I carry a box of 50 rounds in the console safe in my Tacoma all the time. That’s a carry over from an event about 40 years ago where a state trooper responded to a roll over semi truck accident with a load of injured and broken legged cattle in the pot belly trailer. He didn’t have sufficient ammo to put them all down humanely.
It was one of the trucks owned by my uncle’s company and company policy from that day forward was a .357 and a full box of ammo in every truck.
At least in cattle country, there are times when you need more ammo than you’d normally carry.
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I normally carry one of my normal every day handguns plus a reload in the form of a loaded magazine or speed loader. Plus the above mentioned box of ammo, almost always a condensed plain cardboard “repack” box. On a longer road trip I’ll carry a back up gun in an ankle holster, mostly because it’s easy to draw when buckle in a vehicle.
There have been a couple times during periods of widespread civil unrest where you might not know quite what you’ll find a couple days and a thousand miles later that I have taken a take down carbine or braced pistol.
But there are a few things that I think are far more important:
1) If you *knowingly* go someplace where you feel the need to be armed with multiple spare mags, and or a long gun etc, you need to seriously rethink your need to go there. If it’s just on the route to your destination, replan your route.
2) What ever you take, leaving it in the glove compartment or any other unlocked place in your vehicle during your over night stop is not an acceptable practice. Period. Full stop.
Yes, it’s technically “locked” in your car and criminals should be more considerate of your property rights, but as a responsible gun owner there should be more than an easily broken window between a thief and your gun(s). If we as a community refuse to be more responsible about preventing gun thefts, more laws will be passed to mandate it.
3) It’s never a good idea to alarm the public. For example, if I travel with something scary looking, whether it’s during a period with mass protests, during a period of time unrest might be expected (verdict expected in an inflammatory criminal case, etc), or just to shoot recreationally at my destination I try not to advertise it.
A plain looking take down case with no gun logos is ok.
Something like this Ukelele case is even better.
4) Plan your route around areas where whatever you are carrying isn’t legal. If you have to go through a jurisdiction where it isn’t legal, comply fully with 18 USC 926(A) and don’t do anything that might provide probable cause for a stop.
18 USC 926(A):
“Notwithstanding any other provision of any law or any rule or regulation of a State or any political subdivision thereof, any person who is not otherwise prohibited by this chapter from transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm shall be entitled to transport a firearm for any lawful purpose from any place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm to any other place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm if, during such transportation the firearm is unloaded, and neither the firearm nor any ammunition being transported is readily accessible or is directly accessible from the passenger compartment of such transporting vehicle: Provided, That in the case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the driver’s compartment the firearm or ammunition shall be contained in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console.”
For those with poor reading comprehension and or who just read bullet points that means:
All firearms in question must be:
- unloaded;
- neither the firearms nor ammo can be readily accessible to the driver;
- they must be carried in a compartment in the vehicle separate from the driver’s compartment (trunk, etc);
- if no separate compartment is available they must be carried in a locked container; and
- cannot be carried in the glove compartment or center console, even if they are locked.
In addition, case law has held that the individual must remain on a direct route to their destination. That means you can’t:
- deviate off your direct route to visit a tourist attraction;
- spend more than one night in the same location during your travel through the jurisdiction; or
- travel more than a reasonable distance off your direct route for fuel, food or over night lodging. (A “reasonable distance” is generally held to be about a mile.)
And again, it’s important not to do anything that might create probable cause for a stop, as many law enforcement officers in those jurisdictions are either honestly or willfully ignorant of 18 USC 926(A) and/or are quite happy arresting you and letting the desk sergeant or district attorney sort it out, pleading ignorance later, after your car has been towed, weapons impounded and booking you into the local jail.
