If you don’t currently have an end table sitting next to your couch or comfy chair, that’s another good place to strategically hide a gun. Find one with a relatively deep drawer. It’s surprisingly easy to create a fake drawer you can use to hide a gun. Measure the interior of your drawer. Have your local hardware store cut a piece of plywood to fit—give yourself about 1/16 inch of leeway on the measurements so it’ll slide down. Paint and finish the wood so it matches the bottom of your actual drawer. Pick up some dowel rods, spools, or whatever spacers you like best. Lay your gun flat. The spacers need to be a fraction wider than the thickest point in your gun. Now get some sturdy ribbon and make a loop about twice the width of your forefinger. Staple a loop like that on all four sides of your plywood. You’ll need this in order to pull the wood up quickly and free your gun.

Put the gun and ammunition in the base of your drawer. Line the edges with your spacers. Carefully slide your fake plywood bottom into place, taking care to leave the finger loops on the outside. Make a few bows and decorative things out of the remaining spool of ribbon and throw them into the drawer for a distraction. While you’re at it, throw in the whole spool. Fill the drawer with useless, lightweight clutter—envelopes, expired coupons, books of stamps—anything that will disguise the actual depth of the drawer without weighing it down. You now have a sturdy surface to put your drink on and a secure place to hide a gun, all in one.