Cannon is one of the oldest gun safe manufacturers in the USA and have had a wild ride over the last 12 years. Starting in 2014 they were still headquartered in and producing safes in California, they then moved to Henderson, Nevada for a better business environment and no state taxes and eventually moved all manufacturing to Mexico for cheaper labor costs and low tariffs. Throughout that entire time, they also imported safes from China, acquired Stack-On and changed their parent company name to Alpha Guardian. So to answer the original question, are Cannon gun safes made in USA? No, they are not and are 100% made in Mexico. Just because something is not made in USA doesn’t necessarily mean it is not good quality, however when it comes to Cannon, the safes actually aren’t that good. Let’s go over what features are good and what features are bad when it comes to Cannon Gun Safes.
Lock
Cannon primarily uses two styles of locks on their safes. The first is the standard Chinese solenoid lock found on Sports Afield, Winchester TS, and nearly every other low end imported gun safe from China. This is a very low quality lock that comes with a key override so that you can still get into the safe when the lock inevitably fails. It is nearly impossible to swap the lock out to a UL Rated lock due to the footprint and mounting style the Solenoid lock requires. I would highly recommend staying as far away from these locks as possible. The second lock Cannon uses is the NL UR-2020 which is actually one of my favorite locks and is extremely reliable and high quality. In my opinion, Cannon should just use this lock on all of their safes but they want to pinch pennies on these low cost safes sold on Tractor Supply and Costco. If you end up deciding to buy a Cannon safe, please make sure you are buying one with an NL lock.
Security
Cannon safes are not high security by any means and only are tested for CA DOJ firearm safety device. This is the lowest security rating possible and is required when safes are thinner than 12 gauge. Cannon makes nearly all of their gun safes 14 gauge with the cheapest ones being 16 gauge. This is a steel thickness that is thin even for a pistol box and you are likely to end up with dents just from scratching or lightly hitting the safe. Saws can cut through this like butter and I strongly recommend purchasing a gun safe with a minimum of 12 gauge steel and a UL RSC Burglary Rating. You won’t find that from Cannon safes.
Fire Rating
The one big plus with Cannon safe is that they test all of their fire ratings with an independent lab known as ETL. They actually test and verify that the claimed fire rating is real and this is a huge advantage over other low cost imported safes that only claim their fire rating. You can think of it like the UL rating for burglary or locks but for fire. They also use a triple fin door seal that expands to multiple times its size during a fire. The fire ratings on Cannon safes are actually one of their best features.
The Bottom Line
Are Cannon gun safes made in the USA? No, they are not. Are they still good quality even though they are made in Mexico? I would say also no. If you can find a 12 gauge steel cannon safe with NL lock and the ETL fire rating, I think that would be a good starting point but there are just so many better options available from American Security, Liberty, Rhino, Remington and Stealth. The bottom line here is I would avoid a cheap Cannon gun safe and go with a better brand.
