Hypthetical question...

[Andy Griffith]

Say one of your old friends accompanies you out for trip to town/store/Wal-Mart/etc.

You drive into town joking and laughing just like you always have a hundred times before- even been out shooting with him.

You decide to run into the store and get some coffee and sugar or whatever, and will only be a minute. You didn't even ask him to get out and even left the car running because you'd only be a minute- so you leave...

(This is where this story goes truly into a situation that I have never heard mentioned on here before.)

You always leave your CC pistol/revolver either under the seat, in the console or in the glovebox just the same way you have done it for years.

Would you leave him in the car like this? Even if he/she is one of your closest friends?

Let me say, that I am a proponent for a concealed carry piece being on a person and under direct control 100% of the time. (Not under the seat!)

 

[Dan Cash]

Having your friend in the car has nothing to do with leaving the gun behind. Only those with a death wish would run in to the C store without a gun. Leave an extra for your friend in case you need back up. Good Lord!

 

[Crazy K38]

well i always carry it on me so if by chance one of my good friends was left in the car with it she would never know because he believes I have it on me. further more most people don't know i carry, and I like it that way.

 

[gold40]

If I couldn't trust my friend with one of my handguns, I wouldn't consider him to be a friend. I would let my friends "borrow" a handgun anytime.

Are you afraid he will steal it, or that he will shoot someone?

gold40

 

[Frizzman]

A gun sitting in the car with a friend is useless as you know. Leaving any gun around anybody depends on the person. My best friend is also a gun person who carries all the time and I have shot and hunted with for 30 years. I have no concerns about him. With most other people, I would not leave it. They might be tempted to play with if they found it and a bad situation could occur.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

I'm going to assume here that there was an attempt to post a hypothetical asking about the relationship between guns and friendship and trust, since others have already pointed out several reasons why this probably wouldn't happen to me exactly the way you hypothesized it.

First off, in MA, it would be illegal unless the other person had a permit. I wouldn't do it if the other person didn't have a permit. Outside of MA, I would do it if my old-time friend knew what not to do with a gun. This includes most gun nuts, and non-gun people whose intelligence brings them to the level of a third-grader who has gone through the NRA's Eddie Eagle program. Most members of my family, living and deceased, fall/fell into this category. They weren't into guns, and were smart enough to keep their hands off them. There used to be whole States filled with people who either knew how to handle guns or knew that they didn't.

This is getting lengthy. Maybe I should have just quoted gold40 and said "+1."

 

[jframefreak]

I'd have taken it in the store with me, nothing to do with my friend. Stores in general are where you have the biggest chance of needing your piece for defense.

 

[gold40]

For "MODEL 520FAN" and others:

It is interesting how our state laws vary....

In my home state of Missouri, it is legal for ANYONE (non-felon) to have a loaded handgun ANYWHERE in an automobile. Any adult resident can purchase a handgun, rifle, or shotgun without any permit or license. We have a CCW permit law that is easy to obtain, and is a "must-issue" type law.

I'm glad to live where I do.

gold40

 

[ChadW]

I can't imagine ever leaving a gun in my car.. anywhere. I don't understand how people would carry a gun in the car and not on their person. You're stopped at a light in a bad part of town and someone comes up to your window.. WAIT! let me get to my glove box!... and why when getting out wouldn't you take it with you? What's the point in having a permit if you're just going to leave it in the car?

I know this is a hypothetical and all.. so I guess my answer to the general question is.. depending on who the friend was would determine how I felt about leaving them with a gun. I have a few friends who don't handle guns and wouldn't want to leave them with one.

 

[gold40]

In the Midwest, and South, many of us have a "Car Gun" that stays in the car, loaded, all of the time. I keep a CZ 9mm or S&W .38 in my car, in a pouch or holster between the driver's seat and the console. Others keep one under the front seat. Some use the glove box or center console storage for this purpose.

Usually these are very functional guns with blue wear or scratches that are worth around $300. If it were to be stolen someday, the financial loss wouldn't be severe.

