# Prop weapon storage



## peacefulone61 (May 21, 2017)

So this question is primarily directed to those who have to deal with prop storage at a university or school. Our prop storage is being moved on site. Which in a lot of ways makes life very easy. However, we were storing all of our starter guns Prop rifles combat swords… Offsite so I didn't have to worry about having a security protocol for on campus. I was wondering if anyone has such a protocol or is hard to create something similar to this. Any help would be greatly appreciated


----------



## RonaldBeal (May 21, 2017)

Talk to the campus police/security. Get their input.

At minimum, locked storage, with sign out sheet. Keys to as few as necessary. Potentially, have two person integrity. 2 locks and 2 groups of keyholders so one person can't get things out by themselves. Have an "A" lock and a "B" lock, with some having only the A key, and others having the B key. That way you must have an A and B keyholder present. Example Faculty gets "A" Keys, and props students get "B" keys.


----------



## AxlD1234 (May 21, 2017)

RonaldBeal said:


> Talk to the campus police/security. Get their input.
> 
> At minimum, locked storage, with sign out sheet. Keys to as few as necessary. Potentially, have two person integrity. 2 locks and 2 groups of keyholders so one person can't get things out by themselves. Have an "A" lock and a "B" lock, with some having only the A key, and others having the B key. That way you must have an A and B keyholder present. Example Faculty gets "A" Keys, and props students get "B" keys.




Going off of this. Instead of Prop Students get a B Key, Give Security officals have B key. That will protect you from any policies that the school has in place on this situation.


----------



## Dionysus (May 22, 2017)

Love the A+B key idea. Prevents Students from getting access to weapons when they really shouldn't.

Be sure to look into local weapon laws, etc. I am not familiar with American variations in laws and by-laws however I do know that they indeed to very from one area to another (state, etc). Here licensing is required to handle any firing prop weapon (blanks, starter pistol, etc).

Fire-arms, even replicas (airsoft, etc) need to be maintained according to local laws. Generally they need to be secured even during a show when not in use backstage (in Canada anyways).

I exclusively use rated and lawful gun storage for prop firearms here in Canada, and I would assume that such a thing would be wanted in much of the US as well.
As for swords, etc., pretty much anything that prevents access is sufficient. Remember that people who aren't sufficiently trained really cannot be expected to respect any weapon even if it is a prop.

A note that I would keep an eye to the locks and locking hasps, etc used. You don't want something that is very easily defeated, for someone with a little knowledge (or Google) it is very easy to bypass cheap locks without even picking them.


----------



## Quillons (Jul 6, 2017)

A little late to the party, but I thought I'd join.

A slight variation on the A/B key- a locked box in a locked room that have two different keys. In shows I've worked on before the ASM had the key to the room and weapons master had the key to the box. Maybe the locked room is a building key, while the department head or someone has the only key to the locked box.

I also emailed a friend who works with/in stage combat. His response: 
"In regards to your question on the forum, a lot of the protocol will be dictated by the school/university where the props are being stored. Each school/university may have their own policy. Some vary greatly, but many schools offer similar protocol when dealing with theatrical props such swords, knives and blank firearms. 
I would highly recommend the individual contact their supervisor or campus safety/police to figure out what their campus policy dictates. If the campus does not have a policy, I highly recommend one be created for the theatre department. In regards to creating a policy, I can reach out to the technical director at Azusa Pacific University, he was revising/creating stage combat prop protocol this summer for the Theatre Department. It may not be completed or even ready to share but I’ll see what I can dig up and forward anything I come across your way."

Aside from that, I would try to make a culture of treating your weapons nicely. Make a point of using gloves with your swords or wiping them down really well afterward. Point out that metal rusts and that you don't want to handle anything if you don't need to so as to preserve the prop for future use. Put up big signs near where your weapons live saying "Please oil after use" or something.


----------



## Jay Ashworth (Jul 8, 2017)

Personal opinion: Even if it only looks like a gun, handle it and store it as if it was a real gun.


----------



## JD (Jul 8, 2017)

What Jay said is the problem. If it looks like a weapon, then someone seeing it from a distance might assume it is the real thing. I would suggest picking up a couple of "stack-on" gun-safe lockups (About $99) like this:
http://www.stack-on.com/product/10-gun-security-cabinet/
Once installed, give the keys to campus security. This insures that when you need to move the props, they (security) will be in the loop as you need to call for the keys, thus eliminating any miscommunications. It also frees up the rest of the props in the room from having to deal with that protocol.
I would also pick up some inexpensive rifle bags (~ $9) as even with these protocols in place, you don't want to visibly be carrying something around that may be mistaken as the real thing.


----------



## dvsDave (Jul 22, 2017)

peacefulone61 said:


> So this question is primarily directed to those who have to deal with prop storage at a university or school. Our prop storage is being moved on site. Which in a lot of ways makes life very easy. However, we were storing all of our starter guns Prop rifles combat swords… Offsite so I didn't have to worry about having a security protocol for on campus. I was wondering if anyone has such a protocol or is hard to create something similar to this. Any help would be greatly appreciated



@peacefulone61 Let us know what you ended up setting up as your protocol. We'd love to see what worked for you!


----------



## peacefulone61 (Jul 23, 2017)

As soon as something is formalized I will share it with the group. It's right now with the college legal and insurance team


----------



## Jay Ashworth (Jul 23, 2017)

JD said:


> Once installed, give the keys to campus security. This insures that when you need to move the props, they (security) will be in the loop as you need to call for the keys, thus eliminating any miscommunications. It also frees up the rest of the props in the room from having to deal with that protocol.


Additionally, the head of Drama should sit down with the head of Security, and actually talk about a formal protocol: whoever is on Security on a given day should be ready for the call "This is the Stage Manager for XYZ show; we need you to come over and unlock our stage weapons cabinet for us" and know what it implies, and who's allowed to make it (generally, head of department and Production Stage Manager to unlock; anyone to re-stow).


----------

