I'm the Florida reporter that investigated stolen guns and where they end up. AMA

In the movie "Shooter" with Mark Wahlberg the plot twist at the end is he removes the firing pins or swaps them every time he leaves his guns unattended. Effectively only the gun owner or somebody very knowledgeable would be able to reassemble them correctly to be fired. On some guns this is very easy to do taking only a few minutes, on other guns it's somewhat impossible without tools only a gunsmith would have. I do this or other disassembly with any gun that I wouldn't want to quickly access for self defense. The disassembled parts are stored in a small locked safe. A proper gun safe would cost more than any gun I own and I can't personally justify that cost, cheap gun safes can be broken into quickly with a cordless grinder or even a hammer and nailbar. This might be an idea to try and spread around but requires the gun owner know some basic disassembly. Many guns can have their firing actions disassembled by hand, leaving only the barrel, stock and trigger assembly left assembled. I own many guns but right now only 2 of them can be fired immediately, one I carry and one by my bed. I disagree with tax breaks for gun safes or any sort of government sponsored encouragement, I agree with tougher competency tests to prove you're responsible enough to own a gun and better education in their youth. I know more than one person who have safes worth several thousand dollars that always have an open door, or the combination is on a sticky note on the safe (they're only concerned about fire protection). People can't be forced to take things seriously and have responsibility, they can only be educated in their youth to make smart decisions.

/r/IAmA Thread Parent