I find myself reveling in what was an incredible evening.  You see, I got to spend some great family time.  We weren’t sitting around the kitchen table playing cards or taking a trip to the zoo.  No, the whole family trundled out to our shooting range and had a blast shooting steel and paper targets.

My wife continues to hone her skills with her new Sig P250 and is becoming very comfortable with the controls and function of her first auto-loader and her carry gun.  My 13-year-old daughter is shooting a 4” Taurus Tracker.  I limit her to the .38 special loads but was mightily impressed with her competency.

My 15-year-old son loves to shoot.  As one might anticipate, he likes the more exotic weapons.  He had a great time shooting the Kel-Tec PLR16.  He was ripping off 30 round magazines of .223 in seconds and tearing holes in the center of the target at 20 yards.  For those of you that don’t know, the PLR16 is a pistol chambered in .223 and built off the same basic action as an AR-15.  It even takes AR magazines.  It’s a great little pistol that has become my truck gun.  I really like the firepower contained in the small package.

Some people may question the need for a truck gun or not even know the term.  I consider a truck gun any firearm that is kept in your vehicle for use during an emergency situation.  Since this is a pretty broad description, lets first look at the reasons one should have a firearm stored in their vehicle before considering what kind of gun to keep stashed away.

All I have to do is think back to the LA riots after the Rodney King verdict came out and picture the rioters pulling innocent bystanders out of their vehicles and badly beating or killing them to convince me I want as much firepower available should the worse case situation arise.  Consider the news stories over the past years concerning shooters loose on school campuses or tearing through office buildings.  While my truck gun, by definition, wouldn’t be with me in such situations if I were in a classroom or office, it is closer than it would be sitting at home in the safe.  What if you pulled up to your house some night and saw the door broken down and your teenage daughter had been home alone.  Yes, call 911, but you better believe that I’m headed straight into the house.  For those of us in rural America, the odd coyote circling the pasture during calving is a very real concern.  It also gives me an opportunity to arm a non-carrying friend or family member.  While my carry gun, currently a Springfield XD40, is always with me, I like having a more potent weapon available should the need arise.

Now that I’m convinced I need a gun with more stopping power or even just increased intimidation factor, what kind of gun should I be considering?  As in all situations, it depends on your specific circumstances and what you view as the greatest threat.  Are you more likely to need to knock down a coyote at 200 yards or defend yourself from a street gang?  There are some general assumptions that should be made, always considering what is permitted by local laws.

Your vehicle-stored weapon should have as much firepower as possible.  I really don’t consider a large caliber handgun with high capacity magazines as adequate, although it is better than nothing.  So that leaves us with either a rifle or shotgun.  Rifles can be unwieldy in the confines of a vehicle and are more difficult to hide away.  With that said, if you can stash away a .308 battle rifle such as an M1A1 or FN FAL with plenty of extra loaded magazines, you are way ahead of the game.  The shotgun you took duck hunting last fall also presents the same restrictions.

The ideal gun could be a high capacity carbine of rifle caliber such as an AR-15 or a Ruger Mini-14.  Both are compact and really pack a punch.  The availability of accessories such as high capacity magazines, collapsible stocks, and red dot scopes allows furtherer customization to suit your needs and desires.  A short-barreled home defense style shotgun can also be very potent and certainly has a huge intimidation factor.  Nothing increases the pucker factor for a bad guy intent on doing you harm like the universally recognized sound of racking a pump shotgun.  The problem with most shotguns is they don’t have detachable magazines and it is almost universally illegal to ride around with shells loaded into the tube, even if you don’t have one chambered.  This means you have to take the time to load prior to getting into action.  With a carbine or rifle, you can have all your magazines loaded and it takes just seconds to slap one into the mag-well and chamber a round.  Again, think about your needs and make a decision appropriate for you.

              

Check your local laws before making a decision.  In many areas, it is perfectly legal to have a rifle readily available and a number of magazines fully loaded…as long as the magazine isn’t inserted.  You might have to store them in separate locations, however.  Another consideration is whether you can stand to lose your truck gun if your car is ever stolen or broken into.  Nothing can ruin your day more than seeing a smashed window and finding your $2500 custom AR-15 missing.  A rifle hanging in the back window of your truck just screams, “Steal Me”.  Just as with all your firearms intended to defend your life, you must practice and become very proficient and skilled with your vehicle weapon, as it might be your last line of defense to some very scary situations.

When I took all these factors into consideration, I selected the Kel-Tec as my personal choice.  It meets my criteria for being of potent caliber, is even more maneuverable than a carbine, when topped with a red dot scope is very accurate, takes high capacity and readily available AR magazines and it didn’t cost a small fortune.  For me, it’s the perfect compromise.  Decide what your perfect compromise is and start carrying a truck gun today.