What do you prefer as a non-carried vehicle weapon?

I don't believe in "Truck Guns". If I'm carrying the weapon comes with me. If someone steals your vehicle you lose the car and the gun. This time of year the car break ins are high.

In the past I have carried a folding-stock carbine like an M-1 or an SKS.
The gun was in a loosely rolled up sleeping bag or tarp, where it could be pulled out quickly.
What I do now is nobody's business... .

I dont leave anything in my truck either, too many desperate people out there now looking for something to steal.

What I have in my holster. I just got to the point where I leave my phone charger in the car. I am not going to leave a firearm.

This is a short video released by a police department close to me. 38 seconds long. In that time, at least 4 firearms were stolen by a group of thugs smashing in windows of parked cars in a suburb. The pseudo-comforting notion that "I have an alarm/outdoor lights, and I'll stop a thief" is ludicrous.

https://fb.watch/gWp5a2bc3d/

As I've grown older, I've come to believe that having unsecured (or poorly secured) firearms around, are far more likely to be stolen than be used by me in self defense.

So any firearms kept in my vehicle, are secured well enough as to be hard to access by me, and harder to access for others. But as neither vehicles nor homes are bank vaults, it's nice to know that should I come home to a ransacked or burnt out house, I still have some guns and some ammo at my disposal.

Clear as mud? That's how it should be.

I pocket carry which is pretty inaccessible when sitting in a car. I keep a hidden but accessible XDS in .45 acp in my car. I also keep an IWB holster in my car in case I feel the need to up gun from my pocket 9mm to the .45 acp.

I also keep a hidden handgun in my truck. I have never found a need to carry a rifle or carbine in my truck. I don't have livestock so I dont need to whack a coyote or bob cat from a distance to protect my herd.

Ive got secure parking at work, and if it drops in the pot the roads home will likely be impassable, so Im facing a 20 mile walk back to the freehold....
So ya, AR for me.
AR, comms, water, protein bars- and good boots.

I carry my shield 9 on me, but secured in a lockbox in both of my trucks I have a Glock 19 with 2 extra mags and a kydex holster and mag pouch available. Each truck also has a H&R partner pump 12 gauge (chinese 870 clone) w/ 18" barrel on board and out of sight. Those shotguns were $140 at wal mart, so I'll be more upset about the broken window than the stolen shotgun if someone decides to smash/grab. Mrs. Fl-NC carries a LCP, but there is a Glock 26 with the necessaries in the trunk of her car, along with the rest of her emergency essentials. We live/sleep in a very low crime area.

"What do you prefer as a non-carried vehicle weapon?"

ClicheBro said:

What do you prefer to have your car for a weapon?

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Your title for this thread is not the same as the question you asked in your first post.
That said, my wife and I don't really have a "car" - I have a pickup truck, and my wife has a Jeep Wrangler 2-door. And with the possible exception of a knife or two, the only "weapons" we leave in either one of our motor vehicles are what most people would call "hand tools."
However, when we drove to church in my truck this morning, I was carrying my usual EDC "weapon" along with a knife, and so was my wife. We were carrying those things while we were in church as well, and the only "weapons" that are in my truck now that we are home are, as I said, "a knife or two and some hand tools."
BTW, the last time my motor vehicle was broken into was when I was living in San Diego, and the wanna-be thief tried to steal my 8-track. If you're old enough to remember "8-tracks," you know that it's been a while since someone broke into my motor vehicle. Nevertheless, if there's a gun in one of my or my wife's motor vehicle, we're either wearing it, or it's a rifle or shotgun while we're on our way to or from a hunting spot.

OK, I seem to be in the minority but I do keep a $25 Harbor Freight 6" Bowie in the car. Yes, I know how to use it. It is primarily a handy tool that can double in defense if my holstered pistol fails me.

I have a ballpeen hammer and a large screw driver in each door pocket of my truck. I have more of both in the garage if I need to replace either of them.

rperyam said:

I have a ballpeen hammer and a large screw driver in each door pocket of my truck. I have more of both in the garage if I need to replace either of them.

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If the thieves around there are anything like around here, your tools will be fine. They've left cupholders full of change, bow hunting gear and fishing rods in cars around here. Only took folding money and prescription meds.

If I'm traveling I always take an extra pistol, extra mags for both guns, and extra ammo for both. The one In not carrying goes in the door pocket while I'm driving, into a pocket or bag when I'm not driving. It doesn't get left unattended.

I never leave firearms in any vehicles. My CC is a 686 with a 3" barrel. I use speed strips for it and when I travel I also travel with a backup gun or rifle in .357 magnum caliber. My backup gun will be another 686 with 6" barrel or a python. I like to carry only one caliber when traveling for all my backups.

