I use a Center of Mass safe in my vehicle for temporary storage, when I have to enter a facility that will not allow me to carry a pistol - i.e., courthouse, airport, etc.
Thanks. I found that one, but read some mixed reviews on it. Do you feel it would be difficult enough to break into to make it worthwhile.?
I was also looking at this.
http://www.sportco.com/productcart/pc/Gun-Vault-GV1000-Mini-Standard-491p46112.htm
My car is a Honda Civic which (unfortunately) doesn’t have a lot of room to hard mount anything. Maybe under the passenger seat, but I’m not sure. I don’t have a console compartment at all and my glove compartment doesn’t lock either.
Leaving unsecured guns in cars for any length of time is just plain irresponsible. Same=same for in the home IMHO.
Around here, as in most places, the bad guys get their guns through car break-ins, home burglaries and straw purchases.
Both of my cars have small digital combination safes in the trunk which are secured to the car. Joe Crackhead the car burglar would be ill equipped to get into either of these safes or separate them from the car.
Let’s play out the OP’s scenario, except now he comes outside and catches the bad guys in the middle of removing his gun from his car, we may be looking at adding gunshot to the list of crimes he is a victim of.
PS; No, I don’t leave guns in cars or in my house unsecure, they are either on me, or if I am leaving the guns other than what I am carrying are locked up.
I have replaced the standard center console in my jeep with heavy duty steel lock box designed for us ragtop owners who need to lock things in our vehicle. The console lid has a large lip that extends about a 1/4" down all sides to prevent being pried open. This is where my pistol goes when I have to enter a building that forbids carrying (i.e. post office, court house, my workplace:mad:, etc). Montana law states that a person is NOT liable for a any injuries or deaths created by property that’s been stolen. This was passed a few years ago due to a gun being stolen from a locked pickup and used in a crime. This same law also protects you from any lawsuit if for instance your car is stolen and the thief then hits and kills someone with your vehicle. The attitude of the people who drafted this law is that thief is the crook not the property owner who wasn’t doing anything.
I have a Nissan Frontier, and there’s an access panel in the cab wall right behind my driver’s seat, where the tire jack is supposed to go. Took the tire jack out, mounted the box where it’s not immediately visible, yet still easy to get to.
Congratulations. You almost got to arm a couple of gang bangers. Next time try a little harder and leave your alarm off. Or leave the gun laying on the hood of your car. You will have done your part.
I don’t store firearms in vehicles, except for extraordinary circumstances and even then, for only very short periods of time.
I use and recommend safes and security devices for guns in the home, too. I’m not so sure about legislating them that way, however.
Mine too.
My quandry is that it is against city policy (and a terminable offense) for employees even ones who are LEO’s for other jurisdictions but employed by the city to be in possesion of a firearm either 1-in uniform, or 2-on city property. It is a very liberal city and my neighbors cannot be trusted not to report me for moving a gun to and from my vehicle. Now that by no means prevents me from using a case to shuttle it back and forth but I suppose over time I became complacent due to being forced to park my vehicle in high-crime areas with my weapon inside. I guess in my mind it is less of a risk in front of my home than parked outside a station on the east side for 24hours. That being said it is now apparant of the need to better secure it than in the locked console so I would like to find a lockbox that I can mount appropriately. In my home all of my weapons are secured in a large safe bolted to the slab.
And none of those things happen when you leave them in your house?
I’ll explain…
As a LEO, IMHO guns taken in home burglaries are few and far between. From cars? All too often. For every thirty taken from cars, its probably one taken from a home, and that most likely by a family member, friend of teenage kids etc.
Most gun owners are responsible enough to store their guns in a locked condition inside the home. Either in a safe, lockbox or with a gun lock on it.
Why are cars different? Why can’t people install lock boxes in their vehicles if they are that intent on storing their firearm inside? How many naysayers in this thread have gun safes at home, but not in their car where they also store a firearm?
Can’t afford a lockbox or don’t have a place to put one? Find a hiding place and don’t store ammo or magazines in or with it. Center console, glove box and under the seat don’t count. Dope dealers are very good at hiding guns in their cars. Why are we so clueless?
We have intel of organized groups of people who steal from cars that will target vehicles identified as belonging to police officers/gun owners. Blue line sticker? Yep. Police association sticker? Yep. Gun advocate sticker? Yep. Its not a mystery.
However, most people won’t put sticker on their house windows advocating their gun ownership beacuse they don’t want to become a target. Stupid isn’t it? And when you walk in the club/bar, and have to walk back to your car before returning in a very short time to the club/bar? Yeah…they are watching that shit.
If you are in a CCW state, some places won’t allow you to carry. I would NEVER walk back out to my car and store my weapon in it. If they don’t want me carrying my gun, i’ll go somewhere else. If its somewhere i would absoultley have to go, i’ll plan ahead and leave it at home.
The damage a gun will do in the wrong hands is greater than the good it will do in the right hands. That it is why it is so important for us to be proactive in the safe storage of our firearms. Stlen weapons aren’t used for lawful sporting reasons…
There are so many dumb gun owners its amazing. Its YOUR responsibility to make sure it is stored safely.
To address something I saw in the early part of the thread, the problem with prosecuting stolen property crimes, more over stolen gun cases and any crime, is that w/o a victim…there is no crime. Its an arrest that will never result in a conviction. Most stolen guns used for criminal activity in your state are out of state thefts. Good luck getting Joe Smith from Maine to show up in Texas for court.
