Liberty Safe gave up the code to a safe upon request from the FBI during a home raid of someone involved with J6. It is not clear if the FBI had a subpoena or if Liberty Safe was legally required to comply with said request. The safe belonged to 34-year-old Nathan Hughes of Fayetteville, Arkansas. The FBI says they have video of Hughes at the Capitol on that fateful day engaging in a riot. They charged him with felony and misdemeanor charges relating to his actions on that day. Much of the news surrounding this story is not necessarily about his actions or lack thereof on J6. Instead, the attention is focused on the behavior of Liberty Safe.
When the FBI conducts a raid of someone’s home and they want to crack open a safe, they have a few options. First, they can either guess the code or they can brute force enter the safe. If either of the above methods damages someone’s property, the Government is required to reimburse the affected party. The second option the FBI has is to request entry from the company that makes the safe. In this case, the company is Liberty Safe. This company purports itself as freedom-loving and a guardian of its customer’s privacy. Their recent actions against Nathan Hughes, however, appear to prove otherwise.
A boycott is in the works against Liberty Safe by concerned citizens. Some of these people may own a product from the company and others may not. The overall message from Second Amendment advocates is that a safe company should not allow third-parties easy access to their privacy. Especially if they are not court-ordered to do so.
The response from Liberty Safe appears to be one of damage control. They issued a statement on X (formerly Twitter) saying that they maintain a database of factory-issued codes to safes in case of emergencies or other important situations. They state that the codes are only released to someone when they can prove, with documentation, that they are the rightful owner.
Going forward, Liberty Safe will allow individuals to opt out of the code-saving program so their information cannot be given out to anyone… even upon legal request from the Government. This move does not explain whether or not the FBI subpoenaed Liberty Safe to get Nathan Hughes’s safe code or if they just gave it up voluntarily due to fear or because of collusion.
SOURCES:
Gun safe company hit with backlash for providing FBI with code to customer’s safe | Fox Business
Gun Safe Manufacturer Backtracks After MAGA World Threatens Boycott
Liberty Safe under fire for giving FBI access to alleged Capitol rioter’s firearms
Why Liberty Safe is being compared to Bud Light by right wingers | World News – Hindustan Times
Liberty Safe Responds to Backlash as Anger Grows Over Giving FBI Code
Fayetteville man charged in connection to January 6th attack
Arkansas Man Arrested on Felony and Misdemeanor Charges for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | USAO-DC | Department of Justice
