6 Myths About Liberty Gun Safes

In recent years, people have developed a negative perception of Liberty Safe, often due to misunderstandings about the company's policies and commitment to customer security. Much of the criticism stems from an isolated incident on August 30, 2023, that has been grossly misrepresented. We’re the first to admit Liberty screwed up. But this article isn’t about the event that caused a cancellation attack. For a detailed review of those events you can read our blog post, “Liberty Gun Safes and the F.B.I. — What You Need to Know.” 

In this article we address the incorrect information, comments, and questions we hear from customers every week about the “Liberty Safe Incident”.

We’re proud to be American and firmly believe in the right to privacy. Are we a Liberty Safe dealer? Yes. Do we want you to consider purchasing a Liberty Safe—or one of the other trusted brands we carry? Of course—that’s our business. But more importantly, we believe in giving you the full picture. Our company literally operates on creating content around answering our customers' questions.

Unfortunately, internet myths have cast doubt on this American manufacturer. That’s why we’ve written this post to set the record straight. We aim to provide the facts so you can make an informed decision about the brand and level of protection that’s right for you.

Full Disclosure: Almost half of our employees have owned or have a Liberty gun safe in their home and would buy one again.

The Truth About Liberty Gun Safes & Security

Liberty Gun Safe Myth 1: On August 30, 2023, Liberty Gave the F.B.I. the Combination or Override Code for an Electronic Lock

Truth: The Lock in Question Was a Mechanical Dial Lock

The safe having a mechanical dial lock is probably the most surprising fact customers hear because for month after month, news articles and online videos reported story after story of a “secrete backdoor override code” that was released giving the FBI access to potentially all Liberty Safes even though the lock in question was a mechanical dial lock. Because Liberty was able to comply with the compulsory process, we know the lock in question was:

• Issued by the Factory and Installed at time of production

• Still set at the factory provided combination

• Had Not Had the Combination Reset by An Independent Third-Party

When customers find out this simple fact that almost no news outlet or YouTube Creator got right or went back to correct they start to wonder “What else did the media get wrong about this story?”.

Liberty Gun Safe Myth 2: Liberty Released The Master Code That Can Unlock All Liberty Safes

Truth: There is no Universal Code that unlocks all Liberty Safes

While there are no universal override codes for all Liberty Safes, there are features most electronic locks have that allow manufacturers to help customers who have lost their combinations to gain entry. For example every year Liberty Safe helps nearly 5,000 authorized owners who have lost their combinations gain access to their safes, saving each individual customer hundreds if not thousands of dollars in technician fees or the hassle of having to miss work waiting for a technician to service their locked out safe.

The other reason an electronic lock will have a Manager Code, Supervisor Code or User Code is for safes that are in a commercial setting. These features allow the owner or store managers to assign multiple combinations into a single lock and control which employees have access. All of these features are native to the lock and the codes are unique to a specific lock so there is no Universal Code that works for all of a manufacturer's locks.

These features have always been optional to use and easy to opt out of having your information stored at the factory. In recent years there have been changes giving consumers even more transparency and easy access in choosing how they want their information stored.

Liberty Gun Safe Myth 3: The FBI Can’t Get Into Your Safe Without the Combination

Truth: The F.B.I. Can Get Into Any Safe. Typically, They Can Gain Access In A Matter Of Moments by Destroying Your Safe.

No safe is impenetrable. It doesn’t matter how you slice it, eventually the F.B.I. can get into any safe. And without the combination, they would gain access by cutting the safe open.

Unless you’re dealing with a TL or TRTL-rated safe, cutting the safe open can take the F.B.I. a matter of moments. We’ve seen safes that law enforcement has even called in the local fire department to open with the Jaws of Life.

When a safe is cut open, it becomes a supersized paperweight and is no longer a functional safe.

(The "Jaws of Life" is a nickname for a set of powerful hydraulic rescue tools used by emergency responders to extricate people from vehicles or other confined spaces after serious accidents. These tools include cutters, spreaders, and rams, and are capable of slicing through metal, prying open doors, and lifting heavy parts of a wrecked vehicle to free trapped victims. The term “Jaws of Life” comes from their life-saving role in time-critical rescue situations, often making the difference between life and death.)

Liberty Gun Safe Myth 4: Liberty Doesn’t Actually Expunge Your Combination from Their Records When Asked To Do So

Truth: They Most Certainly Do and You Need to Fully Understand the Consequences of That Request

Liberty securely stores the serial number and corresponding manufacturer-issued combination for all safes it manufactures unless a customer specifically requests the records to be expunged. Securely storing a safe’s combination is a service provided free of charge that greatly benefits you, the customer.

