Best way to store a gun in the car

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kd7nqb

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So long story short, I work as a security officer in Portland. My current post is unarmed. However I do keep my gun in the car when I am going to / from work. But I need a good way to secure the gun while its sitting there. My current solution is a backpack that has a pocket that is almost perfectly sized to clip my holster onto. This way the gun is holstered in the bag and if I ever had to get to it while driving. Ideally I am looking for some sort of gun lock box.

I am totally ok with having to take it out of the box while I am in the car.

I have looked at the gun vault product that replaces your center console and thats not what I am looking for.
 
My current solution is a backpack that has a pocket that is almost perfectly sized to clip my holster onto.
Click to expand...

I think you are asking for ideas of how to store the gun when you are at work and the gun is in the car unattended, correct?

The first thing I would do is NOT leave it in the backpack. This is a great way to loose it in a "smash and grab" if the bag is visible on the seat or floorboards. We suffered one of these a year or two ago going into the theater area locally for a play -even though parked in a well-lit, attended garage, someone smashed the window and grabbed a gym bag because it was visible. The glove box and center console weren't even opened.

First, move the gun to the glove box and lock while the car is unattended. In fact, this can provide a low-cost solution if you'll just take the time to do it and obviate the need for a more expensive and cumbersome solution.
 
Thats pretty much what I do except I put it in a small zip case then lock in glove box to keep it legal.. just locked in glove box isnt legal in my state so I got the case
 
You're better off putting the pistol in a KFC box rather than the Backpack as ORO has pointed out, that the backpack could be a target for theft. Nobody would break into a car for some old chicken bones. This would be considered a concealed weapon so you'd need a CCW, and would be easily accessible.
 
PLEASE be sure to LOCK the thing somehow. Glove box, car safe, something. Your "security through obscurity" (backpack, KFC, etc) solutions scare me. (I prefer physical security WITH obscurity too!)

I have a "Secure-It Handgun Storage Safe:"

http://www.amazon.com/Secure-It-Secure-It®-Handgun-Storage-Safe/dp/B000HBB15U/

I secure the cable that comes with this around one of the front seat bolts. The box itself hides under my driver's floor mat. Easy, discrete access (pretend to be tying your shoes), but somewhat secure.

Its this a perfect solution? No. Anyone with a pair of bolt cutters could cut the cable easily. However, it should be enough to stop an amateur "smash and grab" type of car break-in. It will also keep the gun safe from pilfering fingers of any children or inexperienced friends.

ALSO, this has the advantage of being easily removable for carrying into a hotel room or sticking in your briefcase to take with you, and still being "secure" from folks playing with it.

I'm open to suggestions if anyone has a better solution, btw.
 
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Short, armored cable lock around the seat frame and through the trigger guard of the gun.... Sure, bolt cutters will cut it, but how many idiot smash/grabbers carry them????
 
I just bought a small pick-up truck with no storage space. It's a '95 Dodge. I intend to modify either the floor or door of the truck and install a hidden lock box. It sounds like a lot of trouble, but it's not really that hard if you can use basic tools and have access to a welder. Doing so not only conceals the weapon from anyone who might break in to steal the stereo, but also, if done properly, gives a layer of protection that will deter most thieves even if they find the box. After all, most auto break-ins are done in less than a minute. The guy breaking in wants to grab what he can as quickly as he can. Sitting around in a parking lot attracting attention to himself while trying to pry something loose is a good way to get caught.

Right now I lock it in the glove box and lock the truck if I have to leave my weapon while I go inside a building, but that's far less than ideal because the lock on the glove box is easy to break, and it's probably the second place a thief will search.

For the most part I avoid places where I can't carry, but that doesn't work so well when I have to spend the morning sitting around someplace like the VA clinic.
 
HAHA! The armored cable around the seat frame is genius!

If you don't want to spend a little bit of money, just lock it in your glove box and call it a day. Once again, though, the cable around the seat frame is an excellent idea.
 
