Does It Make Sense to Keep a Weapon in Your Car?

Chances are that you have an opinion on whether or not a firearm should be kept inside of a vehicle. There are a number of reasons both in favor of and against doing this and it’s a subject that we’d like to take a look at a little more in depth in today’s blog. As makers of kydex gun holsters, we have been wondering which way people lean on this topic, so we thought we would do a bit more to educate ourselves and then share what we find with our readers.

As you can probably imagine, a quick search on the topic leads to a number of different online message boards with people posting compelling reasons both for and against the logic involved in the subject at hand. That’s why we’ve taken a few of the arguments that we found most compelling and those are the ones we will be sharing with our readers today. Haven’t made up your mind on whether or not you should keep a gun in your car? Then keep reading, because this blog is for you!

One quick note before we get started: the laws regarding whether or not you can keep a loaded firearm in your vehicle vary from state to state, so regardless of your personal thoughts on the matter, be sure to do your research and obey the law of the land.

Reasons In Favor of Keeping Your Gun in the Car

You always know where it is.

This is admittedly not the best reason for carrying a firearm in your vehicle, but there is some logic behind it. If your job requires you to be on the road on a regular basis, it may make sense to bring your weapon with you. When you leave the car, of course you’d make sure that the firearm is in the glovebox or some other type of locked box for maximum safety.

You don’t have your concealed carry permit yet.

So what happens when you want to carry a weapon with you as often as possible, but you don’t have a permit for concealed carry? Sure, you could probably open carry in a number of different situations, but this is something that makes people uncomfortable--both the carrier him or herself and the person who might see someone walking around with a pistol. Whether or not that should be a concern is up for debate, but the fact remains that some people just don’t want to open carry.

You need to leave it in your car while conducting business.

Perhaps you have your concealed carry permit, but what happens when you need to head into a school for a parent-teacher conference? Schools don’t allow you to bring a firearm onto the premises, regardless of whether you have a concealed carry permit or not. Neither do post offices, courthouses, or any other government buildings. At this point you’re going to have to leave your firearm in your car.

Reasons Against Keeping Your Gun in the Car

You can simply carry your firearm with you wherever you go.

Perhaps the best solution to the problem is being able to carry your firearm with you wherever you go. Once you get your concealed carry permit, all you need to do is grab one of our kydex gun holsters and you’re all set. You don’t have to worry about not being able to go about your day without your CCW right at your side.

You could have your firearm stolen.

This is perhaps the biggest argument for never keeping your firearm in your vehicle. What happens if someone smashes the window and steals your gun? Of course you’ll report it to the police and your insurance company, but it also means that someone out there is illegally carrying a firearm and that’s something no one wants. Even if your weapon is well hidden, there is still a chance that someone could break into your car simply to look for anything that’s hidden. Sometimes vehicles are just chosen at random, meaning that even if you do everything right, your gun could still be taken.

You could run into a huge problem.

According to an article on USA Carry, although “it has to be over 400 degrees inside your car in order for the ammunition to ‘explode’,” there are still plenty of reasons that you shouldn’t keep a firearm in your car. First and foremost is humidity, which can create a huge problem, particularly if you’re reloading your own ammo. They go on to note that “you might find a gun with a lot of rust on it after a summer of sitting in your vehicle,” making for a pretty compelling reason to avoid keeping a weapon in your car.

Our Takeaway

At the end of the day, the choice is up to you, but our opinion is that if you can, you should keep your firearm with you at all times. If you don’t yet have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, do a bit of research online, ask a friend who might be in the know, or head to your local firearms dealer to ask where you should start. When it comes right down to it, having a trusty weapon resting securely in one of our kydex gun holsters seems to be the way to go. Find the one you like the best and place your order today!