Arizona Rifleman had a gun stolen:
However, they also stole my Glock 19 pistol (9mm, serial MLV023). It had a full magazine of Federal HST JHPs.
I normally take both the computer and gun inside at night, but I was going to have a drink or two with friends last night so I left it in the car to be responsible. That seems to have been not a good idea in this particular case.
I’m not sure what Arizona law in particular is on this matter, but in Pennsylvania there’s no legal limit or restrictions on drinking while carrying, short of what a sheriff will revoke your LTC for. The best place for the gun is on your person, or in a safe. While not mixing guns and alcohol is probably the best bet, if you’re sober enough to drive a car, you’re sober enough to keep the gun on you rather than leave it in a vehicle.
Leaving guns in cars is a bad idea, and our opponents never realize what happens when the laws they advocate promote that habit. They’d prefer people not carry a gun at all, but people can and do carry guns legally. What is going to happen when the law bans guns from certain places, is guns are going to get stolen from cars and end up on the black market.
Arizona Rifleman thought he was doing the responsible thing, but the truth is I’d rather someone have a few drinks and have a gun on them, than to leave the gun in the car. The risk of the gun getting stolen out of the car is a lot higher than the risk of an accidental shooting. We’ve been conditioned into believing that somehow people under 0.08 BAC are sober enough to drive a 2 ton bludgeon down the road at 60 miles an hour, but too irresponsible to keep a gun on their side. This is nonsense.
Our opponents need to accept they have irrevocably lost the guns in public argument, and start thinking about how we can keep people from leaving guns in cars.
(Oh, and PS, banning guns in cars is not the answer)
UPDATE: I should note that the circumstances here were a bit different than I had assumed. See Arizona Rifleman’s comment below. Arizona law here was not an issue, and under the circumstances, I think he made the correct decision, except for hindsight.
In order to carry into a restaurant that serves alcohol, you must carry concealed and have a CCW permit. You may NOT drink any alcohol.
I appreciate the publicity, but I may not have been clear in the original post: I wasn’t at a bar, I was staying at a friend’s house for the week and the drinking was taking place in the house.
Since they were kind enough to let me stay for the week, I try to keep things clean by keeping my things in the car. Normally I also bring the laptop bag and gun inside, but it seemed more sensible to keep them locked in the car to keep the computer and gun away from potentially drunk people for that night. I was evidently wrong.
I’m a staunch supporter of the right to bear arms and support groups like the NRA, SAF, and the VCDL. But sometimes I don’t understand the apathy of some gun owners when it comes to securing their firearms properly, especially in politically precarious times as these.
If you frequently travel by car and have a firearm, why not install some kind of lock box in the car that is bolted to frame in the trunk? Or even a simple cable lock that secures the gun to the car’s interior exposed chassis in the trunk.
At least make it damn difficult for them to remove that firearm from the locking device, hopefully to the point where the gun is damaged and thus inoperable.
“While not mixing guns and alcohol is probably the best bet, if you’re sober enough to drive a car, you’re sober enough to keep the gun on you rather than leave it in a vehicle.”
Bad analogy.
With driving, when you drink in a bar, you can be over the legal limit while inside the bar. As long as you’ve sobered up by the time you go back into the parking lot and get behind the wheel, you’re fine.
If you carry into the bar, you’re still inside the car. You shouldn’t go over the limit at any point. I supposed you could drink very carefully, but it’s better not to consume at all.
Nick: I agree. I don’t normally store guns in my car. This was a one-night thing. If I was doing this regularly, I would definitely have secure storage in the car.
I was not meaning to fault Arizona Rifleman for his behavior. What he did was eminently reasonable under the circumstances. It’s our opponents that are unreasonable.
I hated leaving my gun in the car in the State House parking garage. Much better now that we can carry them around inside. Though, a lot of transplanted Massachusetts GFW’s are having a hard time dealing with the wild west killing zone we’ve supposedly created.
Nick,
Don’t blame the victim, dude.
Slightly off topic – why drink anyways? (unless you have heart problems)
And college campuses are guilty of this crime, too, by forcing peaceable gun owners to not have constructive possession of their firearms.
ACO: Because gin and tonics are delicious. Good scotch is also yummy.
Slightly off topic – why drink anyways?
Blasphemy! He’s a witch! Burn him!
Hmmmm….can you say, “religious convictions?!?!?!?!”
*turns everyone into newts
I don’t see the big deal about having a few drinks with a gun secured to the hip, as long as you keep it there and avoid trouble.
Going to the pistol range while drinking is an entirely different story…….
“beware of strong drink. It may entice you to shoot at tax collectors – and miss!”
– LL
If you carry into the bar, you’re still inside the car. You shouldn’t go over the limit at any point.
Not so. Having a gun securely holstered while you refrain from fiddling with it is nothing like operating a car. You aren’t “mixing guns and booze” until you’re drunk with the gun in your hand.
The antis love to conflate _possessing_ a gun while under the influence with _operating_ a car under the influence, figuring that a drunk person won’t retain the judgment necessary to refrain from drawing his gun, but this is a fundamentally broken assumption. Carrying a holstered gun while drinking in a bar is equivalent to carrying your car keys while drinking in a bar. If you exercise extremely poor judgment, somebody’s gonna get hurt, but the overwhelming majority of people don’t have such poor judgment. It’s appropriate to punish people for operating cars or waving guns around while drunk. It’s not so appropriate to punish them for having the potential to do so.