How do you secure your weapon in your vehicle?

I try to avoid leaving a gun in my vehicle at all, but when I absolutely have to I have a lock box cabled to the passenger seat frame. Not enough to stop a determined thief, but good enough to prevent a smash-and-grab.

I lock my doors. To get in you'd have to be a POS and break and enter. I have done enough. .

My workplace is in a bad area. A lot of the creeps around here carry tools. I've even seen some with bolt cutters in the water bottle holders in their backpacks.

Regardless of the quality of the lockbox, I would not be comfortable with a cable secured model.

Auto makers, are you listening? Car owners have a serious need for built-in strong boxes to secure items and deter break-ins and thefts.

I really like the Toyota RAV4 2007-2012 and FJ Cruiser with the "hidey-hole" below the floor in the back. Serious below-floor, out of sight storage for tools, survival supplies, and perhaps firearms. Not lockable, but under the carpet and floor mat is a brilliant storage solution.

I've had my car broken into once. Smashed rear side window and gained access to car. He raided the loose-change compartment in the dash board and the contents of the center console. He got my checkbook and a credit card.

The center console is not a safe place to secure a hand gun. In a pinch, I have used the removable panels in the back of a mini van or SUV where tire iron and jack are stored to stash a firearm and ammo. IMHO, super strong boxes bolted through the floor are the only answer to deterring theft. And they are not a perfect answer because they are not a perfect design.

jamesjames said:

Auto makers, are you listening?

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I kinda doubt it.

My daily driver is a Subaru Forester. My daily carry, when not on me, is locked in the car.
A Subaru is kind of a deep cover/concealment around here...

Had my personal vehicle broken into once, in of all places the police parking lot. On a new 1980 El Camino they broke the drivers wind wing, and pulled up the lock on the door and gained entry. They only took the Stereo Cassette player that was in the dash. BTW a brand new female officer on patrol happened to see the kid walking down the street carrying something that looked kind of suspicious, so she stopped him. Low and behold she stopped him, and questioned him, and ran the serial number, which was still cold, as this all happened while I was inside doing the report. Fortunately she took some pretty good notes, and they finally apprehended the culprit a couple of days later. Never did get my Stereo Cassette player back, but was reimbursed the cost per a stipulation of his probation. Oh the payments came in thru the courts over the coarse of a year, and did not involve the re-installation costs. Fortunately I had pretty good car insurance, so I had it all wrapped up within less than a month. Incidentally I never left a firearm in a vehicle while being a police officer/detective, and now cringe at the idea of having to leave one in a vehicle now. I generally make a habit out of staying clear of "Gun Free Zones" if at all possible.

bearcreek said:

Not complicated really. If you have to leave your gun in the vehicle, lock the doors. If that doesn't make you comfortable, lock it in a lock box secured to the vehicle and then lock the doors.


This must be regional. Most thefts of items from vehicles around here are from unlocked vehicles. Easier and draws a lot less attention than smashing the window.

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Yes, its possibly based on location.

Smash and grab thefts are quick and easy for most thieves. It doesn't matter if your car is locked or not. If you leave a valuable item within plain view (computer, phone, etc) all they have to do is smash your windows and grab the items. In a large parking lot/garage, no one will notice right away when you smash a car window.

As mentioned earlier, keep your valuables out of view. If you have to leave them in your vehicle, put it in a safe or in the trunk.

In my town they just steal the entire car.

Lock the doors if I remember to do so.

I don't leave a firearm in my vehicle. Far to easy to gain entry.

silicosys4 said:

I don't leave a firearm in my vehicle. Far to easy to gain entry.

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Then you either don't carry, you never have to visit places where carrying a firearm is illegal (lucky you), or you occasionally break the law.

Obviously the best possible answer is not to have a weapon in the vehicle at all. But some of us that travel long distances and on occasion visit or stay at places where CCW is not allowed. The gun has to be stored somewhere. The choice is to always leave the weapon at home or as a compromise strive to obtain the best possible effort of lockable storage of the weapon in a vehicle. For me, lockable containment for the weapon in the vehicle, is far better than never having the weapon at all.

I have a metal box bolted to the floorboard under the rear seat in my Cherokee and one bolted behind the rear seat of my F150, but more importantly a great anti carjack alarm system installed to prevent someone from taking off with the vehicle. Once someone tries to open a door when the vehicle is running they have to enter a code to disarm it otherwise the vehicle shuts down. They can only get about a block away before that happens. It's better to let them think they are getting away and hopefully they will let you be. It was only about $75 and about the same for installation.

frogfurr said:

Obviously the best possible answer is not to have a weapon in the vehicle at all. But some of us that travel long distances and on occasion visit or stay at places where CCW is not allowed. The gun has to be stored somewhere.

