I have long kept a dedicated handgun in the console of my vehicle so I would always have one available even if I were not carrying on my person. This morning as I was leaving for work I heard my car alarm going off and emerged from the house to find my drivers door open. There was another alarm going off a few houses away and while investigating my vehicle I discovered that my pistol was missing. An older Honda Accord drove by slowly occupied x2 both hispanic males (dressed like gang members) and definitely out of place in the nieghborhood. My neighbor pointed to the car and said it was the one she had seen stoped next to my truck with its headlights turned off and they were “doing something to your truck.” I quickly pursued them contacting APD dispatch, felony stop was conducted, and my pistol along with the contents of 5 or 6 other vehicles were recovered.
Does anyone else keep a weapon in the vehicle? If so do you do anything to secure it?
due to liability concerns, i see no reason to leave a gun in the car where a smash and grab can happen…especially overnight in a driveway. Just as easy to bring it inside. My biggest fear is the the thugs using my own gun.
If traveling, they make overhead locks for long guns…I think BigSky is a name of one company. You can also bolt one of those quick opening lock boxes for a pistol. Make them work for it or have to steal the vehicle.
If I had my way it would be illegal. I can’t tell you how many guns are lost to vehicle break-ins. Everyone needs to be more responsible than that. My department gets emails all the time from across the country about gang members and criminals targeting police officers vehicles for the pourposes of stealing firearms. So if you are a LEO and do it, shame on you.
As firearm owners, we chose a lifestyle, one of responsibility. Leaving one in a car…not responsible.
We get many federal cars which are broken into and gun(s!) are taken as well as raid vests, radios and in one case NVDs.
Never leave a firearm inside a vehicle, you will just be arming burglers. Just diciplin your self to always carry instead. This is just as dumb as those people that leave their shiny and expensive looking GPS system hanging from the windshield for every one to see. Easy pickings for a vehicle burgler. Even a car alarm wont help you, the average vehicle burglary takes less than 5 seconds. Most burglers will target you for a reason, they see something they want and go for it.
No I do not, even if I can’t carry it concealed it goes with me in my apartment via a back pack. BMVs (burglary of motor vehicle) are one of the most popular crimes these days. Leave nothing of value or importance in any vehicle whether it’s in sight or night.
IMHO I don’t get it. How hard is it to put the weapon in the vehicle and then remove when you get home? Whether you are carrying or not, shouldn’t matter.
The only time I leave a firearm unattended in my vehicle is when I am prohibited from bringing into an establishment or other place where it isn’t allowed. I then unload it and out the mag in my pocket. I also lock the glove box and the vehicle.
Sounds like someone was being lazy and fortunately you got very lucky.
I agree, however making a person a criminal for having their property violated is utterly ridiculous. Could you define “some effort”? By some peoples standards behind a locked door is “some effort.”
I’m not picking a fight, just playing devil’s advocate. I don’t leave guns in my vehicle and don’t care for the practice, but the proposed solution struck a chord.
Like everyone else has said, not a good idea and not to smart on your end leaving the gun in the car/truck. Regardless of the way you look at it. I would say your very lucking to have caught the hoodrats. Thanks to your neighbor for her outlook, if it wasn’t for them you be out a gun, and god knows what your not so smart mistake would have caused.
If you still think you need to leave something in your car/truck. bolt one of those small safe, that open with keys or push bottom code.
Some effort means more than just under the bed and a locked door. Burglaries are all too common and it is common knowledge that many criminals get their weapons from burglaries and car break ins.
A gun safe is not that expensive and there a few alternatives. Anythings is just about better than nothing.
It doesn’t matter how nice it is where you live, that is where criminal go to find the good stuff.
My father did the same thing for the same reasons back in the 80s and even he got bit on the ass when they broke into his car at the mall.
If you can’t get a carry permit, and you have to leave it in the car, install a locking tool box of some kind so you can drop your “easy access” console gun into something more secure when you are away from your car.
Are you saying to never leave a gun in a car? Or are you just talking about overnight?
I’m a little confused, since if I’m carrying as we all know, not all places allow you to carry a firearm inside the business. In which case we would have to leave it in the car. If it were illegal to leave a gun in the car, then we are in a catch-22 scenario.
Also here in Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels just signed into law a couple months ago that we are now allowed to carry our guns to work, and leave them in our locked vehicles without fear of being fired.
I’d agree with you if open carry was the law of the land.
Sadly some people can’t get carry permits in their state. So then what? Leaving it in the car is the only legal option to them. Either that or not bringing a gun at all.
I usually leave one in my car, but at home my car is at least parked inside the garage. When I’m at work is a different story. I work for a fire department about an hour’s drive from where I live. At work I am prohibited from bringing a firearm inside the building or carrying it on my person. I hate to leave home without it completely so there is no other alternative but to leave it in my car. I should look into one of the bolt-in lock boxes mentioned above.
Translation: “If I had my way, I would make it a criminal act for a citizen to be the victim of a robbery.” If short-sightedness was a metric for clear, logical thought, you’d be in the 90th percentile. We already have defense lawyers for that fulfill your intent, without the benefit of written law.
Civilly liable for failure to responsibly secure your property? That makes more sense, though remains slippery.
Anything that depends primarily on glass as a means of keeping the unwanted out is automatically incapable of providing anybody with any viable level of security. Even just taking your gun into your home and leaving it at that isn’t enough. The sanctity of one’s home is a social construct, not a physical one, and if you depend on the social constructs to prevent anything, you’ve already set yourself up for failure. The sanctity of one’s car? There’s a gigglefest.
They make safes and lockboxes for homes. They also make them for cars. If you insist on leaving the thing in your car, or have no other real option (I’m in the same boat; no guns in the office), at least make it so that they have to steal the whole car because the lockbox in it is more secure than your doors or ignition system.
i also carry a glock 19 in my console, i have for years. plus, i have a S&W 15A under my rear seat of Z-71, wrapped inside a gore-tex field jacket. i live in a secluded rural area and my house is not visible from the road, plus i have 2 big dogs. during the day i park in the hospital administration gated parking lot, which is basicially out of sight of anyone wandering around the day, being monitored by camera in campus police head-quarters… still–i’ve been looking at the new console vault, which i’ve just stumbled onto in gun digest. some of you guys might want to look at these,–wwwconsolevault.com-- they look good on paper
