We were planning a trip to California from Washington in our pickup truck. Knowing we couldn’t legally carry our handguns concealed in California, we looked up the laws. We found out we could carry our handguns locked in a container in the car (Transporting Firearms in California). That’s really the only reason we bought the Personal Car Vault from Bulldog Cases & Vaults.
We found Bulldog Personal Car Vault on sale at a local sporting goods store. We just wanted a small one. While this one is small and easily hidden, it had room for both my handgun and my husband’s. It comes with a mounting bracket so that you can mount it if you would like. We didn’t want to, and simply removed the mounting bracket and used the heavy duty cable to secure it in our pickup.
The Personal Car Vault measures 11.3 inches by 6.9 inches by 2.5 inches. The interior is 10 inches by 6.4 inches by 2 inches. It is thin enough that it can easily fit under a seat. It comes with a heavy duty cable, which we wrapped around the truck seat brackets to keep it secure. The key is small and takes up very little space on a keyring, which we kept close and handy in case we needed to access our handguns quickly. (As quickly as can be done when you’re in a state that requires you to restrict your own access to them).
While we didn’t like not being able to carry while in California, we did find that having the security of locking our handguns in the vault felt pretty good. After that trip we both decided that we liked the Bulldog Personal Car Vault well enough that he kept that one in his truck, and I bought another one for my car. We just really liked being able to securely lock up our guns if needed, such as going to a casino or into the bank or post office.
Of course the vault could be used for any other number of items such as extra cash you may want to take on a trip but not carry on your person.
Before this experience, I never really thought about the need for any kind of safe for the car. I prefer to keep my gun on me. But now that I have the Bulldog Personal Car Vault, I find that this simple $37 item gives me great peace of mind to know it’s in my car whenever I need it.
Images taken by David Keaton