Expunging all records of your safe is actually a benefit to Liberty. Not only is that one less piece of data they have to pay to store — it reduces the burden of complying with a subpoena.

(As stated above, if F.B.I. or other legal officials are unable to access your safe with the combination, they would then take the means necessary to gain access to your safe.)

In addition to the potential of your safe being drilled or cut open, you need to be aware that expunging your records will:

Void Your Lock Warranty
Liberty Safes come with a 5-year warranty on the lock with options for a lifetime warranty. However, choosing to have the combination removed will immediately void both this warranty and the support services that come with it.

Prevent You From Taking Advantage of Combination Recovery

Registering your warranty is the only way to recover or reset a lost or forgotten combination—and it happens more often than you'd think. Liberty receives nearly 5,000 calls each year from customers who’ve misplaced their codes.

When the safe is properly registered and under warranty, the recovery process is typically quick and straightforward. Without registration, however, regaining access can take days or even weeks. In the worst-case scenario, it may require a professional safe technician to drill open the safe, which can be both time-consuming and expensive.

Liberty Gun Safe Myth 5: Other Gun Safe Manufacturers Didn’t Have the Same Policy

Truth: It Was an Industry Standard to Securely Store Combination Records for Customer Convenience and Support

All reputable safe manufacturers securely store serial numbers and their corresponding manufacturer-issued combinations. It is extremely common for customers to forget the combination to their safe.

Liberty alone receives nearly 5,000 calls each year from customers who’ve lost or forgotten their combinations—that’s over 13 calls a day from people locked out of their own safes. Keeping secure records of these codes is essential for helping customers quickly and safely regain access to their valuables.

Now would all of them comply with Law Enforcement when asked to assist? Truth be told, that's a mixed bag. Traditionally, most manufacturers have assisted Law Enforcement when presented with a valid warrant. While some manufacturers were touting their “Superior” combination policies on cable news networks after the incident — the very week of the incident their policies looked very similar to Liberty’s.

Most of the industry quietly scrubbed the combination recovery portions of their websites and went to work revising how they handled storing and accessing customers' data. If there is a bright spot to this whole debacle it’s that the industry is more transparent and everyone took the time to address a blind spot with lock policies.

Liberty Gun Safe Myth 6: Liberty Safe Donated to Anti-Gun Politicians

Truth: Liberty Safe has never made donations to anti-gun politicians

In September of 2021, Monomy Capital Partners (a private investment firm with offices in New York and Connecticut) acquired Liberty Safe. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records — Justin Hillenbrand, a founding member of Monomy Capital Partners, made two donations to Obama in 2008.

FEC records also show that Stephen Presser, founding partner of Monomy, made donations to Democrats between 2013 and 2023. Presser passed away in March of 2023.

Neither Hillenbrand nor Presser work for Liberty Safe. Nor did Liberty Safe make any donations to anti-gun politicians.

I’ve met and had a working relationship with every single Liberty Safe CEO since I was a teenager. When the media started running stories attributing the role of CEO to someone who I’ve never met at a time when I knew for a fact that Joe Fail was the current CEO I was confused how some of the biggest news outlets and online commentators could get such an easily verifiable fact so wrong. Sadly like much of the information surrounding this controversy the answer is ‘clicks’. It seems like so many bent over backwards to tie any negative press to Liberty Safe even if it meant bending the truth to an extreme degree and purposely omitting critical facts and details.

The stories read as if the leadership of Liberty Safe was conspiring to actively work against the second amendment when nothing could be further from the truth. For nearly 40 years anytime we needed help raising money for hunting conservation, our local NRA chapters, supporting our local youth and high school shooting teams Liberty was there more than any other manufacturer to offer discounts to donating whole safes to help these causes.

Find the Liberty Safe That’s Right for You

Liberty Safe offers a wide range of gun safes and home safes. From entry-level safes to high-end gun safes, each of their series typically comes in three different sizes. To help you start comparing models, we’ve rounded up our most popular series:

• Most Popular Entry-Level Safes: Centurion Series

• Most Popular Mid-Grade Safes: USA Series & Colonial Series

• Most Popular Above Average Safes: Fat Boy Series & Lincoln Series

• Most Popular High-End Safes: Magnum Series & Presidential Series