Gun racks in trucks, dumb?

Depends on where you live, I guess.

I've lived really rural and gunracks were common and most often had whatever longarm fit the season riding in them.

You get very urban and it's probably not a good idea.

Use to keep rifles in a gun rack behind the seat in my pickup. Around here, one displayed in the window of an unattended truck would be MIA pretty quick.

Some years back when I lived in Arizona I had rifle rack in the window of my truck. I did ocassionally cary rifles there.
Most of the time coats, hats, and other tools hung off of them.

Most people that I knew that had these racks did so because they had the older trucks that had gas tanks behind the seats.
Ford and GM didn't go away from that till the late 70's in most cases.
With a tank behind the seat, there is no room for guns or anything else.
I have noticed that since the tanks were removed from the cab, gun racks have begun to disapear.

Also a lot of people live in areas that are gun oriented. They don't have to be paranoid about someone breaking into their trucks to steel things.
Not like those in citys.

I see nothing wrong with in cab gun racks. However here in IL a cab gun rack is more of a hat rack, or fishing pole rack than a gun rack.
How I long to escape to the real world.

It depends on where you are. There are still large parts of this great country where everyone knows everybody, and no one locks their doors, or even removes the key from the ignition.

We used to call them "Easy Rider rifle racks"
I have one in my hunting truck, only time it has anything in it is when I'm going hunting or to the range.

In the time and place where I grew up, we were able to live as human beings. Thieves/liberals/Demorats/et al., had zero impact on the way we lived our lives. Where we did, or did not place our personal property wasn't anyone else's business.

The time? The 60'-70s. The place? Western Massachewsh*ts.

The People's Demoratik Kommunewealth of Massachewsh*ts has since become an intolerable socialist hellhole, and (thank God) I no longer live there.

I prefer to live as a human being. If others choose to live according to the consensus of the collective, or choose to let thieves et al. influence their lives, so be it.

Getting a rifle in the back of the head in an accident has never been my idea of fun. www.truckvault.com

You took the words right out of my mouth TechBrute. At a class for insurance rate reduction our instuctor told about a woman that was severely injured from a Kleenex box hitting her head in an accident.

Depends on where you live!

The rifle racks in the rear window of pickups around here (rural Oregon) serve multiple purposes. Carrying a rifle or a shot gun for the variety of hunting seasons we have around here is a pretty common practice. Remember I said "rural Oregon". Not so common in the larger cities. For me, those same racks carry fishing rods during trout, salmon, and steelhead seasons. Of course theft is always a possiblity but (sigh) such are the times in which we live. Good shooting (and fishing too)

With all the equipment that police cars carry today, there was a discussion of where to put a long gun. A Pa. trooper I believe was killed when he was involved in a collision and the gun hit him in the head. It was in a rack attached to the cage behind the seat. Even a fishing reel could be deadly.

I don't have a rifle rack in my truck, but I have often thought about getting one. First of all, I live in one of those areas where no one would give it a second glance. But the reason for it is that I like to drive off road. I am not talking about anything radical like rock crawling or anything. Nevada has thousands of miles of dirt roads with interesting things like ghost towns, old mines, mountains etc. I also drive these dirt roads coyote hunting. When I am driving off road, I always take a gun and this gun is often a rifle. I guess I must also point out for those that have never been to rural Nevada, that it is very easy to be sitting 50 miles from the nearest house, so nothing about this is particularly irresponsible. If they can conduct above ground nuclear testing, I can safely fire a rifle. Anyway, I usually have the rifle out and ready to go. Usually I don't have a round chambered but the magazine is loaded. I might see a long range jackrabbit, a coyote, or even a rock that looks like fun to try to lob rounds into. I don't want to stop the truck, get out a gun case etc. The downside to what I do now is that the rifle is free to roll around the truck. When I brake, I have to grab the rifle, same with turns etc. I think it would be great to have it in a rack secured. This would be safer and easier on the rifle. Same goes for deer hunting. When you are hunting an area measured in hundreds of square miles, it isn't unusual to scout the area in your truck. I personally don't shoot from the truck, but if I see a deer, I want to get out and try to put a stalk on it. I don't want to have to jump through six hoops to get my rifle out.

