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Gun rack legality

8K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  James 
#1 ·
What is the legality of gun racks in your back window with a firearm secured in the rack?

Does it have to be unloaded?

You never see these anymore.
 
#2 ·
It isn't illegal. It's legal to have a gun in a car. You can have a gun loaded in the car. Though I wouldn't recommend having a loaded rifle or shotgun in the car at all. They don't have the same safeties that pistols do. I also would not suggest having a gun chilling in your car where people can see it. Stealing guns is one of the biggest reasons that people break into homes and cars.

If you are going to the range, then put it in your rack if you want. Just make sure that when you take it in that the action is open and the muzzle is pointed up.

Linkypants
Utah Code said:
76-10-505. Carrying loaded firearm in vehicle or on street.
(1) Unless otherwise authorized by law, a person may not carry a loaded firearm:
(a) in or on a vehicle, unless:
(i) the vehicle is in the person's lawful possession; or
(ii) the person is carrying the loaded firearm in a vehicle with the consent of the person lawfully in possession of the vehicle
;
(b) on a public street; or
(c) in a posted prohibited area.
(2) Subsection (1)(a) does not apply to a minor under 18 years of age, since a minor under 18 years of age may not carry a loaded firearm in or on a vehicle.
(3) Notwithstanding Subsection (1)(a)(i) and (ii), a person may not possess a loaded rifle, shotgun, or muzzle-loading rifle in a vehicle.
(4) A violation of this section is a class B misdemeanor.
 
#3 ·
Pay particular attention to (3) of the post immediately above--- withing the "linkypants" part

UNLESS you are exempt from that particular section of law (concealed weapons permit etc) it is ILLEGAL to have a loaded rifle, shotgun, or muzzleloaded in a vehicle!
 
#4 ·
JoeSparky said:
Pay particular attention to (3) of the post immediately above--- withing the "linkypants" part

UNLESS you are exempt from that particular section of law (concealed weapons permit etc) it is ILLEGAL to have a loaded rifle, shotgun, or muzzleloaded in a vehicle!
Right. Sorry, I should have noted that.

Sent from iSnurd
 
#5 ·
I heard this years ago and have no reason to doubt it's authenticity. Steve Ford, the son of former President Gerald Ford was in my town for a rodeo. The Secret Service was there and they were freaking out because of the many pickup trucks driving through town with guns in racks in the back window. The local police had to calm them down and explain that it was a normal thing here and no danger was present.

I still see some, but not as many as there were when I first moved here almost 30 years ago.
 
#7 ·
Snurd said:
Though I wouldn't recommend having a loaded rifle or shotgun in the car at all. They don't have the same safeties that pistols do.
Alright Snurd, I got to call you out on the safety comment. Any rifle or shotgun made in the last 100 years has some sort of safety most being a cross bolt safety that physically blocks the trigger from moving. So what about a long gun safety makes it unsafe to carry in a rig over a pistol? Most modern pistols have nothing but a heavy trigger pull or maybe a grip safety anyway. I'm pretty sure that most modern firearms whether long gun or handgun have some type of drop or sharp blow safeties.
 
#8 ·
muddy said:
Snurd said:
Though I wouldn't recommend having a loaded rifle or shotgun in the car at all. They don't have the same safeties that pistols do.
Alright Snurd, I got to call you out on the safety comment.
I'm not snurd, but from a 2007 Massad Ayoob article on gun safety.

Ayoob said:
The slide action shotgun is one of the most classic backwoods home firearms. It is customary to chamber a round and put the gun "on safe" when actually hunting with it. Problems rarely occur with this. However, I would strongly advise that the gun never be stored with a live shell in the chamber. The reason is that these guns are at least theoretically capable of firing if struck hard enough on either end. Once again, it is firing pin movement and "inertia discharge" that's at fault.

You would think that if anyone needed a shell in the chamber of their shotgun all the time, it would be a working police officer who can face a life or death gunfight at any moment. Yet, though the repeating shotgun was a standard law enforcement weapon throughout the 20th century and remains so today, you will never find a police department that authorizes carrying one in the patrol car with a chambered shell.

If the patrol car should hit something head on or be rear-ended, a shotgun in the trunk, whose muzzle has worked its way forward, can "impact fire" through the back seat and into the passenger compartment. If the gun is stored transversely, in a roof lock or along the front seat, the same thing can happen if the car is T-boned. Many patrol cars still have a carry system that used to be more common, with the gun racked vertically in plain sight in a lock attached to the dashboard, holding it muzzle up. The chamber will still be empty, because if in a high speed pursuit the vehicle crests too steep a hill or goes over a sidewalk and goes airborne, when it comes down it can hit with enough impact to bounce the firing pin upward toward the primer, with sufficient force to discharge a shell in the chamber.

Learn from the cops. If you carry a long gun loaded in your farm vehicle, load the magazine only and leave the chamber empty until it's actually time to shoot. This is even true of most bolt action sporting and target rifles.
In addition to whatever risk of an inertial discharge may be present, it seems to me that muzzle control on a long gun going into or coming out of a car is a lot more difficult than on a handgun. Plus, it is a lot easier to grab a long gun by either the barrel or stock and have the trigger concealed, than it is to do likewise with a handgun. This means a higher chance of something snagging the trigger as the gun is moved.

Charles
 
#9 ·
muddy said:
Snurd said:
Though I wouldn't recommend having a loaded rifle or shotgun in the car at all. They don't have the same safeties that pistols do.
Alright Snurd, I got to call you out on the safety comment. Any rifle or shotgun made in the last 100 years has some sort of safety most being a cross bolt safety that physically blocks the trigger from moving. So what about a long gun safety makes it unsafe to carry in a rig over a pistol? Most modern pistols have nothing but a heavy trigger pull or maybe a grip safety anyway. I'm pretty sure that most modern firearms whether long gun or handgun have some type of drop or sharp blow safeties.
Are you sure about that claim? That example is a manufacture failure, but what you claim is true about handguns, not about rifles or shotguns.
 
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