How do you secure your weapon in your vehicle?

[milemaker13]

What methods are you all using if/when required to leave your gun in the car?

I used to use a little black lock box with a cable beneath the passenger seat, figured it was better than the glove box. It worked well for secure storage. Not sure how strong, but certainly inaccessible to most.

I have not found a better method for the minivan... any suggestions?

 

[tarosean]

Yeah, don't drive a minivan...
In my truck I have a lockbox under the rear seats.. In my wifes Burb. I pull the drink holder in the center console and it opens a huge cavity that no one is likely to discover. The FJ & 65 Mustang.. I dont leave a gun period. (just no good options)

 

[Armored farmer]

In a strongbox with cable under the seat.

 

[GBExpat]

What methods are you all using if/when required to leave your gun in the car?

For any of the extremely brief (and quite rare) periods that I may need to leave my handgun in my vehicle, I just lock it in the glovebox.

I have one of those little locking metal box + cable assys (on-sale for <$20 acoupla of years ago, got one for my BIL, also) but I have yet to feel the need to deploy the thing.

 

[jmr40]

Lock the doors with the gun/guns out of sight. Not something that happens often, but other than that I don't take any special precautions. If it were something I did often, or if I felt the threat were more likely I might use a cable bicycle type lock through part of the seat.

One word of caution about locking vehicle doors with a remote. It is possible for thieves with a radio receiver to steal your signal and clone a remote to unlock your doors after you walk away. It would be wise to press the button manually to lock your doors and only use the remote to unlock it.

 

[RETG]

Cannot remember the last time I left a weapon in my truck; other than when transporting a shotgun or a non EDC when heading out of town. And then those are secured in the back of the PU with a fiberglass locking tonneau. But if I go out of the house with an EDC, it is always on my side. Heck I even go have coffee with the Sheriff once or twice a month, in his office, with my EDC.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Lock in the console , but I have no pro gun,NRA etc items on my vehicles.

 

[243winxb]

Take a newspaper. A thick one. Glue the sides together to make a pocket. Put gun in it. Put on passenger seat. Sometimes, in plain view is enough.

Or lock the "newspaper" in the cars trunk.

Oops, now my secret is out.

Temperature inside a car can go to 140 degrees. Swap out the old ammo for new as needed. Powder doesn't hold up well in heat. Cast bullet lube may flow into powder. A cooler can give some protection.

 

[doubleh]

Got a lock box under the seat of the jeep for those " leave it in the vehicle' times. It's going to be hard to pry open even if you could get to it. Given enough time I suppose a thief could remove the seat and steal the box. The suv has a lock box secured with a cable under the seat. It's more accessable but I found one made of fairly heavy steel so it won't be easy to get into and it does slide back under the seat so it's out of sight.

 

[Alte Schule]

Although 99% of the time when I leave the house I have my EDC on my right hip but there are times I jet off to get gas for the tractor or pick up one of the grandchildren and, forgetfully, leave my EDC at home. After doing that a few times I placed another pistol in the glove box. The box is always locked and my car is always kept in the (locked) garage. I use my wife's SUV for most errands. Like Tarosean above, my wife's caddy has a hidey hole that unless you have that particular model you probably wouldn't know it was there.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

What methods are you all using if/when required to leave your gun in the car?

I used to use a little black lock box with a cable beneath the passenger seat, figured it was better than the glove box. It worked well for secure storage. Not sure how strong, but certainly inaccessible to most.

That's what I use as well-have for quite a while. If simply going somewhere for a minute or two, like the post office, I just put it in the glove box and lock the car, but the little "safe" works well when I can't carry, and am going to be a while. Mine's in the trunk. It's seen 4 different daily drivers.

 

[.308 Norma]

But if I go out of the house with an EDC, it is always on my side.

When you get old like I am, and you live 30 miles from town, you occasionally have to go to town to visit the Cardiologist, whose office is in the hospital with a great big “No Weapons” sign on the door. And sometimes you have to go to town to visit the Social Security Office, where there’s a great big armed guard to greet you and ask you if you have any weapons on you. Other times you have to go to town to visit the County Courthouse to pay your taxes, license your vehicle, or renew your driver’s license. And there’s “No Weapons” sign on the County Courthouse door too, as well as a guard and a metal detector just inside.

My point is, I don’t care to drive 30 miles to town (60 miles round trip) just to visit the places listed in the above paragraph. So I try to run a few other errands (groceries, hardware, lumber, haircut, gasoline, etc.) while I’m in town. Sometimes I even visit a gun store or two. But I can legally carry while running all of those errands, while I have to leave my gun in the vehicle while visiting the places listed in the first paragraph.

