This weekend was my first time traveling with the girlfriend and her 11 year old son. I wound up not taking a gun at all because I wasn’t sure how to secure it at night and such.
After we left, I was thinking that I should have just gotten one of those little fire safe lockbox things and used that. Obviously it wouldn’t work for a rifle, but I’d at least be able to secure a pistol.
What do you when traveling with kids and guns?
This is the one I use to lock the pistol in the car if it’s not on me for some reason. It’s chained with the extra cable. http://www.gunvault.com/minisafe.nxg
For carrying around, you can probably find something smaller.
For pistols, I’ve used GunVault or Center of Mass boxes
Some hotels have in room safes, but I’ve never felt comfortable using them.
I have one of those center of mass things and frankly find it to be all but useless. I was thinking of maybe getting one of those gunvaults.
In this case, we weren’t staying in a hotel.
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My 6 y.o. daughter knows not to touch any of my firearms and she does not.
On the road I do what I do at home. I sleep with the handgun within arms reach. At home it sits in a cheap nylon holster clipped to the bed frame. On the road it’s in the night table drawer.
Save the “irresponsible parent” comments. I am not going to change what I do.
If I am staying in someone’s home I shove it under the mattress. When I get up I either secure it with a lock or holster it on me.
I avoid staying with relatives just because of that. Most of my relatives are libtard hoplophobes.
I used to have a girlfriend with a 8 year old son. I carried concealed, and briefed him on it, in detail, if an over night was involved. I have a modified military ammo box that you can lock, that I used as a trunk lock box on trips if needed. In a hotel, it was holstered under my pillow.
I’ve taken a couple of trips to Disney World with my bestest friend and her little girl, now 7. Both times, thanks to HR 218, I took my M92 and 637 and kept them on me as much as possible. Before going onto Disney property, I ducked into the bathroom, giving me privacy to clear both guns and lock them into uselessness with one pair of handcuffs (old cop trick learned from Mas Ayoob’s books), and hid the whole rig in my ever-present bookbag. Even if the youngun had been curious and invaded my bag, she couldn’t have gotten the cuffs off.
My friend knows I’m armed off-duty and I have briefed her on what to do if trouble surfaces. Above all, she knows if I say get down, she’ll dive for the floor and take any children with her. And she’s seen trouble–a few years ago when she was registering for community college and had her daughter with her, some cretin kidnapped his girlfriend elsewhere on campus, and walked the hostage at gunpoint right past my friends, on his way to the woods where he murdered her and then killed himself. Better to have my safety equipment and not need …
My carry practices while at home and traveling vary little from each other, so there’s virtually no issue. This includes travel with 2-3 handguns, and a long gun. My kids are adapted, and expectations are clear. I often travel so armed with others, youth groups and adults, using the same methods. Thus far, the most interest I’ve garnered is, “hey, I didn’t know you played the guitar / played tennis.”
Awake- on body. Asleep or when storage is required- hidden in plain sight in various inconspicuous products, in various states of readiness.
I don’t ask permission of anyone to carry or possess tools of defense while in their company or at their home/business, nor do I disclose my practices to them.
I have not had to worry about children for quite some time. But I would keep my pistol holstered on my belt except when I was asleep. When sleeping I would place my pistol under my pillow. If you felt the need for more security there is always the room safe in your hotel room or you could use any locking gun case.
I would rather find a solution even if it wasn’t ideal rather than traveling unarmed and not having the ability to defend my family.
At home my sidearm is always loaded and either on my side, on my bedside stand, or in this bag:
I bought it at an army surplus store for $14 as a small range bag to store a couple mags, some ammo, and my gun but it keeps growing. I added the small case on the side for the rest of the stuff.
My wife got one in black from Cheaper than dirt BLACK BAG and made the liners for our guns.
I am in the car a lot for business and it goes almost everywhere with me and has come in handy a few times.
i have two sons, 6 and 2…
I carry everywhere i go, and always at home…
generally, its in a maxpedition bag of some sort…beyond the utility of the bag, I am almost always in gym shorts, so if I need to go at a moment’s notice, I am always carrying without worrying about a holster or such
plus I keep it with me at all times in the house easily
when I go on trips, these practices just transfer…as I lay here in bed typing this, the bag, with my loaded G17, surefire, benchmade, spare mag, pacifiers, extra diaper, cell phone, wallet, etc., etc. etc. is right next to me…
I understand your situation. I don’t know how your girlfriend feels about guns, and having a child along can complicate things. Depending on how much time you have spent with him/them, you might or mihgt not have been able to teach them firearm safety.
Still, many criminals target hotels, and Labor day weekend when a hurricane heading south is not a good time to be without a gun.
What you need is a low profile safe to lock up your gun while you take a shower and such–something that can fit into your normal luggage. Something that gives you a choice of sizes to fit different guns.
I think this portable gun safe has your name on it. It is available from:
http://www.center-of-mass.com/
below is a picture of one of their products:
When I travel with my wife and son I always bring a pistol with us. If we stay at a hotel I use my Glock box with a cable lock wrapped around the handle. I then throw it in my carry bag or the clothes bag. My son has been shooting with me a few times and he understands about not playing with or touching weapons. So for us there is no real issue.
Having said that your situation involves a girlfriend and her son. Does she know that you carry concealed or about your weapons in general? Have you approached her and said “how do you feel about me having my pistol with me when we go places”? My feeling is that her input in the matter is important and she needs to accept your lifestyle.
The girlfriend is fine with the guns, and will actually be taking a Randy Cain ladies handgun class in two months. Her boy also knows all about the guns and we even bought him a 10/22 for his birthday this year. We’ve been over the 4 rules (he had to memorize them before I’d take him shooting and can recite them back in any order) and he knows what to do if he finds or comes across a gun.
With all of that said, I’d still feel much better about things if the gun was under some kind of lock when not on my person; just like I always do at their house.
I think I had it right to begin with. I’m just going to take something like this with me next time and when we go to the beach or whatever I’ll lock it in there. Maybe I’ll splurge and get the Gun Vault. I’m already looking at getting one of their fullsize safes.
rob_s,
Sounds good and will probably work for your needs. Since I have SUV’s I can’t just lock my guns in the trunk. I may actually get something like that as well for times when the pistole has to stay in the vehicle.
My gun is simply always on me when I travel.
I just keep it in a holster by me at night if I’m in a hotel or something.
and use them for partying, making meth, doing dope deals, looking for friends doing same, etc.
Strange things happen in hotels. Oh, the stories. 
I’d not lock a gun up while in the room without some substantial reason to do so.
A little off topic… but this subject reminded me of something that came up this weekend.
I went bird hunting with a guy who was complaining that he spent the whole prior evening looking for the key to his gun lock for his glock. “I was going to bring it, but I couldn’t find the key”… he went on to say… “I don’t know why I use the lock because the gun is stored in a locker anyway.”