Get the Full Story
Learn What Happened, Why & Your Options Moving Forward.
The ‘Liberty Gun safes F.B.I. controversy has garnered quite a bit of attention. But do the circumstances really warrant the call to “Boycott. Ridicule. Ruin their company,” as Charlie Kirk, who runs Turning Point USA, a rightwing student group, suggested on X?
We don’t believe so.
Since 1988, we’ve taken great pride in providing our customers with the highest quality products and services. We are proud to be American and believe in protecting the right to privacy. Are we a Liberty dealer? Yes. Do we want you to buy Liberty Safes (or one of the other brands we sell)? Obviously. We’re in the business of selling safes. But more so, we want to offer you the facts of what happened so you can have an informed opinion about the brand you’re buying.
In this post, we’re going to cover:
Why Does Liberty Have the Code
Liberty receives nearly 5,000 calls for lost and forgotten combinations a year. That’s more than 13 phone calls a day from people locked out of their own safe! Maintaining a secure storage of these codes is done to help these individuals regain access to their safe.
Liberty can expunge all records of lock combinations and the MRC at the request of the owner. Continue reading to learn more about the implications of expunging these records.
Why Liberty Gave the F.B.I. the Code
On August 30, 2023, the F.B.I. issued a warrant to Liberty Safe to gain access to Liberty-manufactured gun safe. a for the emergency access code of a Liberty-manufactured gun safe. The warrant was sealed and restricted. Liberty did not know the nature of the warrant.
In this case, the warrant wasn’t issued on suspicion of drugs or child abuse. Instead, it was for a January 6th protest. In short, the warrant was political, and Liberty did not know.
IMPORTANT NOTE: There are no ‘backdoor codes’ for breaking into one of these safes. The safe in question had a mechanic dial lock with a single factory code.
What Would Have Happened if Liberty Hadn’t Given the F.B.I. the Codes
Should Liberty have given the F.B.I. the code? That’s something you need to answer for yourself. But we can tell you what would have happened if Liberty had not given the F.B.I. the code — the F.B.I. would have gotten into the safe one way or another.
In all likelihood, the F.B.I. would have cut the safe open. In this case, they would have likely cut a large hole into the side of the safe. Not only would this action mean the F.B.I. could access the contents of the safe, but it would also render the safe a useless heavy shell when the owner returned.
How Liberty Gives You the Option to Expunge Your Code
How will Liberty respond to a warrant or similar compulsory document moving forward? Per Liberty’s website:
Liberty Safe will only release customer information to law enforcement agencies if all the following conditions are met:
- A warrant, subpoena, national security letter, court order or equivalent (“compulsory process”) must be provided that is specifically issued to Liberty Safe.
- For requests for access codes or combinations, the compulsory process must specifically require that Liberty Safe release the combination or access code for a safe identified by its serial number.
- If these first two conditions are met, the requested customer information must already exist within our system at the time of the request. If a customer has opted out of our retention of this information, we will be unable to comply with the compulsory process.
In the event Liberty Safe receives a legal request with the specific serial number of a safe they have manufactured, they will review the request with their legal team and challenge the warrant if they can.
Additionally, Liberty now allows all customers to completely expunge all records of their safe, including the safe’s combination, from Liberty’s records.
If you do so, Liberty will have no record of your safe or the code to open it.
In the event a warrant is issued for the code to your safe and you’ve expunged all records, Liberty can sincerely say they can’t provide the requested information because they don’t have it. In such instances, the F.B.I. or other legal official would then take the means necessary to gain access to your safe.
What it Means If You Expunge Your Code from Liberty Records
The decision to expunge your code from Liberty’s records isn’t one we recommend taking lightly. When you take this step, you:
1. Void the Warranty On Your Lock
All Liberty Safes come with a 5-year warranty on the lock. If you opt into the Combination Removal, this warranty and the service to support it will be void.
2. Combination Recovery
Registering your warranty is the only way to recover or reset a lost or forgotten combination. How often does this happen? A lot more often than you think. Liberty receives nearly 5,000 calls annually from customers who have lost their combination.
If their safe is warrantied with Liberty, recovering this combination and regaining access to their valuables is a relatively easy process. If their safe isn’t registered, regaining access can take days or weeks. At the most extreme, it will require a master safe technician to drill into your safe to open it — which can be quite costly.
What Else Should You Know About Liberty Safe?
Liberty Safe was founded in 1988. It is based in Payson, Utah, and employs approximately 400 employees. That’s roughly 400 families that Liberty Safe helps support. Additionally, Liberty’s US-based manufacturing plants use American-made steel to ensure the highest quality product.
In short, Liberty Safe offers the most affordable American made safes and the widest selection of American made safes compared to other US-based manufacturers. If you want a Liberty Safe alternative made in America, with the same level of protection, you are typically going to spend more.
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