Answering the OP’s question though – I just put my gun in the center console and lock the doors. Generally, we have a spoiled rotten Cocker Spaniel (Ruger) with us, and I worry more about finding a place to park in the shade for him, than I worry about someone breaking into my truck to steal my gun.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – the last time my vehicle was broken into, I was in stationed in Southern California and the thief, or thieves stole my 8-track. If you’re old enough to have had an “8-track,” you'll know it’s been a while since I’ve had a vehicle broken into.

 

[jmorris]

Depends, am I just trying to keep it in place during travel or am I trying to keep it from being stolen?

 

[MedWheeler]

I don't "store" any guns in vehicles (yet), and it's rare I "leave" one inside one for any real period of time. I have one SUV and one pickup truck, so there are no trunks.

When I do leave a gun in a vehicle, it's brief, the most common occurrence being twice each week (my two days off) for about half an hour when I walk onto the grounds of my daughter's elementary school to walk her off campus and back to my vehicle parked nearby. The guns are usually left in the enter console, and discretely reholstered upon my return to them (one is a belt gun and the other, with its pocket holster, goes in a pocket.)

 

[bullseye308]

Digital Sentry safe cable tied to the drivers seat mount and covered by a blanket. Like above hospitals, tax office, libraries with the kids, all frown on me carrying so for the short time I have to disarm, it is fairly secure.

 

[milemaker13]

In the mini van I've been putting it in the glovebox, and lock the doors. Sometimes, when the van will be accessible by others (kids and inlaws etc at family picnic for example) I lock the glove box.

Again, I don't think there is much that theft deterance this way, even less than the cable lock box, but I think it's inaccessible to others. One of my biggest worries is a kid decides to play in the car(you know...kids, lol) and finds my gun.

But I'm thinking about going back to the cable lock box. Just need to take a few minutes and decide the best location in the mini van. Probably below the driver's seat so I can get at it between my knees for discreet storage & retrieval.

 

[Legionnaire]

Like others, I don't "store" a firearm in my vehicles. For the short periods of time I may need to leave a firearm in the vehicle, I make sure it is out of sight (console, glove box, holstered and under the seat) and keep the doors locked.

 

[somethingbenign]

Glove box for now but to date I've only had to put there three times and once my wife stayed in the car while I went and talked to my union rep. Been looking for a lock box but my car has really low clearance under the seats from the from and going to the back door to store a gun seems way to obvious to anyone looking on. When. I figure out a better way I'll start doing it.

 

[WrongHanded]

Wrapped in an old down jacket, stuffed into a rear footwell of a locked vehicle. It's insulated and hidden.

 

[Speedo66]

My former agency had a zero tolerance policy for weapons stolen from an off duty vehicle, and part of our annual training was being told repeatedly to never leave a weapon in a personal vehicle, period. Two weeks loss of pay the first time, termination the second.

I still follow that doctrine.

 

[bassjam]

I've modified the rear seat of my truck to fold forward, it doesn't do that from the factory. The latch is hidden and I keep an old 10/22 back there in a gun sock.

I try not to keep my conceal carry gun in there, but when I put it in my locking console. I'm planning on adding a metal console vault later this summer which will make things more secure.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – the last time my vehicle was broken into, I was in stationed in Southern California and the thief, or thieves stole my 8-track. If you’re old enough to have had an “8-track,” you'll know it’s been a while since I’ve had a vehicle broken into.

I had 2 of those stolen in my day. In fact, the second was the last time for me, also.

 

[jmace57]

I have one of the little Nanovault under-the-seat-with-cable boxes in each car. It is not going to keep the determined thief with lots of time out. I lost the key to one, and thought I'd see how long it took me to get into it. I have a big flat-head screwdriver and a hammer and it took me about 2 minutes - two LOUD minutes to get into it. It will keep the casual thief from taking it, which is mainly what I'm looking for. And being black and under the seat, it is basically invisible under there. Plus, I keep a "truck" gun in it most times, that would not be the end of the world if it got taken.

 

[taliv]

Im a lot different than everyone else. I keep a pistol on the dash via magnet. Been there for about 1.5 yrs and 37000 miles.

 

[FAS1]

The inexpensive clamshell lock boxes really offer very little security and if you need to lock your gun up in your vehicle for extended times (like at work) and on a regular basis you might look for something a little stronger. Those tiny cables are easily cut with a standard pair of dikes and a common screwdriver wreaks havoc on 18GA steel. They are meant for just a quick in and out at the Post Office, etc.

I also think that the console/glove box and under the seat are the first places a thief looks for valuables. Maybe bolt a stronger lock box in the rear of the vehicle and if you need to exit the vehicle to access it put your gun in something like a bible cover to walk it to the rear and place the gun in the lock box.