I have been ruminating the issue of people leaving their guns in the cars in a less than secure manner. And before some dumb ass legislator comes with the idea of “There ought to be a law” I figure we could do stuff on our own.
How about we dedicate 2019 to do an adult and vehicular version of NSSF’s Project Child Safe? I doubt we can get free car gun safes for free, but make the idea of securing firearms in a car a crusade? Let’s not wait for an organization to do it, but make it grow from the Grassroots level?
We need your ideas. It could be prices of gun boxes, installation tips, contacts with safe manufacturers to get discount coupons, etc. Please, make it so all economic brackets can have a chance at some level of security in the car. The professionally installed high-tech long gun safe at $5000 is nice, but not everybody can afford it. Can you make a video for YouTube? Great! We even need logos to make it look cool 🙂
Let us know in the comments. Let’s start building something. This is something that will have many great consequences: Gun owners will not lose property and be subject to vehicular damage. Criminals will not have easy access to guns and maybe somebody’s life will be spared and Cops may not have to deal with two or more crimes for the price of one event.
Good idea!
Until you can get a safe or something else, try your best not to be in a situation where you have to leave your pistol in the car. You might consider leaving it at home in the safe, for example. I know, you don’t want to, but it is a valid option in certain situations. Avoid places where you can’t carry, as much as possible. I’m sure the readers have some very good ideas.
Here’s perhaps an example of what you’re thinking of providing? – http://truckvault.com/vehicles/sedan
Hmm. Interesting idea. Some thoughts…
A “one size fits all” solution is problematic – model-to-model, and sometimes trimline-to-trimline, variations will make it difficult to have a permanently mounted, universal solution that’s easy for almost anyone to install, not visible from a window somewhere, and doesn’t take up too much interior space. (That’s one issue with the truckvault David posted, otherwise I like it.)
But perhaps visibility is okay … make it annoying and slow enough to get the gun that a thief will try somewhere else. Sort of like “The Club” approach. In which case … perhaps a variation of The Club that includes a lockbox?
Or, how about this? Lock boxes outside of places where you can’t take a gun? We have something like these at work for cell phones, as phones are prohibited in some areas; you put in your phone and lock it with a removable key before going into the building. You could make them with a removable provided key, and also a latch so you can add your own padlock if you wish. This is by no means a new idea, I know, but what if we were able to provide them to businesses in exchange for space on the sidewalk, as opposed to demanding the business in question pay for it?
I am a cheap bastard,
I use a 50 cal ammo can with a bolt crossdrilled for a padlock to secure the lid and lift plate. I bolted the can to the floorboard of the pickup and a can bolted to the trunk floor for the little car. One advantage over the travel gun vault is the weather proof seal in the lid of the ammo box.
I was unable to add pictures to this comment.
Email me and I will send pictures.
A campaign to standardize a mounting point (and make a default bit of every new car) for car safes might be viable… and could even be pitched to the neutrals as a good way to secure other valuables.
I can’t imagine a need to leave a gun in the car overnight, yet almost every day our local news mentions people having guns stolen out of their car at night. Often, the cars were not even locked!
How about the FBI guy that locked his guns up in the truck safe…..the truck safe that wasnt BOLTED TO THE TRUCK……
How about a steel box under the seat, outta site.flip down front, big padlock. Plan accordingly and dont go where the cannons cant..
I have a Console Vault, and it works great. Worth the money, you can also lock up other valuable items in it as well. http://www.consolevault.com
Trying to think of a cheep way to secure a gun in a car and the only truly inexpensive way I could think of was a cable lock. You can even use a cheap bicycle lock. Just run the cable through the trigger guard then around something secure in the car. (seat bracket, steering wheel, etc.) Not the best or most convenient but dirt cheep and should be enough to discourage most thefts. Depending on what you cable it to hiding the gun from view might be an issue but a towel or old t-shirt might be enough to hide it from sight. Another issue is the gun potentially could still be fired so you would want to unload it and lock the ammo in the glove compartment or take it with you. There are ways to run a cable so the gun can not be fired but it is usually more of a pain and may require a more expensive lock.
In addition to the cheap cost this is as close as a “one size fits all” solution that you are likely to find.
The method I use is a small lockable case that is bolted to a couple of long 2×4 in the car trunk. You cannot remove the case because things were assembled in the trunk. There are a couple of bolts that are hidden. It is not perfect but it would take tools and time to remove anything.
We all agree that no system will survive a dedicated thief with tools and time. But the hit and runs burglar which makes the majority of the cases, will not have it easy.