Truck Gun Safe Ideas

[JimmyUnderwood]

I've been trying to come up with a good idea for transporting CAS firearms to shooting events. For those of you who drive a truck (myself, have a domestic diesel one, flatbed, with a medium sized camper on top), what solution have you gotten to that you feel good about?
Since (in my state, at least) you can't have the guns in the cab, can't have them in the camper either, my thinking is that it would be best to devise some sort of highly secure, lockable drawer that can be installed under the flatbed. I saw someone a few years back with a similar deal, and it looked pretty good to me and gave him peace of mind.

Please pour forth your ideas, experiences, feedback, information and whatever else you can think of on this subject.

Jim

P.S. BTW, this is my first post here and am totally impressed with how great this forum is. So glad to have found you!  

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Hi,

Although this is not a drawer, add a couple of cheap locks and it passes TSA flight regs ... locked I believe you can carry it in your passenger side if you like ...and it holds Three long guns of your specification and four or six pistols with all the ammo you would need for a day or so of shooting ....

http://catalog.americase.com/rifle-cases/AT-FULLHOUSE.aspx

I have ordered one just for protecting my guns on the way to a shoot  or if I plan to carry guns on a flight ....

[JimmyUnderwood]

WWE, thank you for sharing...it looks like a great gun case!
That surely passes TSA flight regs ... but certainly not California's (I noticed you are from there) laws relative to the transportation of firearms in a motorvehicle, which require the guns to be first locked in a case, then locked in the trunk. There's nothing even remotely resembling a trunk in a truck with a camper on it, hence the idea of coming up with an under-bed, lockable, high-security drawer (basically a motorvehicle gun safe, by definition, not dissimilar to those used by various police special units) which would satisfy both the locked case and locked trunk law requirements.

Hopefully, there will be SASS members who drive a truck with a camper to CAS events (which is what I plan to do) willing to share with us how they do it in accordance to the applicable laws of states as gun-unfriendly as California...  

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Jimmy Underwood,

The Sass case is all aluminum clad and has those hasps for those cut little TSA locks ... and yes, technically they are not legal to transport ... but having friends who are 2nd generation highway patrol, I think that what they are looking for is some one who is sane enough to store their guns and ammo where it is not available.

And the few times that I have been pulled over when I was carrying to a shoot, the first words out of my mouth were that I had weapons, they were locked up, and I was going to a shoot.

Most police are trying to keep from being shot, I understand, and will do my part to show that I am peaceful.

For those anal few, I will talk with my friends .... *S*

[Fingers McGee]

Truckvault

www.truckvault.com

[Modoc]

Jimmy,

Could you please link to the related regulations about this?

It has not been jiving with what local constables and lawwranglers have been presenting at the firearms safety courses (Instructor is THE marshal).

It has been Long guns cased with NO ammunition, Handguns in a Locked case and Ammunition stored in a separate and lockable case.

Is this a Local County/City ordinance?

This is what I found from the Attorney General's office.
http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/travel.php

[JimmyUnderwood]

For those anal few, I will talk with my friends .... *S*

That's them I'm worried about ... more numerous than you'd think ... and *can* be bad medicine in badlands....

[JimmyUnderwood]

Truckvault

www.truckvault.com

Yea, drawers like that, but made to be under the flatbed, since the camper is on top.

[JimmyUnderwood]

Jimmy,

Could you please link to the related regulations about this?

It has not been jiving with what local constables and lawwranglers have been presenting at the firearms safety courses (Instructor is THE marshal).

It has been Long guns cased with NO ammunition, Handguns in a Locked case and Ammunition stored in a separate and lockable case.

Is this a Local County/City ordinance?

This is what I found from the Attorney General's office.
http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/travel.php

I'll have to find it and post it tomorrow ... in the golden state, with guns, you wanna do it according to Hoyle...

[JimmyUnderwood]

I'll have to find it and post it tomorrow ... in the golden state, with guns, you wanna do it according to Hoyle...

