No thank you.
Trunk Gun: Smart Investment or Bad Idea?
- Thread starter holdencm9
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No thank you.
I guess I wasn't being obvious enough, I was talking about military posts.
45_auto said:
^ places like that too. True some of these places you could park outside the gate and walk in, but you might be walking a mile or more to work ... plus leaving your car on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere waiting to get broken into.
JustinJ
Member
My house doesn't have a permit either. Geez, I don't know how i'm gona conceal all 14 of my handguns to make sure they stay with the permit holder.
Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
"...a handgun is what you use to fight your way to a long gun"
Oh good grief. That old horse-pucky again?
Can we keep this semi-serious at least?DAP90
Member
Go watch the Matrix a few times.
My in-laws live on a farm in rural Nebraska and used to keep guns in or on all their vehicles. That is until someone stole a van with half a dozen guns in it. Fortunately, sort of, he was too drunk to notice all the guns and just walked away after crashing it into a pole.
This is an everything unlocked, keys in the car kind of place.
I’ve had my car broken into twice. I’d never leave a gun in the car as a permanent storage spot. I routinely do so at work, but only because I’m not allowed to bring it inside.
If you need a long gun for the day it isn’t hard to carry one out with you when you go.
RBid
Member
"rural area/animal control" arguments seem reasonable. I would hope that these weapons aren't left in the vehicle overnight, though.
Onward Allusion
Member
Well, let's say another racially divisive case goes to trial and the end result isn't what one side wanted. Gawd help the people trying to make it home while having to go through a large city. BTW, did you live through the Rodney King days? I did. Let me tell ya, big cities - not just LA - were scary places for a few days.
Me, personally - I work real close to a large city that could go up in flames...
alsaqr
Member
i have two truck guns; a Russian SKS and a Chinese SKS. One is always in my truck. Those guns have killed dozens of coyotes and hogs.
Certaindeaf
member
For whatever reason one might have to get out and walk. Transporting a long arm on foot will sure get you eyeballed probably in a bad way by "good" men and bad. Perhaps walking softly might be the order of the day at times.
A trunk gun seems a bit different than SIX guns left in a car. I would say the incremental cost/benefit analysis of each additional gun is quite a bit different than it is for the firs.t
Curious...did they leave the van unlocked? Were the keys in it?
Depends. Many variables.
Personally I'd rather have the option and be able to decide at the time.
Sapper771
Member
I am in the process of getting a "truck gun". Haven't really decided on a rifle or a shotgun yet. I dont live in a big city, and I do travel quite regularly.
Regardless of what reasoning (or lack of reasoning) there is behind it, I am from the school that teaches that it is better to have and not need than to need and not have. That's just me though, YMMV.
My plan is to hide the truck gun. If my vehicle is broken into, there will be a lesser chance that it will be found.
Regardless of what reasoning (or lack of reasoning) there is behind it, I am from the school that teaches that it is better to have and not need than to need and not have. That's just me though, YMMV.
My plan is to hide the truck gun. If my vehicle is broken into, there will be a lesser chance that it will be found.
shiftyer1
Member
I keep a 30-30 and a .22 rifle in the truck. I see most coyotes and skunks when coming down my driveway. I keep old coats and coveralls and things like that like that behind the seat, the guns are underneath junk but come out quick. If I need to fight my way back to somewhere........i'm unprepared......maybe
fireman 9731
Member
My gosh, for this being a "pro-gun" venue I'm surprised how many people are naysayers!
Carrying a gun in your vehicle is about as handy as having one on your hip, and your car doesn't print or care how heavy it is.
Not keeping a gun in your car for fear of being stolen is counter productive to exercising your 2A rights. Thats like not wanting to buy a gun for fear that it may be stolen. My gosh folks, stop living in fear. Living in fear lets the bad guys win! If you live somewhere that vehicle break-ins are common, you have two options, one would be to move somewhere that still has human decency. The second option would be to become active in your community by letting the would-be thieves and thugs know that you don't tolerate any foolishness and mean business.