My belief and practice subscribe to this premise. It is better to be highly proficient with a primary firearm than to subscribe to either a rotation of firearms or specialized firearms. I do not have a car/truck gun. I do not rotate EDC pistols. I simply have polished my ability with my Ruger Security 9 Compact with 15 round magazine to feel totally secure in any encounter I might incur in civilian life. I am determined to overcome any threat regardless how it occurs with that pistol. I have the ability to make a serious hit on target at 50 yards. If my assailant is more than that away with a rifle he had better be trained to hit a zig-zagging target withdrawing from the fight. I did one war. I am not arming for amother.

I live in the country and I'm 20 minutes away from the nearest small town. I leave my carry in my locked vehicle at night. Never had a break in here in 25 years and neither have any of my neighbors. My property is also posted with camera warnings so digest that before you come to break into anything. There is also the possibility of being attacked by a large dog so be prepared for that also.

I wouldn't shoot a trespasser on my property at night but how is one going to figure the odds on that not happening?

I don't leave my carry in my vehicle in a public parking area. It goes with me unless it's a prohibited area like a hospital or court house. They have scanners and they will take it.

I like a scoped rifle for when the coyotes and/or wild hogs start coming in the pasture, and if I happen to see a deer I want to shoot when they’re in season. A savage 110 in 270 does the job well enough.

I also have a youth size 410 I like for snakes and armadillo. I have a little 22lr that sometimes fills this bill as well.

Sometimes I have both in my truck, sometimes either one, sometimes neither, sometimes the 22lr.
It depends on what’s in season and what I’ve been seeing in the pasture and how far away it’s been averaging.

I don’t always have a long gun in my truck but nearly always, frequently 2 more. I don’t keep any in there I care a lot about, well if I’ve been hunting with one a lot I’ll leave it in there for a while occasionally.

CoalTrain49 said:

It goes with me unless it's a prohibited area like a hospital or court house. They have scanners and they will take it.

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Yep, that was definitely a problem for my wife until she completely retired in July this year. We live in the country too, and my wife drove 30 miles each way back and forth to work at the county courthouse (with scanners at the doors) for almost 25 years! And even after that, she turned right around and went back to work part-time for our church - which was also in town. It wasn't that my wife couldn't carry while she was at work at the church, it was just that one of her jobs was to pick up the church mail at the post office a couple of times a week, so she had no choice except to lock her gun in her Jeep while she went inside.
Some of the folks that respond to these types of threads saying they never leave their EDCs in their vehicles either don't carry all of the time when they're not at home, or they lead completely different lives than my wife and I do. We live 25 miles from town, and whenever we need to go there, we try to get as many things done as possible. A trip to town often involves a stop at the supermarket, the bank, a sporting goods or gun store, the insurance office, a restaurant, and/or a hardware store. However, a trip to town for us sometimes includes a stop at the courthouse, the post office, the doctor's office, or lately the Social Security office - none of which we can carry in. So as much as we don't like doing it, we sometimes have to lock our EDCs in our vehicles.
I don't worry about it all that much though. As I said in my earlier post in this thread, the last time my vehicle was broken into was when I was living in San Diego, and the wanna-be thief was after my 8-track. If you're old enough to remember 8-tracks, you know that was a while ago.
BTW, even though Idaho is a type of "constitutional carry" state, my wife and I still took the class and got our Idaho "Enhanced" Concealed Carry licenses. One of the reasons we did that was because we sometimes go on-campus at Idaho State University (which is also in town) and an Idaho Enhanced Concealed Carry license is required for legal carry there.

.308 Norma said:

the doctor's office

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Still can't get over this one. I had to get an unexpected x-ray at a Dr visit a couple weeks ago, physician assistant says "you'll need to remove the jacket and any metal or jewelry you might be wearing"
I asked "how low are we talking?"
Her "How low is your metal and how much"
Me "waist level, roughly 40oz and 8 rounds"
Her "you could have just said you were carrying. Leave it on, let me go get you a gown"

I do try to plan ahead to the extent possible so that I'm not in a spot where I have to leave a gun in the car. It's as much about not going in places that don't allow me to be armed as it is fear of leaving a gun in the car.

DeepSouth said:

I like a scoped rifle for when the coyotes and/or wild hogs start coming in the pasture, and if I happen to see a deer I want to shoot when they’re in season. A savage 110 in 270 does the job well enough.

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My wife and I have become close friends with a rancher couple whose ranch is no more than 7 or 8 miles from here. As a matter of fact, I drew a deer tag this year in the hunting unit where their ranch is located, and that's where I shot my deer this year.
Anyway, I think those two spend as much time on their ORVs as they do on horseback, and he carries a scoped .22-250 in a scabbard on his, while she carries a Ruger SP101 in the console between the seats on hers. Around here, ranchers have to deal with coyotes and mountain lions, and an increasing number of wolves.

Depends what's in season. Usually a bolt action .308. Sometimes a pump 12 gauge and sometimes a .22. I live in an area where carrying a long gun in the vehicle is very common. My SOP drastically changes when I go to the city.