Are your sales of safety and security products hot or are they just simmering? Now is the time to make them sizzle!

At every level, from legislative mandates to liability issues and right down to consumers, safety and security for firearm owners is a hot topic — and the temperature of your sales should match the heat.

Consider safety and security products in three categories: On the shooter, on the firearm, and products firearms go into, such as locking storage and transfer boxes, mini-vaults and safes.

Ridgeline’s Pro-Ears Dimension Plus series permits normal hearing,
while protecting the user from high noise levels.

Hearing protection products should be positioned centrally to your handguns and long guns, and placed where you can point them out easily and quickly grab samples to show your customers.

At minimum, a shop that’s “stocked to sell” should carry full-size and slimline passive range muffs, compact folding designs and an electronic model or two.

The value of adjusting and fitting sample range muffs to a customer can’t be overemphasized. The retailer-buyer interaction builds trust and confidence. It’s at this point in the sale that Fred Calcagno of American Sportsman in East Rochester, N.Y., explains noise reduction ratings and the relative benefits of different muff styles and models.
“I have a responsibility to my customers — to provide them the best, most effective sight and hearing protection possible,” Calcagno said.

He ensures range muffs fit properly and comfortably, and covers compact folding models.
“Light weight and comfort aren’t just about convenience,” Calcagno said. “Protection that’s sitting in a drawer at home isn’t protection at all.”

Electronic range muffs can almost sell themselves, but hearing is believing, so be sure you have a pair handy with bat teries installed.

Hearing protection can take up a lot of space, so it’s often wise to find one line that will fill all of your needs and do it on a single display. Howard Leight offers a wide array of products including six earplug designs, full, slimline and folding passive range muffs from 23 to 30 NRR, plus the hot-selling Impact Sport electronics model.

For customers who want even more compact models, look to Walker’s Game Ear. The company has perfected high-tech hearing protection/enhancement, offering numerous in-the-ear models, along with standard muff units.

Protecting Sight

If your shooting glasses aren’t moving and you only stock $5.99 throw-downs or models that make wearers look like either a ’50s fighter pilot or a ’60s rock star, take some tips from people who spend millions of dollars annually on consumer research and marketing analysis.

Visit a Sunglass Hut or other high-fashion sunglasses franchiser. Note how they present, display and light their top sellers. Typically you’ll find lower-margin, less favored models are “low and away,” while the hot, fast movers are at eye level, and always close to a mirror — not a tiny one, either — where customers can check out their appearance.

“With eye protection, fashion comes into play,” advises Bob Perry, owner of Shooting Sports Pro Shops in St. Augustine, Fla. “So I carry styles from Howard Leight, Silencio (Jackson Safety), Wiley X and Remington (Radians). People are just a lot more particular about designs of eyewear and you have to stock a spread of styles.”

Wiley X has “cross-decked” their marketing knowledge and engineering to put “cool” into combat eyewear and fighting strength into fashionable sports glasses. The company knows that style sells, and without it, even the strongest, clearest, most comfortable glasses sit on the shelf.

If possible, display shooting glasses where your firearm customers will have to pass them coming and going — and make sure the attention-getting displays are well-lit.

With hearing and vision protection, be sure to capitalize on “logo loyalty.” Smith & Wesson (Jackson Safety), for example, offers a broad assortment of branded safety products. Perry reports that many of his customers are extremely “gunmaker brand-conscious.”

 “You just have to find the brands with the greatest appeal and make sure you always have their logo-gear available,” he said. “It’s the easiest sale you’ll make.”

Beretta, Browning and Remington also brand safety products for shooters.

Mossberg’s Loc-Box secures a shotgun, yet makes it easily accessible.

Your customers already have gunlocks that were included with most of their firearm purchases, and you’ll likely include locks with sales you make today. However, most of them are very basic gunlocks. Given the concern for firearm safety, you should offer your customers alternatives. Consider taking the position: “Safety and security are too important to be shortchanged. We provide only quality security products for our quality firearms.” To maximize your margin, offer customers brand-name gunlocks they respect and technology they can trust.

Master Lock has excellent name recognition and their lineup includes both keyed and combination trigger locks, and sheathed-cable multipurpose models.

A very popular and versatile lock is the Child Guard, adjustable to fit most firearms except certain lever actions. A strong plastic sheath covers an almost impenetrable tungsten carbide inner plate.

The Life Jacket (Mogul Security Equipment) series of key-operated clamshell locks are sure sellers, with models to fit virtually all firearms. This design completely encloses both the trigger and action or receiver of most guns, and gets high marks for both speed of access and strength.

Another fast-access security device is Mossberg’s Loc-Box Firearm Security System, a tough, 13-gauge steel wall-mountable unit that accommodates most Mossberg shotguns and some other makes.

So you don’t think you have room to display gun safes? The Mini Vault and Mini Vault DeLuxe gun safes from GunVault only take up a 8-by-12-inch footprint on a counter, and they can be a very valuable “real estate investment.” The two models feature the No-Eyes Keypad access with over 12 million user-programmable entry codes. Larger sizes are available too, as well as the Multi Vault Biometric, which uses fingerprint recognition technology to restrict access to “registered” users only.