I never understood gun racks either. There many reasons why I wouldn't put guns in a gun rack.
1. The sun will damage them if left there long enough.
2. they are very secured there and they can rattle around and maybe fall out if you hit a bump or have an accident.
3. Advertising guns to people is never a good idea.
4. They might get stolen.
5. People will think you are a hick.
6. People will think you are a show off tool who wants to be a cowboy, I know that is what I think.
7. Why give cops any more reason to pull you over?
8. You will have to take them down and remove the gun rack when you go into certain cities or areas.
9. The guns will get dusty and full of dog hair (in my car they would).
10. They really are no faster to access then if the were in a zippered case behind the seat.

Gun racks in the car make you look like a hillbilly. But if you live near hillbilly country then you'll blend right in.

Around here, folks are even more likely to wave at you when you have a rifle in the rack in your pickup window. Don't know why that is, but it shows you how normal it is considered. Kind of makes you a real "local" I guess.

I don't usually, unless I am going camping or hunting. I don't like to leave a rifle in the pickup overnight, and I don't just routinely stick one in there when I go somewhere.

But as far as the rack itself, how do you live without it? Sure makes a good place to stick a half-used roll of TP - can't go off anywhere without that!

it's real common in this area(small town-rural)to see racks with rifles in the back window,I have one myself with a cable that runs through the trigger guard to "slow down"any potential theft.

When I was a kid and this was a semi-free country, my dad worked at the elementary school I attended. He had a gun rack with two sweet shotguns in it. He had them in there all the time, even when he was at school. No one thought anything about it then.

Greeting's All-

Well, maybe I am a little "old fashioned" but I
don't condone leaving firearms in vechiles
period! You see, during my days as a
LEO we were constantly taking B&E of vechile
report's where a firearm was taken. And in a
few cases, the firearm was used on the
owner of the weapon. It's a darn good
idea to remove all firearm's from any
type vechile that is going to be left unattended;
even boat's!

Just my $.02 worth~

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

Notice that it seems very hard for most people to differentiate the concept of having a rifle RACK in the truck (what was asked in this thread) with having a RIFLE in it.
Maybe when you buy one you have to agree from that point on to never be without a rifle again. They don't allow you just to have the rack.


Oh, no ! People will think I am a hillbilly. That would just devastate me. I base my whole self worth on what other people think. And I spent so much for this hairstyle and outfit.

Years ago when I had a pick-up truck, I put a gun rack in it. Although I rarely carried guns in it, I found it useful for carrying all kinds of other junk.

I have always gotten a lot of entertainment out of this whole hillbilly thing. I don't believe I fall into either stereotype catagory; I work in a city of well over a million people, but live in a relatively small town where high school rodeo is broadcast on our only TV station. I grew up outside a small town right along the Ohio/West Virginia boarder, but also at one time lived in Los Angeles. So I have seen what both have to offer.
Everytime I see someone look down their nose and call someone a hillbilly, a hick, a redneck or whatever, I get a good laugh. This guy paid a king's ransom for a postage stamp sized lot in a crime ridden, air polluted, crowded, over taxed, dump where pretty much all vestiges of freedom have been given up; and he considers himself superior to that guy ? Based on where they both live ? Or even better, based on something like having a rifle rack in their truck ?

Another check-in from "the good old days". Gun racks were common where I grew up in northeastern Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma. Handy for not just guns, but as others have said, hats, ropes, fishin' poles (yea, call me a redneck, come on!), etc. in the pre-extended-cab days.

I was back there "in God's country" on opening day of pheasant season just a few years back. We pulled into parking lot to go into a small town church for their annual "fundraising lunch". My buddy, who still farms and ranches there, got out of his pickup, leaving the keys in the ignition, our shotguns in the front, and both windows rolled down. I asked if he was going to lock it and he replied "We don't have to do that ---- here."

On second thought though, due to all the "out of towners", I've since convinced him to lock it up ... Ya never know what might happen with some opportunistic big-city slob ... :banghead:

444....... you just made the distinction I was going to! I certainly agree that for the most part, guns left in truck is bad news ...... invite to theft etc .... tho again ... there has to be the further distinction between areas etc .. such a vast difference in conditions.

My area is well hunting oriented and I doubt many give a second glance to a rifle on a rack in a truck .... tho not so many people do it these days. In my case, even tho extended cab, I have racks ... the removable type, tho they stay there. They have elastic restrainers on each hook.

The rear window is smoked glass ... and they do not show that obviously from outside, plus, as others have said, they serve for fishing rods, occasional coat hook etc .... so mine stay put, usually wherever I go.

As far as dangers go, well .. rather aware of that and so really only use mine very occasionally when out in the sticks as against on main highway.

They make trucks without gun racks? I thought they were standard equipment....











-K