Just for a little clarification

1. I have a CHL and if the gun is not readily accessible when I drive its not much use.

2. My glove box is not a good option since its TINY well at least compared the the full size M&P

3. I know that there are some lock boxes that go to the seat bolts, I think that is more of what I am looking for. This way all i have to do is take it out of the box when I get in the truck.
 
I like the "KFC" box idea! Get an old plastic grocery bag and use it for storing trash in it. Keep your lock box inside the KFC box and throw some crumpled up napkins and old bones on top. Now make the inside of your car look nasty, easier to do than it sounds. I'm sure by then most thieves will bypass to something a little more high class.
Just a thought...
 
I remember reading where someone was using handcuffs to secure their gun to the seat frame (the other cuff through the trigger guard). Seems like it would be pretty tough to remove. Those secure-it boxes go on sale for ~$20 and they would work and keep it out of sight under the seat. They won't stop a determined thief though. I've debated the same thing myself. I just don't feel comfortable enough leaving mine unattended. Maybe I'll get a truck gun for that.
 
I have had the key lock version of the secure it lock box in my car for the last 2 years. It works fine, but if I were buying new I would buy the one with the combination lock!
 
I put mine in the glovebox, and lock the doors. The trunk would be just as good I suppose. It's sort of like the school theory minnows use for defense. There are lots of minnows in a school. There are lots of cars in the parking lot. Mine is just another plain, ordinary, four door compact.

When I first started to carry I used one of those gun locks with the cable to lock the gun to the seat frame. That got to be a real pain. That's when I realized the odds against MY car being picked were long enough to not worry about it. If I had a car that drew attention to itself, it might be different.
 
Crack heads and punks dont care new,old,beatup or other. They do look for AFTER MARKET radios,CD's,book bags,pocketbooks,lap tops and any other smash n grab stuff. C H broke into 10 hondas in a parking garage one night to get after market radios and all the other loose stuff was a bonus. Glove box full of stuff. Screwdriver opened the glove boxes easy fer him.
If ya have room between the arm rests,jamer down between the seat and put a rag or tissues over it. You can even lock it with the cable idea too.
Some punks carry cuff keys. Bolt cutters ,aint seen them with em yet.

If ya got antennas and an HF radio in there too, dont worry bout the pistola. QSL ?
 
I have seen some recommendations for removing the slide and locking the frame in the glove box so even if the gun is stolen it is still won't work.
 
If it were something you are going to do a lot (and it sounds like it is), I'd bolt a small gunsafe into the trunk of the car.
 
vsi2wl.jpg

see where i pointed those arrows? underneath the center console along where your right leg goes, there is that plastic "siding". if you look in your car or trucks blueprints and what not, something tells me that there is not much underneath there and that means that you could discreetly cut out a little portion of that that your handgun can fit into. fashion a drawer set up, and line it with some soft fabric and slide it back into there. probably wouldnt even notice any of it at all. or you could try that on another part of your truck or car.
just a thought
 
Years ago I seen a guy made a steel type holster with a loackable metal strap that he could lock a hand gun into. It was placed under the dash. granted it was a steel dash in those days but something like that is workable still. I have seen a few drug runners that had boxs worked in under the dash of the cars also. Course the goofy set up I seen once had a guy who filled his windsheild wiper container with booze and had the tube come out under the dash also.
 
Wife and I are buying the "Secure It" lockable safe for both cars and will use the same combo so it is easy to recall.

A couple of other things we have thought of:
1. Locking in the glove box is defeated if the car is goinng through a car wash. The workers have the key!

2. Lock pistol in each trunk. If the wife is ever tossed in there by a kidnapping rapist, he'll have one heck of surprise waiting on him when he pops the trunk open.

3. Keep one in the garage. A friend in OK, City works in her "hobby bench" a lot. A guy comes in undere the garage door (open 2 feet for ventilation). She got off 3 shots. Never hit the dude, but he dang sure left. Always be armed.

4. For those stashed guns in the trunk, garage, etc. go stainless.
 
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