After catching 4 thieves on two different occasions on my property, The word got out that I am not a man to be messed with. Pillheads don't like being greeted with weapons, its very effective at preventing future problems.
I don't lock my doors, and I don't live in fear. Stay vigilant, have a gun or three within arms reach whenever possible, and don't worry about it.
Carrying a gun in your vehicle is about as handy as having one on your hip, and your car doesn't print or care how heavy it is.
Not keeping a gun in your car for fear of being stolen is counter productive to exercising your 2A rights. Thats like not wanting to buy a gun for fear that it may be stolen. My gosh folks, stop living in fear. Living in fear lets the bad guys win! If you live somewhere that vehicle break-ins are common, you have two options, one would be to move somewhere that still has human decency. The second option would be to become active in your community by letting the would-be thieves and thugs know that you don't tolerate any foolishness and mean business.
After catching 4 thieves on two different occasions on my property, The word got out that I am not a man to be messed with. Pillheads don't like being greeted with weapons, its very effective at preventing future problems.
I don't lock my doors, and I don't live in fear. Stay vigilant, have a gun or three within arms reach whenever possible, and don't worry about it.
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Rail Driver
Member
I think what people are saying is ... "trunk gun when you're in the car? Sure"
"Leave it in the car? No thanks"
"Leave it in the car? No thanks"
Texan Scott
Member
Can't remember who said it... "Everything in life is 8 to 5 against."
As with everything else, this seems to boil down to risk vs. reward or cost/benefit analysis... and general trend here seems to be that as a person's area/ lifestyle gets more rural and less urban (more rifle range, less belly-gun range) the more likely they are to think a truck gun's a good idea.
As with everything else, this seems to boil down to risk vs. reward or cost/benefit analysis... and general trend here seems to be that as a person's area/ lifestyle gets more rural and less urban (more rifle range, less belly-gun range) the more likely they are to think a truck gun's a good idea.
You are of course free to do as you wish, but I do not understand this one bit.
shiftyer1
Member
I also have this same false sense of security where I am.........thinking clearly it's unrealistic but it sure is a blessing
Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
We aren't your typical "hoo-rah" gun site where everything is simple and black and white. Many of our members seem to strive for a fairly high level of critical thinking which leads to truth, fact, or logic -- whether that is the most "gunny" answer to the question or not.
That is demonstrably false. It CAN be, if the gun is a handgun and that handgun is stashed right next to the seat -- AND you are in the car. But the conversation here is ranging from that to take-down guns under/behind the seat or locked to the car and stashed under the spare tire. Most of these ideas involve getting out of the vehicle to access the stashed "truck (or trunk) gun" and using a long gun from within a vehicle defensively (we aren't talking about poaching a deer, here) is a losing proposition anyway.
Hogwash. Utter hogwash. Leaving a gun in a car -- in "most" residential areas of this country -- is acting in a way that is foolishly vulnerable.
That's just about the dead-wrong opposite of our vaunted trainers' admonition that if you, "Play stupid games," you, "win stupid prizes." Using your BRAIN -- acknowledging and acting to mitigate dangers and risks -- is preventing the bad guys from winning.
"Hey, my gun was just stolen out of my car! Well, I sure showed those bad guys! I won't live in fear, no matter how many guns they steal from me! Bertha, let's start leaving them out on the front lawn! That'll show 'em!"
No place now, and no place EVER had "human decency," because we're humans and such is a rosy dream that has never prevailed over "human nature." Second, advocating that folks change their whole lives, abandon jobs, friends, family, etc., and MOVE just so they can act in mindlessly vulnerable ways is silly and naive.
Wait, so criminals in your area know you are armed, and you still leave weapons where they're easy for thieves to get to? So...anyway, did those thieves you caught make sure to post their warning on the "dangerous criminal message board" so all their dangerous criminal buddies would know to stay away? Is there a thieves and robbers chat room, or do they just have a local monthly meet & greet to share this kind of info? Seems like what they'll be sharing (over lattes and scones, I guess) is "You know that guy Jim, he's got GUNS in his house...and he's off at work from 7:30 am until 5:00 pm every week day..." Best of luck.
