I fully understand the reluctance to leave a gun in a vehicle, but for those that assert the gun is best on you and youd not leave one in a vehicle, do you just leave it at home when you know you'll be going in places you cant take your gun?
Leaving a handgun in your car 24/7?
- Thread starter Peter M. Eick
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chicharrones
needs more ammo
I really hate the days I can't have a gun in my car. Concealed carry or otherwise. Once in a great while I have a job on a military base which is always a 3 hour or more drive one way. On those days, I have to leave my gun at home. On some occasions that involves overnight trips in the usual half crap/half decent hotels, all without any hand gun even though I have a CHL.
I really feel for the people that have to disarm all day long on their daily commute because they can't or won't leave their carry gun in their car.
I really feel for the people that have to disarm all day long on their daily commute because they can't or won't leave their carry gun in their car.
texasred777
Member
I keep a little .380 in my vehicle 24/7. Have for several years. The vehicle is always locked and has an alarm system that would wake anyone within 50 yards. Someone is sleeping about 10 feet away from it at night. I also live in a quite little neighbor hood in a small town. The neighbor next door, had garden tiller stolen from his pickup one night last year. The truck was sitting out on the street in front of his house with the tiller just sitting in the bed waiting to be stolen. He found it sitting in a yard about a half mile from the house and let the local police recover it. I didn't hear whether anyone was arrested or not.
Where my gun is located in the vehicle is hidden from view and in easy reach for me if needed. If I'm in an area where I might be afraid of a breakin, I'll have the gun on my person. I have a CCL. I don't need the gun inside the house, as I have several others.
I have a tool box sitting in plain sight of anyone breaking into the vehicle. They would probably grab that and be gone in seconds. When the alarm goes off, no one would be dumb enough to continue to search for more valuables in the vehicle.
As mentioned in several others posts, it depends on the locations and conditions whether I would keep a gun in a vehicle 24/7.
Where my gun is located in the vehicle is hidden from view and in easy reach for me if needed. If I'm in an area where I might be afraid of a breakin, I'll have the gun on my person. I have a CCL. I don't need the gun inside the house, as I have several others.
I have a tool box sitting in plain sight of anyone breaking into the vehicle. They would probably grab that and be gone in seconds. When the alarm goes off, no one would be dumb enough to continue to search for more valuables in the vehicle.
As mentioned in several others posts, it depends on the locations and conditions whether I would keep a gun in a vehicle 24/7.
dakota1911
Member
Another I do not leave anything of value in the car overnight.
Ironicaintit
Member
Theres always at least one in my car. Ive been doing that for so long, it doesnt even really cross my mind anymore.
If I lived in town instead of way out in the sticks, i might reconsider. Or at least, take further steps to secure it while its in there.
If I lived in town instead of way out in the sticks, i might reconsider. Or at least, take further steps to secure it while its in there.
leadcounsel
member
Guns are most useful when you have positive control of them. I'm NOT advocating mandatory locking them up... but a car is a poor location to leave a gun every day and overnight.
You're much more likely to lose it in a car breakin (an thereby arm some bad guy) than to ever need it for self defense.
Car break ins and thefts are quite common. I've been victimized at least twice. In the aggregate, I think there are millions annually. There are certainly not millions of instances where a car-gun was employed.
You're much more likely to lose it in a car breakin (an thereby arm some bad guy) than to ever need it for self defense.
Car break ins and thefts are quite common. I've been victimized at least twice. In the aggregate, I think there are millions annually. There are certainly not millions of instances where a car-gun was employed.
chicharrones
needs more ammo
I do agree and I would lose much more in my car than a gun. I would lose all my tools that cost many times more than my gun and are my livelihood.
Of course, carrying all my tools around to assault people would be inefficient for a criminal.
Like I mentioned earlier, I don't leave my gun in my car at night outside but it does get left in there in the daytime. I feel I have to take the risk so I nearly always have a gun with me when I travel to different job locations everyday.
It is a personal decision people have to make. I live in an urban/suburban environment and tend to work in urban environments. I have been robbed at gunpoint one time and on another occasion I was 20 feet away from a man that pulled a rifle on a friend of mine. Neither of those were in cars, but I have had road ragers follow me (and threaten me verbally with death) in my car to the point of having to bluff my way out of the situation or getting in visual range of a police station. My first wife had to experience an attempted car jacking of her car she was driving in a mall parking lot during Christmas time decades ago.
I hope to never draw my gun in my car (or anywhere) as I will use my driving abilities to get out of the area ASAP. However, I do find comfort of a gun being there if needed as a last resort.
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Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
And some people would move if they found themselves in an area where they had to have a car to get around, or were more than 20 minutes walk from an art museum, there were fewer than a handful of major universities, or there was less than one decent symphony concert each week. Diff'rent strokes, and all that.
You do have to understand the area you are in. If you live 5 miles down your own ranch lane you probably don't need to worry about theft and you probably do have compelling reasons for having a gun in each vehicle 24/7. If you live in semi-rural, suburban or urban America, as about 90% of the population of the US does, other choices would probably make more sense.
We could very well be neighbors, I've had three vehicles broken into and my F-250 stolen two years ago and never found. I hate Houston with every fiber of my body but like you I'm stuck. When the police got here over the truck one of the first things they asked was if I had left a firearm in the truck.
If your vehicle is parked outside I would not leave anything of value in it or at least leave your doors unlocked so they don't break your windows.
jimmyraythomason
Member
Yes! There is NO one size fits all in anything and this is a prime example. What works for one may not be practical for another. Some folks are very quick to call another ''irresponsible'' for doing something that is very commonly (and safely)done in that person's area.
