I have a revolver in my car. I don't want hot brass flying around when I have to shoot inside my vehicle.

Damn good point!

$20.10 for this 16 gauge steel SnapSafe brand lockbox with security cable.


It won't stop someone with tools and time, but it'll stop a quick smash n grab.

Snap safe is a smart and inexpensive way to make sure a simple break-in, grab and run doesn't involve your gun. Not only the loss of the gun but potential civil liability if the gun is used to hurt or kill someone and a plaintiff's lawyer comes after you and your assists (home equity.)

I know that it is easy to say that someone should deep conceal rather than leaving in a vehicle. However, it is automatic termination where I work now.

Follow-up to that is that the wondrous US economic growth has not found its way to NW North Carolina. My current employer offers decent pay/benefits and I was fortunate to be hired quickly when a local employer of 300+ people closed. They moved production to a sister facility in the name of transportation costs. (As a footnote to that, all of the corporate management involved in that decision have since been terminated due to it.)

I do not enjoy the thought of living in a car if I could not afford my current home/mortgage. Rent is outrageous in the area due to tourism. I know several former people from that facility that are working at minimum wage or not a lot above that. Couple that with the housing expenses, I do not know how some are much above survival mode.

I am not going to be critical of the OP under his circumstances. I have also purchased a "lockbox" for my vehicle. It is what it is. The old saying goes something like "walk a mile in his shoes..."

quote:

Originally posted by Wolfpacker:
I know that it is easy to say that someone should deep conceal rather than leaving in a vehicle. However, it is automatic termination where I work now.

Follow-up to that is that the wondrous US economic growth has not found its way to NW North Carolina. My current employer offers decent pay/benefits and I was fortunate to be hired quickly when a local employer of 300+ people closed. They moved production to a sister facility in the name of transportation costs. (As a footnote to that, all of the corporate management involved in that decision have since been terminated due to it.)

I do not enjoy the thought of living in a car if I could not afford my current home/mortgage. Rent is outrageous in the area due to tourism. I know several former people from that facility that are working at minimum wage or not a lot above that. Couple that with the housing expenses, I do not know how some are much above survival mode.

I am not going to be critical of the OP under his circumstances. I have also purchased a "lockbox" for my vehicle. It is what it is. The old saying goes something like "walk a mile in his shoes..."

Temporarily storing a gun in a lock box secured to the vehicle and leaving an unsecured gun in a vehicle full time, including overnight, rather than carrying it whenever possible are two different things.

The former is sometimes necessary - the latter is gross negligence as implied by choosing a cheap gun because it is assumed “something will happen to it.”

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
$20.10 for this 16 gauge steel SnapSafe brand lockbox with security cable.


It won't stop someone with tools and time, but it'll stop a quick smash n grab.

This, secured to the vehicle with the cable is a great soloution for the places you can’t carry.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett B:

quote:

Originally posted by HCM:

I have seen it too many times. Car /truck guns are THE number one source of crime guns in my experience. Full time car / truck guns are lazy, irresponsible and make gun owners look bad.

Boy, I sure would love to see some real facts and statistics that back up such a strong statement. For example, what percentage of guns illegally owned by felons are obtained from:

Smuggled in just like illegal drugs
Stolen from a gun store or pawn shop
Stolen from a home
Stolen from unlocked cars
Stolen from locked cars
Stolen from locked cars with the gun in a locked glovebox


I've talked to many LEO's about this, and the number of guns stolen from locked cars with the gun in a locked glovebox is exceedingly low compared to other means. As in, NONE of the LEO's had actually logged a case of this happening. By contrast several had logged cases of theft from gun stores, pawn shops, unlocked cars, and/or from locked cars where the gun was irresponsibly left in plain view.

If I remember right I believe that jljones also weighed in with very similar experiences.

According to the DOJ about 225,000 firearms are stolen on average each year. The biggest number I've seen specific to vehicles shows about 6,000 stolen per year from the 25 largest/highest crime cities.

Car thefts (stealing the car itself) and car burglaries are two different things.

Car burglaries, whether locked or unlocked vehicles (doesn’t really matter much) are much more common than thefts of cars themselves. Car burglars will hit unlocked cars or smash windows / pop locks on locked cars. In either case they pop locked car consoles and glove compartments. They are almost all plastic and can be popped in a second if you don’t care about damage. Most car burglars are drug addicts doing quick “smash and grabs.”

Simple lock boxes like the snap safe linked above are much effective than factory glove boxes and consoles IF you Chain or cabke lock them to the structure of the vehicle like steel seat supports etc the steel lock boxes that drop into your console work too if you bolt them in.

The earlier post about many local PD’s no longer actually investigating car burglaries is correct. Many won’t even come out to take the report, it’s done online or over the phone.

I am basing my views on guns I have recovered in 22 years investigating other crimes and, unfortunately guns and other equipment lost by other LEOs. We have about 15k LEO nationwide and we Do investigate those losses.

In the past 15 years we have never lost a gun or other equipment out of a car when it is secured in a lock box attached to the vehicle or secured to the the vehicle with handcuffs or steel cable lock. The only exception to this has been when The whole vehicle is stolen. The secured lock boxes just take too much time for the smash and grab car burglars. We also prohibit leaving guns in vehicles overnight without written permission based on a specific operational need.

Specific to locked glove boxes, I am personally of an LEO who had a pistol locked in the glove compartment stolen out of his personal vehicle while it was in the parking lot of a federal courthouse. They smashed the window and popped the glove box. Whole thing was on video, in and out in less than 30 seconds.

Of the crime guns I see the vast majority are stolen from cars. Those stolen in residential burglaries or from family members residences are a distant second tied with baby mama straw purchases.


Crime guns from show private sales and gun store break ins exist but are uncommon, we are starting to see a few crooks with guns built from 80% lowers and parts kits but it’s not super common either. I’ve never had a crime gun that was smuggled into the US from abroad. In fact it works the other way, though not as much as some claim.

Here is a recent (August 2018) example of a “worst case scenario”

https://www.ksat.com/news/good...uspect-is-identified

quote:

Police say 23-year-old Jacob Gabriel killed Jonathan Connelly, 31, after Connelly confronted Gabriel about stealing a car from a gas station. According to police, Gabriel stole an idling car from a gas station at Fountain Wood and O'Connor roads around 2 p.m. Connelly and two other drivers who witnessed the car theft began pursuing Gabriel in their cars.

According to police, one of the good Samaritans who gave chase sideswiped the stolen car along the I-35 Frontage Road. Police said Gabriel and good Samaritans got into a fight when Gabriel pulled out a handgun that he found in the stolen car.

After missing the first time he fired, Gabriel shot again and hit Connelly in his torso. Connelly died at a hospital.

When police got to the scene, Gabriel had already taken off to a nearby hotel. Witnesses pointed police to a room at the Stay Express Inn and authorities arrested the suspect.

Gabriel is charged with theft of a firearm, theft of a vehicle and murder.