Feeling hesitant about leaving your gun in the car? Discover some useful tips for certain situations to help you make a good decision.
RELATED: Gun Storage | How To Hide Your Gun Safe
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Leaving Your Gun in the Car | Making the Right Decision
Be in Control
Quick question: Do you store a gun in your car? Do you have a car gun safe?
You don't have to answer, but I'd love to hear if you do or not.
If you do, I'd like to encourage you to not actually store a gun in your car, overnight, or otherwise. I get it, sometimes just leaving it in there is much easier, especially if you live in a nosy neighborhood where “guns are bad.”
But, what would you do if your gun was ever stolen?
As we've discussed in great detail in the past, you need to be in control of your firearms at all time. If you leave it somewhere, even if in your car, you're not in control of it.
When storing a firearm in a vehicle, they should be as secure as you can make them. Even if you have the most advanced car alarm in the world, it's not secure enough.
Unusual Gun Cases
Bass guitar case with AR-15, mag inserted, adjustable stock all the way out, 16″ barrel.
There are ways around leaving your gun in a vulnerable position, like in a locked car, truck, or minivan. Plenty of case manufacturers make gun cases designed to not look like there's a firearm inside.
These are great for going to and from your truck — so you can bring your gun inside with you at the end of the day. There are cases that look like laptop cases, racket cases, guitar cases, etc.
- Versatile and Portable Storage; This quality leather lockable zippered gun case is great for carrying in public, placing on a bookshelf, or storing in...
- Included Features; All cases come with a locking system to keep honest people honest a little longer, holster that can carry a variety of handguns and...
- Discrete Carry; Lets you carry with confidence. A remarkable story was sent to me in an email from a customer who left his gun case in the car while...
Or, you can just get creative and use things that aren't meant for guns, like this bass guitar case purchased at a music store:
You don't even have to buy a new case if you already have something that may work. I know someone who used to pack an MP-5 in his laptop case just because he could.
It was one of those fancy cases with multiple pockets and the MP-5 fit in one of them perfectly. Strangely enough, that computer case is a lot like the one I own. Huh.
Anyway, there are other folks who pretend to play tennis and use a specially padded case to carry an AK with a folding stock.
AK with a racket case
RELATED: Car CCW | The Safest Way to Store Your EDC [Gun Carrier]
Know the Possible Consequences If You Leave the Gun
The owner can fit 4 magazines in here.
The point is that there are ways for you to carry a truck gun (or trunk gun) discreetly while retaining the ability to bring it in and out of your vehicle gun safe when you get back home or to leave for work in the morning.
And, if you don't care about it being discreet, just carry however you want. It's just not a good idea to leave it in your car where thieves can take it during your slumber.
But, what about those pesky times when you need to go to the post office or your kid's school? Well, if you'd be a “law-abiding gun owner,” you'd likely leave your gun in the car.
Lucky for you, they make gun vaults of all shapes and sizes which are much more secure than just leaving it out in the open.
- Rugged protection with a BUILT-IN LOCK SYSTEM. Integrating Vaultek’s precision engineered safe technology and anti-impact latch design. LifePods...
- TOUCH ACTIVATED KEYPAD. A unique backlit LED capacitive keypad provides entry of the master code and quick press to lock action when locking.
- LIGHTWEIGHT AND RUGGED. Advanced non-metal polymer construction is engineered to be LIGHTWEIGHT with SUPERIOR STRENGTH and DROP TESTED to be the...
I've had my car broken into in the past. Thankfully, my gun wasn't in the car, because that's just not something I need to deal with.
But, after the break-in happened, it made me realize a few things. First, locked or not, cars are extremely vulnerable and easily broken into.
Second, people suck and are willing to take anything from the loose change in your cup-holder (broke asses), to the GPS stuck to your windshield (lost asses), to the pack of opened gum in the center console (halitosis much?).
Finally, I don't need my gun used to kill, rape, maim, or rob innocent people. It's meant to stop the bad guys from doing those things
And that, my friends, is the most important one. Furthermore, thinking about the future for my kids, if my gun was ever stolen it would help to fuel the fire of anti-gun minds across the nation.
My gun and I would become a part of a statistic about stolen guns being used to kill, and then, they'd claim that the only way to fix it is by taking guns away because people cannot obviously keep track of them.
Watch this video by Jarhead6 about leaving your gun in the car:
It's never a good idea to leave your gun in the car. You can't give criminals a chance to steal it and use it against you or any random innocent person.
At least do something to give your gun a nice concealment but it's always better to bring it with you if possible.
What can you say about leaving the gun in the car? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
UP NEXT:
- Gun Hiding Places in Your Car
- DIY Gun Safes: How To Hide Your Weapons In Plain Sight
- Who’s Really Behind Gun Violence?
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on September 16, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
I need some good ideas how to hide or secure my weapons in my vehicle at all times, especially when running errands into places that prohibits carrying them like my job
Retired military, so, no. I NEVER am out of feel, or sight of my many CWP arms. Also, some of my “friends” or neighbors are victims of PTSD, or are convicted for “soft” felonies (possession). They claim that they self medicate. I know that they sleep with a loaded street gun under their mattress. And, they might cherish mine…
Also, I do not take lightly that ISIS swore to kill anyone on the long list of breached Federal Office of Personnel (Employment applications), upon which all military applicants are listed, as well as all who applied for ANY Federal agency job, since 1954! We must be prepared for the stupid idiots, or the crazy ones, who would attack us, and/or our family! Taught that any threat is genuine, I take that one, and many others announced in our media, as real threats to my life as an American citizen. Now, I am fine tuned to respond to any hatred from Democrats and their nasty BLM and intensely stupid
fringe elements, who hate the Police, and, now, all our military, retired, Veterans, or active duty!!!
I have met and know all my neighbors, and one is a retired Marine. We seem to be like minded.
We won’t avoid trouble, if it lands on our street, and, probably, our town.
Fortunately, I am in Florida, where I may “Stand my ground”, & protect my “Castle”! Actually, with some 21 million Veterans, it would be suicide for Dems to declare open war on one of us!