Handgun storage in a safety deposit box?

[Junior 14]

Was thinking about this on the ride home and I was curious about its legality? I did a quick google search and came up with this

 

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/national-firearms-act-firearms.html#alternate-storage

 

Does NJ law supersede that?

[Duppie 73]

Entirely legal IMHO and an option I have entertained if and when I spend of my time predominately overseas in the future.

As is the habit we speak "hypothetically " of course........

[NotJust22s 10]

Your link addresses NFA firearms not a standard handgun.

[junkmanted 54]

safety deposit box in a bank ? I wouldn't think that would be cool to walk in with a gun even in a box

[olderguy 0]

safety deposit box in a bank ? I wouldn't think that would be cool to walk in with a gun even in a box

Unless you have a CCW, you cannot legally transport it to a bank.  However, I was told by a bank manager that there was no problem keeping a firearm in my safety deposit box.  I think he was wrong.

[Duppie 73]

Unless you have a CCW, you cannot legally transport it to a bank.  However, I was told by a bank manager that there was no problem keeping a firearm in my safety deposit box.  I think he was wrong.

Why? I have a document stating I have legal claim to my box and if transported in approved [read locked and in a unloaded state} manner,I see no reason I can't store my firearms in a very secure safety deposit box.

[Junior 14]

safety deposit box in a bank ? I wouldn't think that would be cool to walk in with a gun even in a box

Yep in a bank. Most banks have private rooms they take you and your box to without cameras or windows. They have no idea what your placing in your box nor do they want to know.

 

Could someone get away with it without the bank or the state knowing? Probably. But I'm curious about the legality of it...

 

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot 358]

I guess it would depend on what's stipulated in the safety deposit box rental agreement and what would happen when you forget to pay the rent, the bank drills out the box, and calls the police.

[Duppie 73]

I guess it would depend on what's stipulated in the safety deposit box rental agreement and what would happen when you forget to pay the rent, the bank drills out the box, and calls the police.

If I had my firearms stored in a safety deposit box...I would make damn sure I paid on time. Now the next question is ...what is the procedure,legally when a box goes into arrears?.

[Sota 1,191]

I guess it would depend on what's stipulated in the safety deposit box rental agreement and what would happen when you forget to pay the rent, the bank drills out the box, and calls the police.

Hypothetically, the bank shouldn't be rummaging through your stuff, even after they've removed it from the safety deposit box due to non-payment. So if you have something such as a firearm in a LOCKED container inside the SDB, there's no reason they should know of the contents... assuming you don't advertise such on the outside.

 

If you're at all worried, pay up on the box for a significant period of time (years, if possible) and find out what their policy and procedure is for box abandonment.

[Howard 538]

Perfectly legal assuming the bank is your place of work and you have an equity interest in the bank.  Don't think bringing a firearm into a bank could ever be a good thing.  Actually I think that Federal Law prohibits (but could be wrong) bringing a firearm into a bank.

[checko 180]

Perfectly legal assuming the bank is your place of work and you have an equity interest in the bank. Don't think bringing a firearm into a bank could ever be a good thing. Actually I think that Federal Law prohibits (but could be wrong) bringing a firearm into a bank.

Bank carry should be gtg in America.

[mikka1 2]

One of the banks my friend has a safety box in (it is either BofA or WeFa, nothing else major there in NC) has a specific and explicit provision in their safety box agreement - "NO FIREARMS AND/OR AMMO"

I guess it might differ from bank to bank (or maybe even from branch to branch of the same bank).

[mipafox 438]

safety deposit box in a bank ? I wouldn't think that would be cool to walk in with a gun even in a box

Perfectly legal assuming the bank is your place of work and you have an equity interest in the bank.  Don't think bringing a firearm into a bank could ever be a good thing. Actually I think that Federal Law prohibits (but could be wrong) bringing a firearm into a bank.

I have open carried a firearm in three different banks in about 6 different branches at least once a week on average for the last 5 years.

 

It's not illegal under federal law. NJ law, never heard of it and not sure, but you have the CCW issue of course in NJ.

[david8613 69]

C'mon bringing firearms into a bank! Bringing it to a freakin gun range is hassle enough! We are in New Jersey for gods sake!

[mipafox 438]

C'mon bringing firearms into a bank! Bringing it to a freakin gun range is hassle enough! We are in New Jersey for gods sake!

Well, not in Jersey, but if you don't believe me I will demonstrate to you for a $100 donation to the charity of my choice. Or free to anybody here I actually know. You can even video tape if you like, as long as the video does not ID me and you are discrete. Because I would expect it being pretty darn weird ostentatiously video taping a guy doing a bank transaction.

[PK90 3,573]

I try not to open carry anywhere. But I do carry concealed into banks. That is one place you may need it the most.

[Duppie 73]

C'mon bringing firearms into a bank! Bringing it to a freakin gun range is hassle enough! We are in New Jersey for gods sake!

What's the big deal? I walk in with my firearms in a locked receptacle in my backpack....let's say with trigger locks and empty mags and discreetly place them in my box in the private room provided. I dare say some boxes most likely contain items far more "illegal" than a firearm legally owned,transported according to NJ laws and store in a box leased by a authorized gun owner.

We all too often appear so paralyzed by what we illogically perceived as illegal.....when are we as a community going to grow a pair?

