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I have decided to store a rifle in my truck

5K views 63 replies 39 participants last post by  oldman45 
#1 ·
For the past year I've stuck with just a pistol in my truck, of course that's on top of my EDC that in wearing. Decided that the likelihood of my car being broken into is greater than needing a rifle.

Well, I've decided that's foolish for me. After recent happenings, I figured why not? It is more likely to be stolen. That's true. I can almost guarantee I'll never need it. That's also true. But then couldn't I use that same logic for my EDC? Or even owning a gun? It's a tool, and if possibly losing a $500 rifle and another $120 of other accessories means I'm ready for an active shooter or terrorist attack, so be it.

Now, behind the seat in my truck is my AK47 with a 40rd steel mag, and a chest rig with 4 30rd mags. Easy on, quick to deploy. The more I've thought about it, the more I've decided that this is the best solution for me. Luckily it's legal in my state.

I know that if something like Paris attacks were to happen somewhere that I was, and I was basically unarmed because all I had was a small pocket 9mm and a spare magazine, and innocent people died because there was nobody there to fight back, all because I was afraid of losing $500 investment, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.
 
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#6 ·
Personally I would rather not put myself into a situation where if a firearm stolen from my car winds up being used in some other unfortunate incident, that I might have to fend off legal wolves.

I have on some occasions had a rifle in my car. But they were occasions where either I would be in the car, or the car sufficiently in my sight, or the security of the car highly likely to not be an issue.
 
#11 ·
I also think one has to question the odds of, even if an active shooter event unfolds in front of your eyes whether inside the mall or the movie theater, you will even have that rifle rapidly available.

Even if one were to have been at the Congresswoman Giffords shooting incident, it was over far sooner than retrieving a rifle would have been possible to do.
 
#15 ·
We're country down here in the swampland......we all carry rifles in our trucks!
 
#18 ·
ok I'll bite-

Why does the decision hinge on the % of being stolen vs % of it being needed. Why is that the model? No matter the % of either.. you may lose it or need it tomorrow. I have a $300 AAC handi-rifle in 300BLKOUT in the trunk and if I lose it to theft, I wouldnt cry about it. I have more money in tools in my trunk than in the rifle.. I might cry about that but still, I carry them.
 
#21 ·
First off, Im dont see myself ever encountering terrorists in the middle of some "operation". If I did, I would want to get the heck out of the area. UNLESS, I had loved ones in the area.

Im not law enforcement, and have no interest in trying to act like it. Certainly not by my lonesome.

HOWEVER, the idea of a trunk long gun has looked better & better to me lately. Starting with the fergusion riots, and protests that spread Nation wide.

What with an economic Depression on our hands, going into its 7th year or so, economic inequality at its highest level since The Great Depression, racial tension at its highest since the 60s, and things in general going to heck in a hand basket, a long gun is looking good to me, if simply for a civil unrest situation.

I am sure that many advising against a truck gun, used to carry a truck gun years ago. Back then it was apt to be (in my part of the country), a lever action 30.30, a .22 rifle of some sort, or a shotgun. But they were truck guns nonetheless. And no one ever thought twice about them being stolen. AND THOSE WERE KEPT IN THE OPEN! Hanging in full view in the back window of a pickup truck.

So, I dont know why so many are so dead set against a HIDDEN gun in ones car now. Sure, maybe if someone lived in a very high crime area they might live with the constant threat of car theft, or break ins, but I bet most of us do not live in such areas, or are under constant threat of such things.

The way things are going, I can see lots more people reconsidering the whole "trunk gun" thing. Probably in the not too distant future.
 
#22 ·
If you're gonna leave a rifle in your vehicle, despite it being a generally bad idea.. at least remove a key component like the BCG so if it does get stolen you don't put an immediately functional weapon in a criminals hands.
 
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#27 ·
I see you are in Montana. I get what you are saying, but if someone in Tampa, Miami, Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, etc had a weapon in their rear window, it would probably get stolen in the blink of an eye. I completely understand what you are saying, but me personally, I would never leave a weapon in my back window, in a city.
 
#39 ·
Sometimes the fool who rushes in gets the job done. Al Bernstein
 
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#28 ·
Isn't that the whole problem? By the time the cops show up there's often nothing left to do but bag 'em and tag 'em. And the exact same statement applies to a good guy with a pistol. When the cops do show up I would hope that anyone that went to the trouble to be armed also went to the trouble to learn how to deal the aftermath of a shooting.

