If you prefer to hide things in plain sight without worrying about anyone commenting on your craftwork skills, there are a number of very nice, subtle items you can purchase.

GUN CLOCK

A gun clock is a nice, thick, sturdy looking clock with a hidden safe inside. They’re designed to look like a historic clock full of gears and complicated internal mechanisms. Instead, the actual functional part of the clock is often no more than an inch thick, leaving the interior free for storage purposes. You can buy some with hidden locks or some that swing free easily, depending on your preference. Best of all, most of these clocks are designed to be genuine artwork for your home. A nice gun clock can easily be the most beautiful object in your living room.

GUN LAMPS

Gun lamps are a little harder to find. Most people assume they’re a toy gun decorated to look like the base of a lamp. That’s amusing for about ten minutes. A real gun lamp is a lamp with a wide, thick base which can be easily snapped open or unscrewed so you can store a gun inside. These lamps are often pretty sturdy. Don’t try to smash it over someone’s head in order to open it. You’ll probably crack their skull without doing any real damage to the lamp itself.

PICTURE FRAMES

You have two options with hiding a gun behind some art. The expensive option is to buy a narrow safe and have it hidden in your wall, so when you swing the photo frame out your gun is revealed. The cheaper option is to once more visit a garage sale, thrift store, or anywhere cheap frames are sold and buy the thickest one you can get your hands on. Add some soft felt or foam spacers to the back. Allegedly, these are to protect the wall, but really, they’re to give you both leverage and depth. Get the thinnest possible piece of plastic for the front of the picture frame and put in a cheap print of something you don’t mind looking at. Back it with cardboard. This is all to create the illusion of caring for your art while really creating plenty of space. Most frames slope outwards from an angle. You want a flat surface to rest your gun on so it doesn’t slip out. Pick the bottom part of your frame. Glue or nail a flat, strong piece of particle board to the innermost part of the frame, so it sticks straight back while the decorate part continues to slope downwards. You now have a picture you don’t mind breaking which you can knock off your wall in a heartbeat in order to get to your hidden gun.

SAFES

If you’re not concerned with instant access, there are a variety of excellent safes on the market at any budget. You can get anything from a classic spinning combination lock to a biometric lock programmed for your fingerprints or retina. It all depends on your budget. These can be installed into your walls, hidden inside a piece of furniture (such as an end table or night stand) or buried in your floor, with a trap door hidden under your couch or favorite chair.