Classic failure of the basics of defensive preparations. A GUN is not a PLAN. A GUN is not the ANSWER. A gun is a last-ditch failsafe when everything you should have done to prevent the danger from ever reaching you has failed.
Texan Scott
Member
When I keep (or have kept) a long gun in my truck, it's always been (and will be) a rifle. This business of using a handgun to fight my way back to the truck so I can fight my way back into trouble makes little sense to me, though... if I can fight my way to the truck, I'm LEAVING in the truck.
I also don't see the point in retrieving a long gun if I'm in pistol range. The whole point of having a rifle (to my mind) is having the ability to hit things too far away to shoot with a .38. If the problem is too close for me to get to the rifle in time, it's in revolver range. If the problem is 80 yards away, i'm not 'fighting back to a rifle'... i'm not fighting yet, just running. I'm not LE/ military (anymore) and running like heck is an acceptable option for me.
I also don't see the point in retrieving a long gun if I'm in pistol range. The whole point of having a rifle (to my mind) is having the ability to hit things too far away to shoot with a .38. If the problem is too close for me to get to the rifle in time, it's in revolver range. If the problem is 80 yards away, i'm not 'fighting back to a rifle'... i'm not fighting yet, just running. I'm not LE/ military (anymore) and running like heck is an acceptable option for me.
fireman 9731
Member
Funny, basically you have called out every point in my post and said it was silly, ignorant, hogwash, or just plain dumb, without the ability to think critically. Sounds pretty black and white to me, and not very High Road. If this forum was completely made up of like minded people that all thought the same thing then it wouldn't be much of a forum would it?
If you had read my original post, #30, then maybe some of my ideas would make sense. I don't have a flag on my vehicle that waves and says "free guns!" You cant see any of them from outside the vehicle. I can honestly get to my rifle behind the seat in about 5-10 seconds if I need to. Thats one of the joys of having a standard cab Toyota Tacoma.
Maybe you just have to live here to understand what I'm saying about how my community works. EVERYBODY has guns. Criminals around here don't steal guns. Criminals around here don't break into cars. They like to steal scrap metal and pawn TVs and stereos. They don't want to do anything too bad in their mind.
Call me naive but thats how it works around here. I lock my doors when I go to Wal-mart and such, but parked in my driveway at night I don't have to be bothered by the hassle of it. I live off of a 1/4 mile long driveway, off of a rural road. You cant see my house from the road. I have 4 dogs and driveway vehicle detectors. I'm not worried about vehicle break-ins.
Maybe consider my circumstances before you jump to conclusions, call me stupid, and say that I have a failed defensive plan.
Onward Allusion
Member
Ya know, to put out blanket statement that "Leaving a gun in your car is foolish." or "One should always have a gun in their car." doesn't take into account individual situations.
For some of us who may not go out much, usually just go to/from home/work, park in a secure area at work, park in a locked garage at night, or live in remote areas - it makes absolute sense to have an extra gun & other things in your car.
For others who go out a lot, park outdoors at night, or must leave their cars in questionable areas (i.e. cities) due to work or play, it doesn't make sense to leave a gun in your car 24x7.
For some of us who may not go out much, usually just go to/from home/work, park in a secure area at work, park in a locked garage at night, or live in remote areas - it makes absolute sense to have an extra gun & other things in your car.
For others who go out a lot, park outdoors at night, or must leave their cars in questionable areas (i.e. cities) due to work or play, it doesn't make sense to leave a gun in your car 24x7.
Exactly.
Layers of defense that being with things such as exterior lighting, locked doors/windows, a dog, etc. An armed homeowner/armed person is the absolute last line of defense.
Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
Well, that's understandable. Very few car or truck guns (anymore) are visible from the outside. However cars and trucks are targets for thieves. They just ARE. They are frequently stolen, themselves, and even if the vehicle is not stolen, they are prime picking grounds for other valuable items (stereos, spare cash, purses/wallets, tools ...GUNS). Happens thousands of times in every state, every single day. So saying that you can't see that there are guns inside the car doesn't make a bit of difference. Someone's looking at your vehicle and thinking, "piggy-bank."
