An Alternative To Leaving Your Gun In Your Car Or Truck At Night

Feeling hesitant about leaving your gun in the car? Discover some useful tips for certain situations to help you make a good decision.

RELATED: Gun Storage | How To Hide Your Gun Safe

In this article:

1. Be in Control
2. Unusual Gun Cases
3. Know the Possible Consequences If You Leave the Gun

Leaving Your Gun in the Car | Making the Right Decision

Be in Control

Quick question: Do you store a gun in your car? Do you have a car gun safe?

You don't have to answer, but I'd love to hear if you do or not.

If you do, I'd like to encourage you to not actually store a gun in your car, overnight, or otherwise. I get it, sometimes just leaving it in there is much easier, especially if you live in a nosy neighborhood where “guns are bad.”

But, what would you do if your gun was ever stolen?

As we've discussed in great detail in the past, you need to be in control of your firearms at all time. If you leave it somewhere, even if in your car, you're not in control of it.

When storing a firearm in a vehicle, they should be as secure as you can make them. Even if you have the most advanced car alarm in the world, it's not secure enough.

Unusual Gun Cases

Bass guitar case with AR-15, mag inserted, adjustable stock all the way out, 16″ barrel.

There are ways around leaving your gun in a vulnerable position, like in a locked car, truck, or minivan. Plenty of case manufacturers make gun cases designed to not look like there's a firearm inside.

These are great for going to and from your truck — so you can bring your gun inside with you at the end of the day. There are cases that look like laptop cases, racket cases, guitar cases, etc.

Or, you can just get creative and use things that aren't meant for guns, like this bass guitar case purchased at a music store:

You don't even have to buy a new case if you already have something that may work. I know someone who used to pack an MP-5 in his laptop case just because he could.

It was one of those fancy cases with multiple pockets and the MP-5 fit in one of them perfectly. Strangely enough, that computer case is a lot like the one I own. Huh.

Anyway, there are other folks who pretend to play tennis and use a specially padded case to carry an AK with a folding stock.

AK with a racket case

RELATED: Car CCW | The Safest Way to Store Your EDC [Gun Carrier]

Know the Possible Consequences If You Leave the Gun

The owner can fit 4 magazines in here.

The point is that there are ways for you to carry a truck gun (or trunk gun) discreetly while retaining the ability to bring it in and out of your vehicle gun safe when you get back home or to leave for work in the morning.

And, if you don't care about it being discreet, just carry however you want. It's just not a good idea to leave it in your car where thieves can take it during your slumber.

But, what about those pesky times when you need to go to the post office or your kid's school? Well, if you'd be a “law-abiding gun owner,” you'd likely leave your gun in the car.

Lucky for you, they make gun vaults of all shapes and sizes which are much more secure than just leaving it out in the open.

I've had my car broken into in the past. Thankfully, my gun wasn't in the car, because that's just not something I need to deal with.

But, after the break-in happened, it made me realize a few things. First, locked or not, cars are extremely vulnerable and easily broken into.

Second, people suck and are willing to take anything from the loose change in your cup-holder (broke asses), to the GPS stuck to your windshield (lost asses), to the pack of opened gum in the center console (halitosis much?).

Finally, I don't need my gun used to kill, rape, maim, or rob innocent people. It's meant to stop the bad guys from doing those things

And that, my friends, is the most important one. Furthermore, thinking about the future for my kids, if my gun was ever stolen it would help to fuel the fire of anti-gun minds across the nation.

My gun and I would become a part of a statistic about stolen guns being used to kill, and then, they'd claim that the only way to fix it is by taking guns away because people cannot obviously keep track of them.

Watch this video by Jarhead6 about leaving your gun in the car:

It's never a good idea to leave your gun in the car. You can't give criminals a chance to steal it and use it against you or any random innocent person.

At least do something to give your gun a nice concealment but it's always better to bring it with you if possible.

What can you say about leaving the gun in the car? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!

UP NEXT:

• Gun Hiding Places in Your Car
• DIY Gun Safes: How To Hide Your Weapons In Plain Sight
• Who’s Really Behind Gun Violence?

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on September 16, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.