is not charged, you will not be able to gain access to your gun safe.
Biometric Non-Scans
A biometric scanner may fail to recognize a stored fingerprint. That is likely to happen due to faulty biometric systems or dirty fingers. Wear and tear of fingers, and poor blood flow can also cause this.
Biometric False Scans
At times, a person whose fingerprint is not recorded in a gun safe’s biometric system can open a biometric gun safe. That is likely to occur if you are using a cheap or old biometric safe. You should not worry about such occurrences if you are using the new models of biometric gun safes.
Biometric gun safes are usually expensive.
When you compare the prices of key and lock safes to biometric safes, you will notice that biometric safes are more expensive than key and lock safes. These safes are usually expensive due to the fingerprint technology that they use.
Biometric Safe Complexity
Biometric safes are quite technical. For instance, before you start using a biometric safe, you must set up the biometric scanner. Doing this may be difficult for you, especially if you have no technical knowledge.
Delay in Opening Biometric Gun Safe
During an emergency, you will want to open your gun safe fast. But you may not be able to open your safe fast when using a biometric safe since biometric scanners sometimes take time to scan fingerprints. The safe may also fail to open even after scanning your fingerprint.
Conclusion
Before buying a biometric gun safe, you need to check both the biometric gun safes pros and cons. The pros revolve around fast access and convenience. The cons, on the other hand, include false scans, non-scans, and complexity. Looking at both the pros and cons of these gun safes, it is worth noting that the pros outweigh the cons. So, a biometric gun safe is a great gun safe.