So, first for some throat-clearing. I’ve purchased both of my big gun safes from Liberty. My current one doesn’t have one of those fancy electronic locks after multiple people I trust recommended going with an analog dial lock. Which made the salesperson give me Spock eyebrow. I also help my mom purchase one of their portable handgun safes. All in all, I’ve been satisfied with their quality. Which makes this so infuriating. But, probably not for the reason you think.

In case you missed it, Liberty Safe got themselves squarely in the crosshairs of the enraged. TLDR; FBI was executing search warrant of someone accused of being a January 6 rioter. FBI got Liberty Safe to hand over a super-secret default code for one of their safes at the accused’s home. Cross section of MAGA, FBI distrust, and compliant company that caters to the gun world results in calls for Liberty Safes to be boycotted. If there’s one thing the gun world likes to do, it’s hold a grudge against a company that’s wronged them. There are still people who refuse to buy Ruger or Smith & Wesson over things that happened almost thirty years ago. I still refuse to shop at Dicks for something that happened a decade ago.

Liberty Safe said it was in pursuant to a valid warrant. Okay, not great, but Liberty is not Apple. They don’t have the legal resources to tell the Feds to go pound sand while they fight a warrant in court. Here’s the rub IMHO. Locksmiths have been saying that Liberty has denied for years that such a code exists. Rather than handing it out or even charging for access to it, they’ve been forcing customers to drill out non-working electronic locks (or locks where they forgot their passcode). That’s not how you deliver on a reputation for customer service.

I don’t call for boycotts. I hate the whole demanding that companies take stances instead of delivering products. I will, however, state that this kind of customer service should be taken into account. Will I ever buy a Liberty safe again? I don’t know. It’s not like I expect to be in the market anytime soon. We shall see how events unfold.