Ok. Fine. So you live in Mayberry, and I do hope you're fortunate enough to always live in such an idyllic place. That is truly a good thing. Heck, I sort of, kind of do too. I'm completely surrounded by shooters/hunters and I still don't leave anything in a vehicle that I'd feel more than passing bad about losing. People are people, and people get desperate for whatever reason, people steal, and vehicles are target number ONE.
There are people who live in situations where keeping a gun in their vehicle every day and night 24/7 is perfectly safe and responsible. But the number is a lot smaller than the number of people who THINK they do.
As Rail Driver said:
And, again, your risks may not be the same faced by others. But you made a bunch of silly and accusatory statements that others should "stop living in fear" lest the bad guys "win." You said that all of us should/could simply move to wherever people are good. You said that we could act in this way if we'd just grab our guns and go confront the next few thieves we see.
Those statements are dangerously naive, and almost insulting to the 90% of people who can't live down your 1/4 mile driveway.
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Wow! This has devolved into a "you are an idiot for not doing it the way I do it because I am much smarter than you" thread. It was a poll asking if you kept an "extra" gun in the car and then started by explaining why the OP did not. Okay. I do carry a gun on my person and keep two in the car. I feel comfortable doing that because my past experience has shown that it is okay. You do not keep an extra gun in the car because your past experience has shown that as a bad course of action. I have personally made the decision to live where I live and that gives me the security, real or imagined, to do certain things that I know some people cannot do. I don't think those people are wrong. This is like the discussions of whether a 9mm or a 45 is better and, rather than understanding a particular stance we bash a person for having an opinion other than ours. Please notice that the majority of people responded that it depends on the situation. I put, Yes 24/7 because that is what I do .
We all should take reasonable, prudent precautions to make sure our family and possessions are as safe as possible. Isn't that what SD/HD is all about? In my experience, and that is a long time, I have been fortunate and have not suffered any break-ins or assaults. Is that because I am well prepared or just very lucky or a combination of the two? Could a criminal steal a gun from my truck? Of course. Could a criminal break into your house and steal your guns from a $5,000 gun safe? Of course. When I visit my friend in MT I can go get in his farm truck and head out to shoot prairie dogs without any questions or preparation because there are always two long rifles in the truck along with the keys, always. At my house my keys will be in the truck and there will generally be a gun in the vehicle.
Where I live, criminal behavior is not acceptable. Call it "Mayberry" if you like! If you live in a place where criminal activity is the norm then I contend that the people of that area have accepted a certain amount of criminal activity as acceptable. We are constantly on "neighborhood watch" without signs. In downtown Chicago, Philly or any medium to large city this is not realistic and I know that. I prefer Mayberry myself.
We all should take reasonable, prudent precautions to make sure our family and possessions are as safe as possible. Isn't that what SD/HD is all about? In my experience, and that is a long time, I have been fortunate and have not suffered any break-ins or assaults. Is that because I am well prepared or just very lucky or a combination of the two? Could a criminal steal a gun from my truck? Of course. Could a criminal break into your house and steal your guns from a $5,000 gun safe? Of course. When I visit my friend in MT I can go get in his farm truck and head out to shoot prairie dogs without any questions or preparation because there are always two long rifles in the truck along with the keys, always. At my house my keys will be in the truck and there will generally be a gun in the vehicle.
Where I live, criminal behavior is not acceptable. Call it "Mayberry" if you like! If you live in a place where criminal activity is the norm then I contend that the people of that area have accepted a certain amount of criminal activity as acceptable. We are constantly on "neighborhood watch" without signs. In downtown Chicago, Philly or any medium to large city this is not realistic and I know that. I prefer Mayberry myself.
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I have in the past carried a trunk gun, I probably will again. I have had my truck broken into and lost cash, ipods, and tools. I still keep all three in my car, and I often have had my entire collection of firearms in my truck for a trip to the range. If a thief takes them from me what happens after that is on HIM, I'm just out the money.
I will keep a gun in the trunk and a clear consience. It will be a cheap gun though
I will keep a gun in the trunk and a clear consience. It will be a cheap gun though
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