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Exactly! And as I said in my first post in this thread, we live 30 miles (60 miles round trip) from town. Now while 60 miles might not seem like "long distance," I don't want to travel it without my carry piece. Yet once we get to town, we occasionally have to visit the County Courthouse to pay taxes or renew licenses. And at our age, we occasionally have to visit the Social Security Office.
There are great big "No Weapons" signs on the doors of both the County Courthouse and the Social Security Office. And just inside those doors, there are great big armed guards manning metal detectors that make sure those "No Weapons" signs are obeyed.
So, my wife and I are left with a choice - either leave our CCWs at home when we go to town, or lock them in the vehicle when we visit the places where weapons are not allowed. BTW, there's a lot more places than just the County Courthouse and the Social Security Office where weapons are not allowed. But there's also a lot more places my wife and I visit while we're in town running errands that don't have "No Weapons" signs on their doors. And in all of those places, we carry - which we couldn't do if we left our carry pieces at home because we were worried about locking them in the vehicle while we are visiting the places that do have "No Weapons" signs on their doors.
I wish we never had to visit places where we aren't allowed to carry weapons. But sometimes we do.

I lock a gun alone so rarely, and the little lock boxes are so close to no security, I just toss the gun somewhere slightly hidden and lock the car.

My favorite is under the floor mat. It's pretty invisible under my thick rubber floormats, so I bet the car could be ransacked and it wouldn't be found, but I know obscurity is not something to rely on.

.308 Norma said:

Then you either don't carry, you never have to visit places where carrying a firearm is illegal (lucky you), or you occasionally break the law.

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I do carry
I don't visit places where carrying a firearm is illegal while carrying a firearm
I don't break the law, occasionally or regularly

labnoti said:

I understand the law in California does not prohibit the transport of unsecured long guns in vehicles as long as they are unloaded. So if I understand correctly, one could drive with a (CA compliant or registered) AR-15 or mini-14 etc, as long as the chamber and 10 rnd. magazine was empty or detached.

Although it is lawful in the state where I reside, I suppose I consider storing an unsecured long gun in my vehicle like on a rear-window gun rack to be irresponsible. However, because I have the liberty to do so, I wonder if it wouldn't be better that I exercise that liberty. If someone were to break into my truck and steal the gun, I would lose that gun. But if keeping a shotgun or rifle in your truck becomes offensively abnormal and ultimately unlawful, then I've lost more than just one gun that can be replaced.

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You’d be shocked how many hunter and gun owner types in Texas tell me I’m going to go to jail for carrying an AR in the rack in my truck. The last guy who told me that I though he was talking about the suppressor (since he is a huge weekend hunter, deer lease type), I was like no I have paperwork for that. He was like, you have a permit to carry that AR? I told him no permit needed it’s perfectly fine. He tried to tell me if I got pulled over “the police around here” would take me to jail. I’m Baffled at what the anti gun culture has done to people. The good thing is law enforcement seem to be pro gun still. No troopers I’ve been pulled over by cared at all. None have treated me like a criminal or anything, though I’d been likely speeding to cause our interaction!

bearcreek said:

Not complicated really. If you have to leave your gun in the vehicle, lock the doors. If that doesn't make you comfortable, lock it in a lock box secured to the vehicle and then lock the doors.



This must be regional. Most thefts of items from vehicles around here are from unlocked vehicles. Easier and draws a lot less attention than smashing the window.

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In my circle I’ve only known of one vehicle robbery where the window was smashed. So like 10% maybe. Nothing of value was visible and the thief left several hundred in tools, a small baggie with a little diamond in it, an iPod, but only took a $25 pot metal 22 revolver with snake shot in it. The guy didn’t even know what model it was to tell the police! Just that sometimes you had to pull the trigger multiple times to get it to go off!

silicosys4 said:

I don't visit places where carrying a firearm is illegal while carrying a firearm

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That's not what I said. What I said was, "you never have to visit places where carrying a firearm is illegal (lucky you)"
Some (most) of us DO have to visit places where carrying a firearm is illegal. So I still say - lucky you!

Well, I have a mailbox not a P.O. box, I don't work in a federal building, I check my firearm in when I enter the city courthouse and check it out again when I leave. I fail to see how luck is involved

frogfurr said:

Obviously the best possible answer is not to have a weapon in the vehicle at all.

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Why is that? Why would it be better to voluntarily or otherwise restrict gun possession to fewer locations rather than to proliferate it to many? I see the point to having it on your person rather than in the car, but why not both?

silicosys4 said:

Well, I have a mailbox not a P.O. box, I don't work in a federal building, I check my firearm in when I enter the city courthouse and check it out again when I leave. I fail to see how luck is involved

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OK, no luck involved. I guess you planned your life very well in that you never have to go to the post office, you don't work in a building where it's illegal to carry a firearm, and you can check your gun in and back out at the only courthouse you ever visit.
Well good for you! Is that better?

.308 Norma said:

OK, no luck involved. I guess you planned your life very well in that you never have to go to the post office, you don't work in a building where it's illegal to carry a firearm, and you can check your gun in and back out at the only courthouse you ever visit.
Well good for you! Is that better?

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You are the one who seems to have a problem here, not me. Obviously you and I have different situations, and I answered the OP and your questions honestly
That ok with you, chief?

silicosys4 said:

You are the one who seems to have a problem here, not me. Obviously you and I have different situations, and I answered the OP and your questions honestly
That ok with you, chief?

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No problem. Obviously you and I do have different situations. Very different.