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I recently bought a car safe for my weapon. It's a lockable box with a cable attached. You loop the cable around the seat anchor and lock your gun in the box when you need to go into a place where you cannot take your weapon. I'm not sure how practical or really necessary this all is. If they steal your car, they have your gun too. If they just break into your car and happen to have wire cutters they can just cut the cable and they have your gun again. Still, it seems better than just putting the gun under the seat when you go inside a Post Office for instance. I wonder how many here use these things? Do you think it's a waste of money? Interested in your comments.

I have two of them and use them when travelling mainly to lock them up at the grandkids house. They work well and I have (prior to receiving my CHL) used it to secure the handguns to the truck bed.

I am contemplating getting a ConsoleVault but they are pretty pricey (c$300) but they could be used for more than just firearms...like securing the GPS etc. The jury is still out on that at the moment.

I have one in my truck and my wife has one in her car. We had them keyed the same. I know what you mean about cutting the cable. Your point about them stealing the vehicle with the gun in it seems moot. There are some things you can't stop. Leave the gun in the car and they have it either way. I hope by locking it up it will deter those thiefs looking for easy things to take. I also hope it provides some basis for protection of being sued if it is used in a subsequent shooting by the thief.

As stated above, if the car is stolen, it doesn't make any difference, they will have your gun. I guess I don't see any point of a lock box when the weapon can be concealed in the car.

My $0.02 worth!

I have a Console Vault in my Toyota pickup. LOVE IT. Great for peace of mind. Lock up gun, GPS, spare cash, etc. Very solid and bolted to the floorboard.

In my wife's minivan, I use one of the little cheap-o $30 cable-tied lock boxes. It does come in handy (have to disarm nearly every day when I go into daycare to pick up my kids). Also used it on our trip to California to lock my gun in the hotel room while sleeping (to keep it out of reach of my 3-year-old), and to lock it in the "trunk area" of the van separated from the ammo to comply with Kalifornia's foreign gun laws.

I agree, the cable-tied boxes are not the most secure solution and I wouldn't recommend it for long stretches of time, but it should keep out most "opportunity" thieves.

mikeintexas wrote:As stated above, if the car is stolen, it doesn't make any difference, they will have your gun. I guess I don't see any point of a lock box when the weapon can be concealed in the car.

My $0.02 worth!

I do not have a lock box. I have thought about getting one.

Yes I can conceal it in my vehicle but most thieves know hiding places of vehicles better than we do.

I have one in each vehicle, key attached to the keyring for that vehicle.
Each has a compact 9mm in it, extra mags, and also enough room left to accept my pocket pistol when I need to disarm.

It's not the best, but it's good enough.

YabuUS wrote:I recently bought a car safe for my weapon. It's a lockable box with a cable attached. You loop the cable around the seat anchor and lock your gun in the box when you need to go into a place where you cannot take your weapon. I'm not sure how practical or really necessary this all is. If they steal your car, they have your gun too. If they just break into your car and happen to have wire cutters they can just cut the cable and they have your gun again. Still, it seems better than just putting the gun under the seat when you go inside a Post Office for instance. I wonder how many here use these things? Do you think it's a waste of money? Interested in your comments.

I thought this looked cool. But like a lot of cool stuff its kinda pricey.

https://www.consolevault.com/products/?Vehicle=26" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I used to disarm when I was out and about but I too was worried about leaving a gun in my car unattended.

So, now I simply do not leave a gun in the car. If I cannot go in somewhere because of my carrying (30.06 or 51%), I just don't go in. I go someplace else.

You would be surprised that it is not that hard to do.

I found these too. They are flat enough to store under the seat or in some other tight areas. They are lockablem, but if you don't bolt'em down it kinda defeats the purpose. Check'em out.

http://www.safes4you.com/store/handgun/titan.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; <<<<<<<< I like this 1.

http://www.bestdefense.com/store.cgi?pa ... locks.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
For the LifeJacket, even though it doesn't show it I bet you could screw it down to your floor panel.

AEA wrote:I used to disarm when I was out and about but I too was worried about leaving a gun in my car unattended.

So, now I simply do not leave a gun in the car. If I cannot go in somewhere because of my carrying (30.06 or 51%), I just don't go in. I go someplace else.

You would be surprised that it is not that hard to do.

not as simple for those with school-age children or jobs that either post 30.06 or threaten to fire you if you bring a gun to work.

YabuUS wrote:Still, it seems better than just putting the gun under the seat when you go inside a Post Office for instance.

IMHO, there is rarely a point in doing this for a post office, unless you are parking the car on some parking lot besides the one belonging to the post office. The CFR makes it just as "illegal" in the parking lot as it is in the building itself.

BTW I think those little pistol vaults are cool. You could also use a "drawer safe" that would slip under the seat easily in many cars. In my car, the only place anything like this will fit is in the trunk, which sort of defeats the purpose.

mr.72 wrote:

YabuUS wrote:Still, it seems better than just putting the gun under the seat when you go inside a Post Office for instance.

IMHO, there is rarely a point in doing this for a post office, unless you are parking the car on some parking lot besides the one belonging to the post office. The CFR makes it just as "illegal" in the parking lot as it is in the building itself.

BTW I think those little pistol vaults are cool. You could also use a "drawer safe" that would slip under the seat easily in many cars. In my car, the only place anything like this will fit is in the trunk, which sort of defeats the purpose.

Good point about the Post Office - yeah, I guess the parking lot is off limits as well. I have the same problem as you about putting the box in the trunk. I drive a small minivan and there is a "well" under the floor mat in the back that could server as a mounting point for the box. It's covered by the mat and completely out of sight. Problem is, you have to get out of the car and open the back hatch, then open the well lid and put you gun in the box in plain sight of everyone who might be watching. The "concealed" part of your carry is totally compromised. It might even be illegal to pull your weapon out in the open to do this. Not sure about the law in that instance.

I have two gun safes, one bolted to the floor of my truck and the other mounted in our RV. I cannot carry at work so when I get there in the mornings
I put my gun in the safe and pull it out before I head home in the afternoon.

mr72 wrote:
IMHO, there is rarely a point in doing this for a post office, unless you are parking the car on some parking lot besides the one belonging to the post office. The CFR makes it just as "illegal" in the parking lot as it is in the building itself.

I wasn't familiar with what the CFR said about weapons at a post office so I did a little research. Seems this is a gray area according to some "experts" on the internet. I read the usual laws cited on this subject and it's not totally clear to me if the parking lot is considered part of the facility. But gray is gray and that is enough for me. My grandfather used to say "it's a lot easier to stay out of trouble than it is to get out of trouble". So I won't be carrying anywhere near a post office in the future. I may even pucker a bit when I drop a letter in one of those drive by mail boxes.