Harrington-Richardson
Member
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My experience is that guns in vehicles rust.
You planning on stowing "cocked & locked" ??? Loaded ??? Common sense suggests that possession of a firearm means just that -- possession and control. You don't have that with the gun stowed in the vehicle.
You planning on stowing "cocked & locked" ??? Loaded ??? Common sense suggests that possession of a firearm means just that -- possession and control. You don't have that with the gun stowed in the vehicle.
chicharrones
needs more ammo
That has not been my experience at all. While not living next to the ocean, all my guns experience Gulf Coast humidity nearly every day. A simple wipe down with a oiled rag once a month (with a field strip cleaning once per practice shooting) keeps the rust away.
lionking
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Not a good idea no matter where you live. Most people I know who had a gun stolen was from out of their vehicle.
Criminals are known to travel out of their area to target cars to break into. Happened in my area a while a ago 3 criminals making their way up the coast hitting cars as they traveled.
My neighborhood is pretty quite yet we have rashes of kids or people targeting cars once in a while.
And if you think because you are rural you are less likely to get your car broken into think about this. Houses stretched apart from the other, surrounded by forest, makes for much better concealment to break into it without being noticed. Someone can just as easily case your rural house as they can anywhere else.
Criminals are known to travel out of their area to target cars to break into. Happened in my area a while a ago 3 criminals making their way up the coast hitting cars as they traveled.
My neighborhood is pretty quite yet we have rashes of kids or people targeting cars once in a while.
And if you think because you are rural you are less likely to get your car broken into think about this. Houses stretched apart from the other, surrounded by forest, makes for much better concealment to break into it without being noticed. Someone can just as easily case your rural house as they can anywhere else.
GAMEOVER44
Member
up hear in Detroit you better have a gun in your car or on your person.. get a biometric safe under the seat that pops up front.
This is my answer as well. Both the wife and I do this.
oldbear
Member
Peter, I recently went through the same thought process.
I don't always carry, I know shame on me, but I do feel better if I have a firearm close at hand. So I've decided to keep my Taurus M-617 .357 Magnum revolver locked in the trunk of the car.
My wife and I were at one of the local shopping malls when some fairly nasty civil unrest broke out in the area. As both of us are visual targets,( age, attire, and style of car) that many of these folks wish to target it was very comforting to be able to place the Taurus in the car with us. Thank goodness
I don't always carry, I know shame on me, but I do feel better if I have a firearm close at hand. So I've decided to keep my Taurus M-617 .357 Magnum revolver locked in the trunk of the car.
My wife and I were at one of the local shopping malls when some fairly nasty civil unrest broke out in the area. As both of us are visual targets,( age, attire, and style of car) that many of these folks wish to target it was very comforting to be able to place the Taurus in the car with us. Thank goodness
Vern Humphrey
Member
I've never been the target of a mob or a riot -- but I would guess if they were after you, they wouldn't give you time to get out of your car, unlock the trunk and get your gun.
Gravedigger56
Member
^^^^ this ^^^^
I don't know how I'd cope with the thought that a gun I left in my car was used to murder someone.
Vern Humphrey
Member
If I left a gun in the car I'd be constantly asking myself, "Is my car being broken into now? Is someone stealing it and driving it away even while I'm thinking about it? Is my gun going to wind up in the hands of some crack dealer?"
X-Rap
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- 6,657
I can't understand the thought process in posts like that in 70 & 71, I can think of many circumstances in which one might have equal or greater exposure.
For anyone who has ever traveled by motorcycle, boat, horseback or in an RV or personal aircraft for that matter they have at one time or another had to leave their firearm in a position that it could be stolen as easy as if it were in their car.
States that have 51% laws force people to leave guns unattended in less than optimum security (think motorcycle bags) even if they don't touch the alcohol.
I've had to leave my gun while fishing because of the restriction to enter gov. buildings while armed.
And then again there is this idea that everyone has a fortress in their home to keep their guns secured. Of the millions of guns in the US I'd bet at least 1/4 are basically unsecured,
at least by the standards claimed here.
For anyone who has ever traveled by motorcycle, boat, horseback or in an RV or personal aircraft for that matter they have at one time or another had to leave their firearm in a position that it could be stolen as easy as if it were in their car.
States that have 51% laws force people to leave guns unattended in less than optimum security (think motorcycle bags) even if they don't touch the alcohol.
I've had to leave my gun while fishing because of the restriction to enter gov. buildings while armed.
And then again there is this idea that everyone has a fortress in their home to keep their guns secured. Of the millions of guns in the US I'd bet at least 1/4 are basically unsecured,
at least by the standards claimed here.
I wash my own truck. But if I were to bring it in someplace, I would remove the gun. I think this really has nothing to do with this discussion, which is about leaving your gun in a locked vehicle.
As for the subject, I just don't like to take the chance I may forget. Plus my truck gun is bigger then my carry gun.
PowerG
Member
Where I both live and work the chances of anything being stolen from a vehicle are practically nil, I take it out to shoot it and clean it and carry it in the woods but other than that it stays in the truck all the time.
JVaughn
Member
I've got an unloaded model 10 in less than new condition I leave in the truck all the time. My go bag contains some .38 cartridges for it. It's only purpose is for emergencies when for whatever reason my EDC is lost / stolen / out of ammo... I chose an inexpensive and easily replaceable yet well made pistol for the purpose.
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