Friends want to stop at a bar, where do you put CCW?

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Knightrider_85

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Here in Montana we cannot legally carry in bars or restaurants with a liquor license so obviously that is a lot of places a person can end up for dinner. This usually isn't a problem until you ride with someone else.

I had my CC weapon with me the other night, when my wife and I went out with some friends to some stores and stuff, but then the friends wanted to go to dinner at one of the liquor license restaurants. We were riding in their car. I had to sneak my pistol into a hiding spot in a cubbyhole in the backseat of their car where I was sitting. I didn't want to announce to the whole world, "Hold on, I'm putting my gun away."

How do you guys handle stuff like that? Pretty much the same way or does anyone have any suggestions for those scenarios?

Hopefully, Montana will change that law to no longer apply to restaurants, but until then it is what it is.

Are your states like that or different?

Thanks!
 
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Thankfully, I haven't encountered that specific situation. If I did, I would have slipped the gun in my wife's purse and told her to ask the driver if she could lock her purse in the trunk. She doesn't ordinarily like carrying her purse around. In exchange, she makes me carry her lipstick in my pocket.:o
 
Wyoming is BAR ONLY, restaurants that serve booze is exempt.

I don't drink much so it doesn't effect me. The LEOSA says "intoxicated" not drinking.

There was court case where SD tried to nail a cop involved in a shooting in Sturgis. The shooting was justified but they tried to nail the Out of State-Visiting LEO from Seattle for drinking while carrying.

That case got thrown out because the LEOSA exempted him from the SD law about drinking while carrying, He wasn't intoxicated.
 
My state (Florida) prohibits carry in bars, but not in restaurants where alcohol is served; we ask not to be seated in the bar areas of restaurants like Chili's or Applebee's and we are probably OK, although the law is less than crystal clear.

The closest I have come to your situation is going to a college football game. Carry at the stadium is prohibited, but we obviously want to have a firearm on a three-hour drive to and from the game. I have just told the friends who drove that I wanted to leave something in the trunk. They are friends I didn't mind knowing, close enough to already be aware that I had a permit, and they were discrete. If the people you were with were not close enough to have that knowledge, the way you handled it was good; I can't come up with another idea that would preserve your secret while complying with your local laws.
 
I was in a similar situation a couple of weeks ago. I was with 2 good friends going to visit someone in a hospital. One knew I had a permit, the other did not. I simply told the driver that I have a handgun and I NEED to lock it in the glove box. I would have never left a handgun in the car unsecured. I realize that I was in an easier situation because I was with good friends, but a reasonable person knows there are people out there with legal carry firearms and they should appreciate the fact that you follow the law and keep everything safe as possible.

I've had my permit for nearly 10 years and would have liked to keep that fact on the down low, but eventually you will be discovered. For example, my sister found out when my handgun was exposed as I reached for my wallet in a restaurant a couple of months ago.
 
I installed a console vault in my truck - it's like a gun safe in between the two front seats. I put the gun in the safe and lock the truck.

I generally don't drink either when I'm carrying any firearm. But there are places in my state where guns are not legal to CCW, and in those cases I use the console vault. Here is a link:

http://www.consolevault.com/
 
I just order ice tea and offer to drive.

edit: To be helpful; I'm in a similar situation when I have to walk up to my boy's school to claim him when he's done for the day. In that case, I usually unholster and lock my pistol in the glove compartment, remove the mag and lock it. That way no one sees me lock it where I park.

The system is not perfect, but I'm only out of the car for 10 mins; if someone does decide that they want to break into my papa crap-mobile and then the glove box, they get my pistol, but no ammo.
 
If what I saw in Montana was true of the whole state, then everywhere to eat is a bar. And no sweet tea or grits either.
Here in Va we can take them in a place that sells alcohol as long as we don't drink.
 
I had to sneak my pistol into a hiding spot in a cubbyhole in the backseat of their car where I was sitting. I didn't want to announce to the whole world, "Hold on, I'm putting my gun away."
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I probably would have done the same thing. At least you were trying to be right with the law, might have had second thoughts if someone decided to enter the restaurant and shoot up the place.
 
doofus47, oh man oh man. I would never disarm in that situation. I don't care what sign is posted. No one chooses how I defend my life or loved ones. Especially to a life that they, themselves did not give me.
 
My state (Florida) prohibits carry in bars, but not in restaurants where alcohol is served; we ask not to be seated in the bar areas of restaurants like Chili's or Applebee's and we are probably OK, although the law is less than crystal clear.
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You are fine, no law against having a beer or whatever while there either.

doofus47, oh man oh man. I would never disarm in that situation. I don't care what sign is posted. No one chooses how I defend my life or loved ones. Especially to a life that they, themselves did not give me.
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Guess you wouldn't be eating out much while in Montana
 
I think leaving your gun hidden in someone elses vehicle without asking is potentially very problematic... could easily escalate into a situation far worse than owning up to the delimma.

the only solution is to not carry when out with friends that you cant trust with your little secrete.
 
Ohio now allows without drinking.
Before allowed I was once out with a family member and left it in their glove box. Then forgot to get it out when we left. About two hours later, 1030PM, at home I finally realized I'd forgotten to retrieve it.
I also realized they worked at a school and would unknowingly be driving to a school with a gun in their glovebox the next morning. Guess who's garage I snuck into in the middle of the night.
 
Constantine said:
doofus47, oh man oh man. I would never disarm in that situation.
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I believe doofus47 was talking about being on school property. In my state, that is a BIG DEAL. I forget the exact penalty but I recall from my CCW class that it was pretty severe - up there with toting into a courthouse or police station.
 
I think the OP was more focused on the question of etiquette, about leaving a firearm in another person's vehicle, and not about what to do with your gun if going where you can't carry when dirving your own vehicle. We all have means to handle that.

Personally, I feel that if need to stash your weapon in somebody else's vehicle, it is time to inform them of it, as they could end up sharing some repsonsibility for it. I have no problem with people lawfully carrying in my vehicle, but I dang well want to be informed if it is left behind in my vehcile. It's my vehicle, and I have a right to know, as it will allow me to make responsible decisions to better secure your weapon. For starters, I'd gladly open the trunk, the most secure location in the vehcile, and I'd never allow someone to put in the glove box - the first place anyone would look for items to steal.
 
doofus47, oh man oh man. I would never disarm in that situation. I don't care what sign is posted. No one chooses how I defend my life or loved ones. Especially to a life that they, themselves did not give me.
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I had to pick up papers at the Clerk of Courts office yesterday. When an armed deputy is stationed at the metal detector you walk through, someone WILL choose how you defend my life or loved ones, and you WILL leave your weapon behind. Heck I had to walk back to my vehicle and drop off my keys because I had a tiny 1" blade pen knife on the key chain. The deputy and I both got a chuckle because the keys were far "deadlier" than the tiny pen knife. :rolleyes:
 
Some good suggestions. Keep it locked in the trunk or glove box. Don't bring it into the bar and you can't get into trouble.
:)
 
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