Modoc,

I don't have the info I was referring to readily available and certainly don't have a lot of time on my hand to be searching extensively for it. The basic info provided by your link confirms what you stated in your post, but, as I recall, there were some important considerations that led me to the conclusion that I needed to install a special under-bed gun vault. For one, I drive a regular cab truck (no back seats) and one of the requirements is that the locked gun container should not be easily accessible by the driver or passengers while in the vehicle (in my reg cab truck, the locked gun case would be basically sitting on my lap). Also the guns cannot be locked in a vehicle compartment (utility, glove compartment, etc.) but must be in a detached container that is not part of the vehicle.

Besides, if I recall correctly, there were rules concerning the interstate transportation of firearms that would not make it a good idea to transport the guns in the camper. The safest/most obvious choice for the majority of CAS participants is likely to be storing the gun cases in the vehicles' trunks, given that, as stated in a related thread I just came across a few moments ago,

"California gun law is ambiguous, confusing, ridiculous and too often misunderstood by "highly trained" Law Enforcement and even local District Attorneys. You can search for hours trying to make sense of seemingly contradictory sections of the code, and then you might have to deal with someone else's different interpretation."

So, after reading A LOT on this subject, I have come to believe that for someone like me who intends to transport his CAS firearms across state lines in a reg cab truck which carries a camper, an under-bed, properly secured gun vault is likely to make the best choice of all, also when taking into consideration the peace of mind such choice affords (no gun cases in sight that would attract unwanted attention and the guns being well protected in anti-theft devices built specifically for that purpose).

[Modoc]

You have some valid points.  Are you talking about a cab over, self contained camper or a shell?  Most of the shooters that I know use travel trailers and have the firearms locked in the trailer while traveling.  That would be as inaccessible as the trunk of the sedan.  Being in Northern CA, there are a LOT more shooting sports friendly (aware) officers than other parts of the state.  The general rule of thumb had been Empty, cased and behind the seat: since you had to get out of the seat, unlatch the seat, open the case and then load the firearm, add one step if a lock is also used.

As to your safe idea.  It is a good one if you are going to be keeping the vehicle for a long time.  Having built several flat beds for ranch trucks myself, I believe that it will be a custom fabrication job.  One option would be to build it so that it works as a tray that slides between the structural rails and locks.  The second is to raise the floor surface of the bed by building a full width and length "box". like making it a double floor.  This would be easier fabrication wise and give you more room to work with.  Not to squash your ideas, but my big concerns are water and dust/dirt.  I have only seen the bed safe shown above inside a standard bed with camper shell or torneau cover the top and the tailgate to hide the doors.  How will this be sealed to keep said dust and water out? 

For what we do, my family travels in a crew-cab Pick-up with an 8-1/2' self contained cab over camper and what we have done is to put a hasp on one of the closets and store all of the cased firearms in there under lock and key.  Out of sight and secure.    Besides, anyone getting in has to get past the dog also.  Ammunition is in locked ammo cans inside a tool box on the utility trailer being towed behind.   This set-up has been from San Luis Obispo, CA to Spearfish, SD and back the long way with no issues.

Good luck with which ever path you take, I am off to do some reading on this now.

[JimmyUnderwood]

The truck is almost new, so, yes, I plan to keep it for a long time. It was bought with no bed on it (chassis only) and I later installed a flatbed ... and my 8-1/2' self-contained pop-up cab over camper (a pretty light one, XPCamper-like, if you are familiar with that type) sits on top of it. Thank you for sharing your valuable information. I'll check again on those rules/laws concerning the possibility of storing the firearms in the camper while traveling; however, I must keep in mind that this ain't Northern CA (I'm in the LA area, which is the most gun-unfriendly part of the state) and folks around here who are into guns must go the extra mile to avoid the potential legal issues mentioned in my previous post.

