I am new to USCCA as well as this community however I feel this is the best place to ask these questions.
Thank you all in advance for the good/bad/indifferent opinions, I am interested in the response.
I use a console vault. It fits the console of my F150.
Very secure. I would recommend it.
Console vault is popular:
https://www.consolevault.com/shop-by-vehicle.html
I was also interested, specifically in automobile console gun safes, but everything I’ve seen are built for trucks/heavier vehicles.
I ended up just getting a Hornady Alpha Elite lock box for the trunk.
If you are looking for an affordable option, I use a Kaer Biometric safe from Amazon. It comes with a cable that should be secured to the frame of your car for optimum security. It also fits under the passenger or diver seat for easier access if needed. The fingerprint scanner also makes it easy to access and it opens quickly every time. I have had mine for over a year now and I have replaced the batteries once.
I’m not sure of any discounts that USCCA offers for safes. There is a page on the site called “Perks and Discounts” where you can find all te discounts we have access to though.
Welcome to the club and I hope this helps.
Since I have a CCW permit, I don’t regularly need to secure my firearm in the car. A recent trip to a GFZ made me visit a local Harbor Freight to buy a $20
portable lockbox. It did the job.
A lock box often helps if you are crossing state lines.
I use the locking box with cable from Harbor Freight. Simple, and low cost, with key I keep on my car key ring. Fancy fingerprint electronic lock boxes (which are popular) are not worth my time.
Only use it when essential that I leave the gun behind at a planned destination, like a Post Office. Although I have cabled it to the driver seat and left it under the seat, it is a bit (but not much) more secure in the trunk.
Advice 1; NEVER leave a gun in the lockbox in the car overnight.
Advice 2: avoid unholstering and storing in the box where you can be seen by others in the parking lot. Best to move it from carry to lockbox at a separate location, then go directly to your prohibuted place. The trade-off is that you will be unarmed for that trip until you can safely and legally re-arm.
My lock box is large enough to accommodate my holstered firearm, and two spare mags. Consider the dimensions you require when purchasing a lock box.
I use a Strike, Kwick Strike Rapid Deployment safe in my Ram. They run from $250 to $300 depending on site or sales. Tacticalshit.com usually sells them for $240 to $250. I used to use a drop down pistol safe(union safe co.) when I had my 2500HD and more room. They work good if you have room for them and I think Harbor Freight has them for under $100.
Excellent plan. Much safer to move the holstered gun than an open firearm.
Welcome
I’ll put another vote out there for console vault.
Welcome
Welcome!
I like this for a simple, inexpensive, effective (smash and grab resistant, probably requires a tool to get it) under the seat, attached to the seat frame, option.
https://www.center-of-mass.com/car-lockers/
I even had a pistol in one of those under my seat when my vehicle (and several others) was broken into in a parking lot. As far as I can tell, they didn’t even know the safe was there let alone take it/open it.
Tuck it up under the seat and use the cable to attach it to the seat frame. For me this is either short term storage when i am going somewhere that I can’t bring a gun inside, a car gun to leave when flying in case the one I check doesn’t make it back, or just an extra
For me, that was finding a box with a sufficient inside height. Mine is 2.25 inches. Holds holstered firearm snugly without requiring force to close.
just saw a report that a federal judge has said that the post office denying your right to carry is UN-Constitutional???
guess we wait to see where this goes???
Here is an article about the case:
Ban on guns in post offices is unconstitutional, US judge rules - January 16, 2024
As a single trial-level case this has no precedential value, even in other courts in Florida. We will have to wait for appeals to go up the court ladder. As @OldDude49 said, “wait and see”
Interesting that the defendant was a postal worker, and he still has to face charges on fleeing the feds who tried to arrest him for carrying at work.