While you might have a large gun safe to securely hold your rifles and shotguns, many gun owners also rely on pistol safes as a tool for self-defense. If you run a business, for example, you may wish to keep a pistol in a pistol safe beneath the counter or in another hidden area. Pistol safes can often be opened quickly — some even have fingerprint recognition — and this will allow you to quickly draw your weapon if your life or the life of one of your employees is in danger. When you're browsing various pistol safes, make sure that you buy one with these important features.

Ability To Be Mounted

Some pistol safes are essentially small, secure boxes that are designed to be left on a shelf in your home. Others are built to be mounted in a convenient location, and will even open up so that the handle of your gun is facing outward to be easily drawn. This is the type of pistol safe that you want if you're keeping the safe in an area in which you anticipate having to draw the weapon to protect yourself. For example, many such safes have mounting hardware that allow them to be firmly attached to the underside of a counter, where the safe will remain out of sight but never out of reach.

Room For Two Pistols

In most cases of self-defense, you can draw one pistol to defend yourself. Ideally, you won't even have to pull the trigger; for example, simply showing the gun may be enough to dissuade someone who is trying to rob your store. However, it's a good idea to make sure that the pistol safe has room to hold two firearms. In the event that you fire your weapon and a spent casing gets jammed, you'll feel safer knowing that you can quickly access a backup weapon to defend yourself.

Dedicated Space For Spare Magazines

Ideally, you won't find yourself in a gunfight that requires you to use all of the ammo in your weapon. However, you can never be too cautious — and, for that reason, dedicated space for spare magazines is a must. You want the pistol safe to have a slot or other storage area so that each spare magazine will be easy to reach. This is better than having the spare magazines sitting in the bottom of the safe, where you may have trouble accessing them if you're in a hurry.

For more information, contact a company like State-Wide Lock & Safe Inc.