I would make an offense called “Criminal Storage/Theft of a Firearm”. Leaving loaded guns unsecured and unattended. If its unloaded and the magazine and ammo isn’t present, or with a trigger lock, or in a safe, non-operable condition etc, at some point I would say thats due diligence.
I would also allow heresay testimony in court under this very specific crime. If the victim filed a police report stating the gun was stolen, regardless of jurisdication, that would be allowed as victim testimony.
For the most part I agree and have no issue with your stance. The above portion I have a lot of issue with.
My reason is simple; you want to make a criminal out of the victim of a crime. It’s akin to charging a rape victim with “improper display of the goods.”
How about allowing deadly force in the protection of property? Instead of putting the onus of protecting their items from theft on the victim we hold criminals responsible and truly making thievery a life or death activity. How about we get rid of these cutesy feel good “gun free” zones so people don’t leave their gun in the car at the mall parking lot.
Are my ideas extreme? Maybe, but no more extreme than making the victim of a crime a criminal.
Just not no, but hell fucking no. I have my daily carry that goes on me after my shower and it either stays there or within reach through the rest of the day. At night it goes into the night stand. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
Leaving it in the vehicle is just too dangerous / unsecure.
We have constant midnight - weekend car burglaries in my neighborhood all the time. The only cars that get stolen from are the ones that leave their vehicles unlocked. Last summer three different pistols were stolen that way.
There are indeed times when you must leave your weapon in a vehicle. No way around that. But other than that, why leave it in there when you don’t have to?
Just use the case. Heck get a day planner one that looks like it came from a Franklin Covey catalog. Or if you have a gym bag that you take to work anyways, put that in there.
I personally find so much wrong in this post. I would hope that the SCOTUS would find as much wrong constitutionally as I do personally. What I find particularly disturbing is this line;
The damage a gun will do in the wrong hands is greater than the good it will do in the right hands.
. That can’t be true or your admitting the gun banners are correct and we all need to hand in our guns.
Something I find weird as well is the others who stated in their post “No never leave a gun in a car overnight” but then claim to leave one in their car when at a location that prohibit concealed carry. From that logic I can assume that gun thieves only steal guns at certain times and or only at certain locations. Maybe we just need to know the official gun thieves AO and schedule.
If we want to make any new laws regarding guns we should just,well actually we should just forget it. Instead of more laws lets say we enforce the laws already on the books and start keeping career criminals in prison.
Those made for tools are usually the most secure.
This isn’t the best solution but it can be considered pretty secure. It also has a guage steel cord to keep it in place.
This. As a police officer it makes my blood boil when I go to a car burglary, and the victim tells me they had a gun taken.
Because someone, including myself or a citizen will end up at the other end of it.
Dont be lazy take your firearm inside with you. If you go out someplace when you leave the vehicle, secure it in your trunk if you cant carry it.
Most vehicle burglars dont take the time to check the trunk. They go for the glove box and center console.
Dont make it easy for a criminal to get a firearm.
That was rather unnecessary. I agree leaving the weapon in the car unattended was foolish, but comparing him to someone out to arm gang-bangers is overdone.
I personally find so much wrong in this post. I would hope that the SCOTUS would find as much wrong constitutionally as I do personally. What I find particularly disturbing is this line;
Quote:
The damage a gun will do in the wrong hands is greater than the good it will do in the right hands.. That can’t be true or your admitting the gun banners are correct and we all need to hand in our guns.
Not what I meant. Poorly stated, i’ll take my lumps there. My point was that a lawful gun owner will use their gun for sport, hunting, target shooting, self defense. A thief will use it for robbery, murder, assaults, in drug deals etc. This is weighted towards the bad guys. We have a RIGHT to own firearms. We have a RESPONSIBILITY to make sure they don’t fall into the hands of the people that will use for various criminal acts.
Something I find weird as well is the others who stated in their post “No never leave a gun in a car overnight” but then claim to leave one in their car when at a location that prohibit concealed carry. From that logic I can assume that gun thieves only steal guns at certain times and or only at certain locations. Maybe we just need to know the official gun thieves AO and schedule.
We’re working on it but its slightly more complicated that getting a copy of their schedule. Some of these groups are conducting roll calls, making assignments, and using radios, decoy drivers etc. This is the pure defenition of a criminal enterprise.
A point of mine you may have glanced over is that if you are going to leave your gun in a car, it needs to be locked away. Not in a center console, not under a seat, not in the glove box. A thief with 20 seconds and a flat head screwdriver should’t have access to it.
If we want to make any new laws regarding guns we should just,well actually we should just forget it. Instead of more laws lets say we enforce the laws already on the books and start keeping career criminals in prison.
Thats very bumper sticker. We need laws that address the ground truth of how these crimes are comitted and prosecuted. How many arrests have you made related to possession of a stolen firearm? Due to victim availibility 95% don’t get prosecuted.
I like guns. I like owing guns. I hope law abiding citizens own guns. I hope they do it responsibly. I’m getting sick of gangbangers getting armed. There needs to be serious education among gun owners about this.
RSMO…
- A person “acts with criminal negligence” or is criminally negligent when he fails to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that circumstances exist or a result will follow, and such failure constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation.
Gross deviation from the standard of care…
How about arresting them and prosecuting them for robbery, theft, burglary, drugs, assault, felon in possession of a firearm, murder, rape etc.? Those are the ground truth crimes they are committing. Saying that a crime victim is the source of dirt bags is foolish. Restricting the rights of law abiding citizens to make your job easier is the wrong approach.
Once again, I’ll say I don’t leave guns in cars or like the practice.