Since I also have a CCW, there is usually another loaded handgun on my person.

 

[em-man]

I always tell my "friend" where my pistol is located. If I trust them enough to tell them, I trust 'em enough to help me if I can't get to it. Those are very few friends, 'tho.

"Hey Earl, there's a piece in the console if you need it".

"A piece of what"?

"How many time we gonna have this conversation? There's a gun in the console".

"What kind of fishing are we gonna do if we need three guns"?

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Originally posted by em-man:
Those are very few friends, 'tho.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Ain't supposed to be that way, though. It bothers me a little that there are people whom I associate with, and even rank above the average idiot, that still aren't even trustworthy with a loaded gun, much less trustworthy to do the right thing with it in a time of need. Maybe I am being unrealistic in my expectations.

 

[Grandma]

Originally posted by ChadW:
I can't imagine ever leaving a gun in my car.. anywhere. I don't understand how people would carry a gun in the car and not on their person. You're stopped at a light in a bad part of town and someone comes up to your window.. WAIT! let me get to my glove box!... and why when getting out wouldn't you take it with you? What's the point in having a permit if you're just going to leave it in the car?

In Florida you can carry in your vehicle loaded / unloaded as long as it is in the glove box, securly encased / not readily accessible with out a ccw permit. Since the election there is a huge backlog of ccw permit applications in this state so it is takeing well over the 90 days allowed by law to receive your CCW after sending in your paperwork, and until it arrives you cannot carry on or about your person, therefore it has to stay in the vehicle... just my reason for leaving my gun in my glovebox..... just until my ccw arrives.

 

[USAF385]

Originally posted by Grandma:
In Florida you can carry in your vehicle loaded / unloaded as long as it is in the glove box, securly encased / not readily accessible with out a ccw permit. Since the election there is a huge backlog of ccw permit applications in this state so it is takeing well over the 90 days allowed by law to receive your CCW after sending in your paperwork, and until it arrives you cannot carry on or about your person, therefore it has to stay in the vehicle... just my reason for leaving my gun in my glovebox..... just until my ccw arrives.

I agree with Chad. I have my permit and therefore carry ON my person all the time. I also was taught and trained to never leave a loaded gun out of my possession.

However, in Grandma's case, I can see her point. I would still be wary of leaving a loaded gun in my car, but it's better than nothing. Hopefully your wait will be over shortly!

 

[mississippi revolverman]

Seems like in S. Fla ever altracation I have had has been with Panhandlers at a Conv. Store or near an ATM machine. Therefore I always carry at these locations

 

[walnutred]

If I left my ccw pistol in the car with my best friend it would only be because for some reason I had borrowed his ccw pistol to run into the store.
And that would not make sense now would it.

 

[GatorFarmer]

I used to keep a "spare" gun in the glove box. In my case it was a really nice nickel (4") 19-2. Yeah, I know, sacriledge. Anyway, sure I'd leave it there if I just had to run in somewhere. At the time, anyone I trusted to be in my car pretty much knew it was there "just in case". Who knows, they might have needed it.

 

[FirebirdV8]

Besides the whole "car/truck gun" idea, there are someplaces you can't carry that can also be a quick stop. Say you stop by your PO Box at the post office when your buddy is in the car. Are you going to carry into a federal building with a no weapons sign posted, just to keep your handgun out of your friends reach? Of course, I have a locked steel case somewhere in my car for anytime my gun and I part company for long periods of time, but if it is just a quick stop the center console or glovebox works just as well.

 

[gunnut2u]

Anyone also in my car would know there is usually a loaded gun in the car.Some of them are not a very good shot so I have to remind them that if something happens,don't shoot me by accident. haha!gunnut2u

 

[safearm]

As others have stated, anyone that I allow into my car knows that I have a "car gun" in addition to the gun I'm carrying on my person. If I trust them enough to be in my car, I trust them enough with my gun.