[leahcim 684]

IANAL and I do not know the law on this.

But I doubt the law even addresses it, although it would probably be within the bank's right to curtail what you may store in their SDB.

I would not be surprised if BofA prohibited.

I asked the manager at Wells Fargo and he said it was fine.  If I were to do it, I would probably field strip and put everything in a box.  With the SDB there are two keys---you retain one of them and the bank has the other.  Both keys are required to open the box, then you are left alone in a private room to put whatever you wish in the box.

If you disappear and stop paying the bill, the bank will drill out your lock core and I assume your box falls under abandoned property laws.

 

Transporting (not carry) a handgun into the bank may violate the letter of NJ law--but maybe not if you could reasonably assume that the leased SDB is a little bit of land that you posses.  I would bet that this is pretty common--even in NJ.

[mipafox 438]

 

I try not to open carry anywhere. But I do carry concealed into banks. That is one place you may need it the most.

It's actually one of the places that bothers me most. I took about 6 months off OCing in banks a couple years ago. That generally meant going through the drive-through, because 9 months out of the year I can't wear a coat and transition between OC and CC and back requires nearly taking my pants off.

 

When I lived in Jersey, it was pretty rare to hear about a bank robbery. Here in the Lehigh Valley, banks get robbed A LOT. Not uncommon for me to hear about two or three on a Monday morning.

 

There are two things very special about banks in PA that differentiate them from other businesses:

 

1. They ALWAYS have money, and are trained how to hand it over quickly.

2. No employee is ever armed in a bank.

 

I never talked to any crime experts about this, just sorta came up with it myself. If you knock over a gas station in PA, you might get $112 or you might get 5 x 124 grains of 9mm. You always know what you get when you go to a bank.

[Spartiati 63]

Why? I have a document stating I have legal claim to my box and if transported in approved [read locked and in a unloaded state} manner,I see no reason I can't store my firearms in a very secure safety deposit box.

Think the point is in the state of NJ transportation of a handgun can only happen between exempted places of which a bank is not unless they have an FFL, you have legal residence there, they have a shooting range etc.  Thats why this place exists:

 

https://firearmssupportandstorage.com/

[mcbethr 42]

Well, here is the problem... unless you owned the bank or the bank was also an FFL, it's probably not a reasonable deviation... unless you are talking a long gun, and that is a pretty darn big box.  Remember we can only go directly to or from the range or an FFL or our place of business.

 

I think it's probably okay if you did it in a free state, but you would have to check with the bank's policies.

[Duppie 73]

IANAL and I do not know the law on this.

But I doubt the law even addresses it, although it would probably be within the bank's right to curtail what you may store in their SDB.

I would not be surprised if BofA prohibited.

I asked the manager at Wells Fargo and he said it was fine.  If I were to do it, I would probably field strip and put everything in a box.  With the SDB there are two keys---you retain one of them and the bank has the other.  Both keys are required to open the box, then you are left alone in a private room to put whatever you wish in the box.

If you disappear and stop paying the bill, the bank will drill out your lock core and I assume your box falls under abandoned property laws.

 

Transporting (not carry) a handgun into the bank may violate the letter of NJ law--but maybe not if you could reasonably assume that the leased SDB is a little bit of land that you posses.  I would bet that this is pretty common--even in NJ.

..as would I..and argue it a "reasonable deviation".

[Howard 538]

And this is yet another of the problems with crazy gun laws that all of us honest citizens trying to obey the laws can't easily know the answers to this

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot 358]

http://www.subguns.com/boards/mgmsgarchive.cgi?read=710966

[david8613 69]

Until a bank becomes exempt which it won't, I would not take a gun into a bank, period! Is that me not having a pair? No, it's me being smart and not wanting to go to jail... Don't be a test dummy...

[siderman 1,140]

..as would I..and argue it a "reasonable deviation".

Good luck with that. Remember last Spring Senetor VanDrew sponsered a bill to clarify resonable deviation such as stopping for food, gas etc? Went nowhere. NJ wont even officially give us those freedoms. Just offering a quick refresher of where we live...

[johnoutdoors 10]

Wouldn't the inside of the SDB be "property owned or controlled" by me? I would have a signed rental agreement for the box and thereby be within the travel exemptions.  I'm not sure I would use that as my first option, but there is at least a reasonable argument on why it could be GTG.

[leahcim 684]

e. Nothing in subsections b., c. and d. of N.J.S.2C:39-5 shall be construed to prevent a person keeping or carrying about his place of business, residence, premises or other land owned or possessed by him, any firearm, or from carrying the same, in the manner specified in subsection g. of this section, from any place of purchase to his residence or place of business, between his dwelling and his place of business, between one place of business or residence and another when moving, or between his dwelling or place of business and place where such firearms are repaired, for the purpose of repair. For the purposes of this section, a place of business shall be deemed to be a fixed location.

 

It may be a stretch, but I would say a leased SDB falls under "other land owned or possessed" therefore it is an exempted place and it is legal to transport between ones residence and "other land owned or possessed."  So it is not even a deviation--it is the legally exempt destination.

 

I am not planning on being the test case for this, but I think this is a plausible, reasonable interpretation.  If I needed secure storage and nothing else available, I would consider this as a viable, secure storage option.

[302w 83]

There are FFLs that specialize in long term storage. Probably more expensive but may cause less headaches.