The BioVault 2.0 from Sequiam offers quick, easy and reliable access at the touch of a finger. There are no buttons to press, no combinations to remember or keys to lose — just a swipe of a “programmed” finger opens the high-tech mini-vault. It’s portable and can be secured with an optional wall/floor mount.

What about full-size gun safes? Many, if not most, gun dealers don’t think they have the space to devote to such products. Here’s how you can carry an entire line of safes in one small spot.

Cannon Safe has a full line of safes and vaults and Jesse Bugarin, the company’s national sales manager, wants dealers to know smaller retailers with limited floor space can count on Cannon for support.

“Buy just one safe of your choice,” he says, “to show your customers the quality of our line. Then show them the catalog and let them select the size and features they want. You order it and we’ll ship it right to their door, freight paid. You make the sale, you get the profit and we do everything else.” Margins run a generous 20 to 35 percent.

Browning offers an impressive number of full-size gun safes, along with a compact series and security doors. New this year is the Fabrique Nationale safes with the new DPX storage system, which organizes small items such as choke tubes, magazines and handguns, along with long guns on the inside of the door.

TruckVault continues its upgrade of its various models, including offering all-weather Vector Locks for safety and security.

Storm Case’s (Hardigg International) rugged, injection-molded resin gun cases are air, dust and watertight, multi-position lockable, and competitively priced for the quality. Sizes range from multiple long-gun cases to single-scope containers. The Storm Case lifetime guarantee is a great “talking point” to cover while you’re showing a buyer the molded-in lock hasps and sturdy, comfortable handles.

Safe Direction’s Ballistic Containment System will safely
absorb a handgun round into its Ballistic-Seal panel.

Be alert to new products in the safety and security area. Here are three sure-selling examples:

The Safe Direction Ballistic Containment System, which addresses the possibility of accidental discharges, is quickly becoming a hot seller. Safe Direction builds an NIJ III-A rated ballistic containment surface for handguns into range bags, waist packs, zippered gun rugs, counter pads and hanging wall units. There is even a version called the Academy Pad, which clips into a standard three-ring binder. Whenever a shooter is loading or clearing a handgun, checking trigger pull or the function of a manual safety, all they have to do is make light muzzle contact with the Safe Direction emblem in the center of the panel and proceed.

The Blade-Tech Training Barrel is a new product for pistol owners who practice drawing and firing, reloading and malfunction-clearing drills. The Training Barrel completely replaces the real barrel of many popular pistols, and allows full slide and trigger function. The solid cast “chamber” will not accept a round, live or inert. The Training Barrel can also be installed for safe travel and storage.

The VisuaLock system consists of an inert “cartridge” resembling a handgun, rifle or shotgun round, an adjustable-length “security rod” and a proprietary key. Simply chamber the cartridge, slide the security rod down the barrel, which leaves a bright red plug protruding from the end, insert the key and twist it clockwise a quarter-turn. From chamber to muzzle, the firearm is rendered inoperable. VisuaLock is attractively packaged and a variety of POP displays are available.

Target L.E. & Tactical Sales

Storm Case offers a wide range of rugged cases to meet the
demands of everyday shooters and your L.E. customers.

Your law enforcement customers are even more in need of safety and security products than their civilian peers.

In vision protection, cops need ballistic-level eyewear 24/7, not just when they’re heading to the range. And, they need lenses for every light level including relative darkness.
Changeable-lens protective glasses that combine fashion, functionality and fragment-stopping strength include Revision Eyewear’s military-issue Sawfly DeLuxe Eyewear System 3-Lens Kit, and Wiley X’s Tactical Changeable PT-series, which come with easy-change dark, low-light and clear lenses.

Be ready to “talk the talk” about industrial ANSI Z87.1 and military shatter-resistance standards. Information is on the company’s Web sites: www.revisioneyewear.com and www.wileyx.com.

In hearing protection, L.E./tactical customers have been scooping up SureFire’s EarPro EP3 Sonic Defenders. These soft, shape-conforming, in-the-ear sound suppressors lower dangerous report levels over 80 decibels, but allow clear hearing of normal sounds. They can be worn under helmets or hats, and will not interfere with the use of headphones, handheld radios or cell phones.

The Blade-Tech Training Barrel should sell well to cops. Aside from the safety it lends to draw-and-fire practice and malfunction-clearing drills, officers really need it for practicing “handgun retention” techniques, to prevent a suspect from grabbing one’s duty sidearm and disarming opponents. You may only have to bring up the subject to score an easy sale.
When officers are browsing gun cases, be sure to show off the Storm Case iM2200, a two handgun-plus locking case that should fit right into most police agency lockers.

For home safety, cops will like the speed and low cost of GunVault’s Mini Vault, and the technology of the Multi Vault Biometric. Whereas many civilians are only seeking safety for their unloaded firearms, officers will generally want instant access to loaded handguns around the clock.