Just needed to tell this story...and there's at least one thing that I learned from it that I'll share.
I've had a concealed carry permit for about five years now. My first carry weapon was a Bersa 380 and I really liked it. I work at a bank though, so it's understandable that I can't carry it into work with me. So, for the longest time I would lock my gun in my glove compartment, leaving it in my locked car in the parking deck.
That is, until about three years ago when my car along with a sting of others, was broken into, and my glove compartment crowbar'd open...the gun, gone. First note... record all of your guns' serial numbers and keep them in a safe (and private) place...which I had done, and then after immediately reporting the theft, where they came and finger-printed me, and dusted the car, I went home and called in the serial number of my gun. The police though, weren't very optimistic that I'd ever see that gun again.
Until a few days ago when I got a call from a police detective. My gun had been recovered from the scene of a drug related double-homicide. Fortunately, it appears that my gun was in the possession of one of the victims, and had not been used, at least in this incident. Now there will be ballistics tests and checks for matches against unknown 380 rounds spent elsewhere at God knows what other crime scenes. And months where my gun will live in an evidence bag... until eventually, I'm told, it will be returned to me.
The primary lesson here for me is now obvious... a locked glove compartment is about the most stupid place there is to secure a gun in your car. A locked glove compartment pretty much tells a thief that there must be something inside worth stealing.
I now stash my carry gun inside a pouch I've sewn in the back of the front passenger seat. I split the seam on the back left side of the seat, sewed in a heavy cloth pouch, and sealed the slit opening with Velcro.
One tends to go into over-kill when one's been violated.
I've had a concealed carry permit for about five years now. My first carry weapon was a Bersa 380 and I really liked it. I work at a bank though, so it's understandable that I can't carry it into work with me. So, for the longest time I would lock my gun in my glove compartment, leaving it in my locked car in the parking deck.
That is, until about three years ago when my car along with a sting of others, was broken into, and my glove compartment crowbar'd open...the gun, gone. First note... record all of your guns' serial numbers and keep them in a safe (and private) place...which I had done, and then after immediately reporting the theft, where they came and finger-printed me, and dusted the car, I went home and called in the serial number of my gun. The police though, weren't very optimistic that I'd ever see that gun again.
Until a few days ago when I got a call from a police detective. My gun had been recovered from the scene of a drug related double-homicide. Fortunately, it appears that my gun was in the possession of one of the victims, and had not been used, at least in this incident. Now there will be ballistics tests and checks for matches against unknown 380 rounds spent elsewhere at God knows what other crime scenes. And months where my gun will live in an evidence bag... until eventually, I'm told, it will be returned to me.
The primary lesson here for me is now obvious... a locked glove compartment is about the most stupid place there is to secure a gun in your car. A locked glove compartment pretty much tells a thief that there must be something inside worth stealing.
I now stash my carry gun inside a pouch I've sewn in the back of the front passenger seat. I split the seam on the back left side of the seat, sewed in a heavy cloth pouch, and sealed the slit opening with Velcro.
One tends to go into over-kill when one's been violated.