Just got a handgun "safe" for the car

[BigK]

My work has a no guns on company property rule. I'm not supposed to even have a gun in my locked car. Naturally, they'd have no reason to ever check, since I'd never tell anyone at work, but you never know for sure.

I bought a small steel handgun safe that has piano-style hinges and a steel cable that I can loop around the seat posts. It seems fairly tough and secure, but nothing is 100%. I just wanted it to be tough enough to keep the average thug from getting my gun. Now, I'm wondering if it's worth the risk (theft and/or getting caught at work) to keep a gun in my car.

Also, it's only 1.75" thick, so it slides out of sight, under the seat easily. The downside is that at that thickness, I had to take the laser grips off my pisol, b/c they made it too thick for the lid to close. I cannot find another safe with a cable lock that is thick enough to allow for the grips.

I paid a lot more for the laser grips than the safe. With all the pros and cons of the safe vs the grips, what would you guys do?

[Glock30]

If you thought it was worthwhile enough to actually buy the car safe, my thoughts are to put it to work. Beats not having it. A weapon without laser grips still goes bang.

[AMSting]

If it has foam padding, you might be able to gain a little interior room by going to thinner foam, or even an adhesive felt. If the metal frame is too thin, then I don't know. I guess you could try to pound out the area where the laser would sit, but it might be better to take the laser off if you are goinhg to have the gun in the case.

[tt0511]

My view is that an employer absolutely does not have the God given right to tell an employee that they are not allowed to protect themself on the way to or from their property. Try not to talk about guns at work, and keep the lips sealed, while being a very productive employee. Why would anyone ever suspect or care in that scenario? Now, if you are the kind of guy that seems to create friction and pisses coworkers off, then they may find a reason to whisper a little something and have your car searched. But if you treat everyone with love and respect, my personal view is they won't have a reason to search. Unless they are going to search every single car, and what would that look like? Ultimately, you make your choices and you take your chances. You have to make up your own mind what's most important and most sensible to you.

I've often wondered about those cases where there have been students start shooting up a school and the principal runs out to his car, grabs his gun and puts it to a stop. The principal in that story was applauded as a hero, ...but wait a minute.......didn't he break several laws? We never heard anything about that part. I've always wondered what the ultimate outcome on that deal was. This has happened more than once.

[BigK]

If you thought it was worthwhile enough to actually buy the car safe, my thoughts are to put it to work. Beats not having it. A weapon without laser grips still goes bang.

That's the conclusion I came to as well. I was torn at first about taking my expensive laser grips off to stow it in a cheap under the seat safe. In retrospect, it's a silly thing to concern myself with. I like being able to lock my gun in a locked box inside my locked car more than I like the shiny red light.

If it has foam padding, you might be able to gain a little interior room by going to thinner foam, or even an adhesive felt.

Unfortunately, it won't even close if I take the foam out altogether. The case is 1.75" and the gun with laser grips is just over 2" thick.

[BigK]

My view is that an employer absolutely does not have the God given right to tell an employee that they are not allowed to protect themself on the way to or from their property. Try not to talk about guns at work, and keep the lips sealed, while being a very productive employee. Why would anyone ever suspect or care in that scenario? Now, if you are the kind of guy that seems to create friction and pisses coworkers off, then they may find a reason to whisper a little something and have your car searched. But if you treat everyone with love and respect, my personal view is they won't have a reason to search. Unless they are going to search every single car, and what would that look like? Ultimately, you make your choices and you take your chances. You have to make up your own mind what's most important and most sensible to you.

I've often wondered about those cases where there have been students start shooting up a school and the principal runs out to his car, grabs his gun and puts it to a stop. The principal in that story was applauded as a hero, ...but wait a minute.......didn't he break several laws? We never heard anything about that part. I've always wondered what the ultimate outcome on that deal was. This has happened more than once.

I share the identical view on employers indirectly affecting my safety to/from work by having such a rule. Sad fact is, many obey the rule at the risk of their own safety. Since I value my safety above their rule, I keep my nose clean and blend in with the sheep.

As far as the school scenario goes, I hope the principal gets a medal, a raise, and more. I think we'd have heard, if he got in trouble for his actions, especially since it's not illegal for non-students to have firearms in their vehicle on school property. In some of these schools, I think the state should issue them an AR-15 to be kept in the closet of their office.

[Trekbike]

What about just running the cable lock through the trigger guard area? Maybe behind the trigger? Probably not the safest option since it opens up the possibility for a AD. Depending on the handgun you carry it might not be as unsafe as other ones might be.

[dralarms]

Take the laser off, toss it in the glovebox (or leave it home) and go with it. I go plenty of places that say "no guns allowed", not happy about it but you have to make a living. At least my boss has the right idea, every employee must be armed.

[Links2k]

I have the gunvault mini and a car safe that I got from the glockstore. I have no problems closing either of them with my CTC lasergrips on and I did not have to remove any foam. I use the safes for my Glocks and M&P.

[BigK]

I had trouble finding a car safe that could be locked to the seat posts with a cable and small enough to slide under the seat. My gun safe MUST be out of sight at work, even though there is no way to assume what's inside is a gun and not some other type of valuables.

I'm over the fact that I had to take off the laser grips, now. I think they are a valuable tool, but not a deal breaker. Having my gun in a safe in case of a break-in is much more important.

So far, I've been using the safe for almost 2 weeks and I feel much better about having my gun in my car now that it's not possible to see it and very difficult to steal it.

[Links2k]

Both of mine secure to the seat with a cable and fit under the seat. Check them out. I am in the same situation at work and I come home at night so I like having my lasergrips on my pistol.

[BigK]

Both of mine secure to the seat with a cable and fit under the seat. Check them out. I am in the same situation at work and I come home at night so I like having my lasergrips on my pistol.

I did look at the one you named and several others on that site. I only recall one mentioning that it had a cable. You'd think that if a gun safe came with a cable or had a spot for a cable that the description would mention it. That's where my frustration was coming from. So few mention it. Thanks for the info.

[Guest DanE479]

It doesn't take a lot to modify any gun safe to use some kind of aircraft cable to secure it to the seat. YOu could probably do it for under $10 in parts.

Given my location in the land of misfit gun owners, I'll be bolting a mini gun vault in my trunk and a small lock box under my seat for my magazines (gotta keep them seperate up here, dammit).

It's not an ideal solution, but it'll keep me out of jail.