Master Instructor Gregg Ellifritz has been on a ‘Your car is not a holster!’ campaign for years, and I fully support the effort.

I’m, of course, a proponent of daily carry, as well as having life saving supplies and a long gun within one’s vehicle. However, securing firearms that are not directly under our control is a non-negotiable responsibility we all have. Stowing guns in glove compartments, center consoles, or stuffing them under seats is amateur hour. Proper safes are the order of the day!

I recently installed a pistol safe in the car of a relative who simply cannot get a firearm past security where they are employed. In an effort to maintain their own armed security as many hours of the day as possible, they came to the conclusion that carry back-and-forth to work was a must, especially considering the state of civil unrest we are now experiencing.  And, I concurred!

Traveling this Earth unarmed today is a risk I’m not willing to take, nor do I recommend anything less to others. But, we all have to be honest about the situations we find ourselves in that simply won’t allow for it, e.g. traffic court, or having business to attend to at the local county building, etc…

Leaving our firearms unsecured in a vehicle is not an option. All of us who own cars and carry guns need a lockable method of storage for our firearms beyond pressing the button on our key fob.

There are a plethora of available vehicle safes from a number of manufacturers, but, in my experience, this a “you get what you pay for” endeavor.

The safe I installed is made specifically for the vehicle, a Jeep Wrangler, by Tuffy Products, and mounts directly under the driver’s seat. It has a key lock, and once opened, allows a drawer to be pulled out between the drivers feet. The drawer offers plenty of room for multiple holstered handguns and spare magazines to be properly secured. The safe mounting brackets are spaced to match the seat mounting bolts, so no drilling or modifying was required. The entire affair took 10-minutes to accomplish! Price with shipping was $130.

Drawer is only open half way – it will pull out almost to the brake peddle.

Tuffy makes a long box that mounts under the rear seat of the Wrangler that will offer a secure method of storing some long guns. My relative is looking into purchasing that, as well.

Obviously this will not prevent theft should the vehicle be stolen, however, I think this is a practical compromise that even most non-gun owning persons would see as a responsible and reasonable effort that goes well beyond just locking one’s doors.

Final note, safes that are not vehicle specific can be pressed into service by attaching them to seat mounts or inside of trunks with cables. I’ve actually seen smaller, stand alone home gun safes bolted back side down into truck and SUV beds as a makeshift truck vaults.

Use your imagination, or buy a make and model specific safe – either way, you need to do this NOW!