Furniture firepower: Gun sales drive specialty 'concealment' craze

Sales of gun concealment furniture have been steadily rising as gun sales have surged. (GunBed.net)

Rising gun sales have triggered a new trend in furniture fashion -- coffee tables, cabinets, headboards and hutches with secret compartments for firearms.

'Gun concealment furniture' sales, once the province of solitary craftsmen making custom goods have gone mainstream, allowing firearms owners to maintain easy in-home access to hidden handguns and rifles.

“There are a lot of people who don’t want a big iron safe,” said Dan Ingram, owner of NJ Concealment Furniture, based in Hampton, N.J. “There are a lot of people who don’t even have room for one, but they still need someplace to safely store their guns.”

Ingram, a longtime cabinet maker, started building the special furniture four years ago after getting inspiration from the online gun community.

“At the time, I was on a lot of online gun forums and there was a constant complaint,” he said. “People wanted something with quick access when they needed their weapons to keep their homes safe which is why they bought the guns in the first place.

Furniture maker Dan Ingram says more people are looking for alternatives for storing firearms in the home. (NJconceal.com)

Ingram’s first design was a simple nightstand with a side compartment to hold a pistol. From there, he began designing and fabricating other items, such as wall shelves, coat racks, desks and hutches. Soon the specialty line became the company mission.

“I eventually closed my main cabinetry business,” he said, adding that he has seen more and more interest in his products as gun sales have gone up.

His products draw a steady stream of curious future customers at gun shows, Ingram said.

A coffee table from Ingram's NJ workshop. (NJconceal.co)

Shelves like this one have proven to be one of the more popular and most affordable options. (NJconceal.co)

“We often draw a crowd of 30-40 people looking at our products," he said. "They wind up calling their friends over to check it out.”

Small and large furniture manufacturers alike are coming up with more creative ways to design furniture that not only provides safe keeping, but also easy access.

A corner hutch unit with secret panels for rifle storage.

Major outdoor outfitters including Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops sell ottomans, benches and other furniture with built-in, locking gun compartments. Smaller furniture companies including Stealth Furniture, Secret Compartment Furniture and Heracles Research also specialize in gun concealment furniture.

Michigan inventor Frank Marshall built a headboard that enables anyone lying on the bed to go from dream to draw in one quick motion - provided the built-in safety latch is unlocked.

Dubbed The Gun Bed, Marshall's creation hides a 12-gauge shotgun behind a spring-loaded panel that, when pressed, drops the gun in the owner's hands.

“It has no place to go but your hands,” Marshall said.

A key challenge for Ingram and other manufacturers is to make the furniture as secure as a traditional gun safe, to ensure against household accidence or children getting their hands on the weapons.

“I come from a law-enforcement family, so we all grew up with a shotgun in the bedroom,” Marshall said. "But my grandkids did not grow up that way, and when they were running through my house during a visit, I realized I needed a way to safely store my shot gun, but still have a way to quickly get to it if needed during a home invasion.”

Marshall has employed the help of a cabinet maker to help with manufacture, and while his business is in its infancy, demand and interest in his Gun Bed has grown.

“We sold just under 100, but we are getting more and more inquiries every day,” he told FoxNews.com. “There seems to be a growing demand, and I think it’s tied to people’s concern about the economy and where things may be headed."