The OP is posting what I think a lot of us have been thinking. I too have been contemplating if maybe having an inexpensive rifle to leave behind the seat of my truck might be a good idea. So far in the 30 years I've had my own vehicles I've never had one broken into (and if you ever see my cars and trucks you'll know why!:wink:). True, a gun could be stolen, and you would bear some responsibility for the gun being in the hands of someone unauthorized. But the exact same could be said for a gun stolen from your apartment or house. Many people have doors that a brawny eight year old could breach in 10 seconds, and one such thread is already running. Where's the hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth over the recklessness of keeping guns in your apartment? Much of the time your house is easier to get into for a thief than your car, and most of us are out of our homes for a lot of the day.

Having a long gun doesn't make you "Rambo" or create a duty in the owner to fight crime like The Punisher. But it gives you an option you probably don't have if all you have is your five shot J-frame.
 
#30 ·
The back window truck guns were popular up here in NW PA a long time ago. If you hunted, you had your jacket and a gun in the truck.
I remember my buddy, who worked second shift, going to work right after we hunted one year. GE did not think very highly of someone having a gun on their property, even though it was out in the parking lot. Of course, if it was hidden they would have never known.
 
#32 ·
The difference between guns getting stolen from a vehicle or a home is time. A typical home gun safe takes time to open, and a thief has to first break into the home, and possibly deal with a monitored alarm system.

Even the best vehicle gun safe can be defeated by simply stealing the whole vehicle, which allows a thief all the time they need to crack it.

I also don't think you will have the time to get to a long gun in your vehicle in most cases.

If caught in a situation where you need to abandon your vehicle, you might be better off with a small bag with more ammo for your sidearm than a long gun. Easier to move, and draws less attention.
 
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#35 ·
Even the best vehicle gun safe can be defeated by simply stealing the whole vehicle, which allows a thief all the time they need to crack it.
Which is one more reason why I like a used car that simply isn't appealing enough for anybody to want. I would bet a paycheck that my ride would never be specifically targeted for a 'jacking. Anything can happen but my mantra is 'risk reduction'.
 
#33 ·
There was a reality gun show, it might have been American Guns, where a guy wanted a truck gun for a get home gun and also the means to secure it. I think he went with a lever action carbine and the safe was under the rear seat of his truck. Whatever locking system it used was hand operated, as the builders had to take the gun out for him because it was programmed for them. It was pretty slick. And I'm sure pricey.
 
#34 ·
I had an electric shotgun lock in my old Bravada. It was bolted to the floor and wired to a "proximity switch" that would only open when the key was within 3 feet. I usually had either a lever action or a Mini-14 in it depending on what I was hunting. Never used it to keep a permanent truck gun, although it would have been about as secure as a person could get without a full safe.

Wish I had it in my current truck.
 
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#36 ·
i have kept a rifle in my car. my thought process was more of a get-home weapon than a fight off the terrorist cell scenario.
MOstly it was in my commuter car. My work is isolated, no thugs "cruise" by out here, unless they want to walk thru a mile or so of open corn field first. Off the higway enough. yes, i understand that same isolation gives the committed opportuntiy. though enough offices look at our parking lot i was never overly concerned with a theft at work. Park in your garage at night solves most of that problem.

Then i really started putting some serious thought into what i would need to get home form work in a grid-down type situ. my house is 7 miles as-the-crow-flies from my house. my Glock 21 EDC is with me, always. with 2 spare mags. I threw another 50 box of rounds in my get-home bag. If i can't go 7 miles on foot with a double stack 45 ACP with 80 rounds..... that is some SERIOUS -S- that has hit the Fan. and my goal will not be to go BATMAN and stop every little thing on my way home. My goal is to be sneaky-sneaky in the ditches and bushes and get to my wife and kids. if it it total TEOTWAKI, and the national guard is out, is a guy on foot with a backpack, and a pistol, with a legal CCW going to get thru the roadblock...maybe. probably easier than the guy with an AK-47 and chest rig. certainly going to attract less eye-balls.

of course if it going commando on a terror cell.... well.... i consider myself a prepper. for doomsday or a street robbery. planning to counter a mumbai or paris type attack is folly. no way to know what the dynamics will be if that drops on your head. could a rifle help? sure. another poster mentioned wearing a chest rig and a rifle may get you into bad ju-ju when responders roll up to an active shooter event. ....so oculd having a handgun in your hands.....

point is, you can't even come close to prepping for that.

but i am not opposed to truck guns. Just keep them secure. as much as you'd want to help in an active shooter, i bet you'd feel bad if a theif killed someone with the gun they stole from your car.
 
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