I agree an under-bed gun vault would be best built as a custom fabrication job, but, as I see it, building it under-the-bed is a more preferable, more feasible option for me than raising the bed's surface at this point ... since the camper now fits very nicely on top of the flatbed as is and I like the idea of keeping a low center of gravity. There's really no need for much space when all you have in mind is a secure drawer for the guns. The water and dust/dirt issue is easily circumvented, I think, by building an airtight metal box ... the drawer housing the firearms will then slide into it. The picture below will give you an approximate idea of what I'd like to accomplish.



Should you come across any new/valuable info in the course of your reading, by all means please share it here.

Also, if anyone feels like contributing further ideas and suggestions (pictures?) on fabricating an under-bed  truck gun vault, that will be surely much appreciated ...  

[cpt dan blodgett]

Might get thru any and all checkpoints and road blocks with guns on the floor of back seat (assuming club or crew cab) and a 200 lb Rotti in the back seat.  Just saying.  Actually any locked container will meet fed rules.  Guns unloaded, safest to store ammo separately.

Look up McClure Volkner act.

[Lumpy Grits]

Just make sure the exhaust pipe(s)arn't real close to that bx.
LG

[Lumpy Grits]

FWIW: I have "carried", in my Lance camper, firearms all over this country. I have NEVER had any issues at any time(state AG cks and state border crossings cks)because they were in locked containers(Americase, Pelican etc). That includes this nutty state.
I also carry with me my proof of ownership of said weapons.
WHY, does the OP think you CAN'T have firearms kept/stored in the living area of your RV?
Respectfully,
LG

[Two-Step]

Okay, so I know that this is an old post. But, I just recently saw it and that it was recently commented on. So, I figured that I would go ahead and contribute to the thread....

Fist, let me say that the very idea of it being against the law to transport firearms in a camper sounds ridiculous to me, mainly because I simply don't see the point in such an asinine law. I don't know what state you are in but your states law writers must be flamboyantly stupid and proud of it. How can they even pretend to justify such a law?

The above rant having been said in consideration of your dilemma regarding the "no gun in the camper" law, I think that I would probably consider a lockable truck tool box, hopefully one made of steel. I would probably go ahead and lock bolt it to the bed and line the inside with padding. You could even go so far as to add custom slide shelving to hold smaller item.

Though the lockable tool box idea would probably not work very well with a camper shell in place. So, a modified version of the draw you provide a picture of might be necessary. My concern for this would be it interfering with spare tire placement... which is where a lot of folks tend to keep their spare tire. Also, how susceptible to damage would the drawer be, in the event that you went off road?

Also, something you might want to do is look up the law that states that you can not keep a firearm in your camper. Just because a police officer thinks it is against the law does not make it so. In my experience, many police officers don't have enough knowledge of the law to interpret it properly, they rarely have law degrees... that is why we have courts. In fact, we faced a similar "enforcement of misinterpretation of the law" incident in my home town. For years, people where being charged and fined, and in some cases put in jail because of a particular firearm crime, which did not actually exist. The city got pretty beat up over it and faced several law suits, dating back some 20+ years.

When I went to Arizona, from Arkansas, I called every State Police HQ that I would be passing through, to check on the legality of keeping a firearm in the car with me. They all told me that as long as the pistol was cased and unloaded, that I would be fine... also, I had to keep the ammunition in my glove box, not in the case with the pistol. How accurate their interpretation of the law was, I don't know... but, I wrote down the ST HQ officer that gave me the information just in case there was an issue.

[Lumpy Grits]

Check out the McClure Volkmer Act of 1986
Cheers,
LG

[Lumpy Grits]

Guess you didn't see the part about ......
INTERSTATE TRANSPORT then 
Cheers,
LG

[Lumpy Grits]

Told ya 

[Popa Kapoff]

My cuzin got one of these in his pick up and one in his patrol Tahoe. He said you to are not broken into it no matter how hard you try.