Posted on 12/06/2015 1:09:32 PM PST by w1n1
When I was a boy, every truck you saw in Texas (even in urban areas) seemed to have a gun rack in the back window with two or three different long guns proudly displayed on it. A rifle or two and a shotgun were not at all uncommon to see inside vehicle windows, but that definitely is now quite rare. While not illegal, people are more conscious of concealing their firearms in vehicles due to theft and urbanization (people aren't as used to seeing firearms in plain sight these days).
That said, just because you can't see them doesn't mean they aren't there. Many people I know have a designated "truck gun" that they don't mind being knocked around or subjected to lots of abuse, but picking one can be a little tricky. Several factors come into play when selecting one:
Are you in a rural or urban area?
Defense or pest control possibility?
Cost?
Likelihood of being stolen?
What are you familiar with? Read the information to these questions here, and what are you carrying in your truck?
Nice furniture on the SKS.
Used to have a Boat gun.
I’m from N Fla and when I was young everyone had one in their truck. The guys would park their trucks in the HS parking lot with guns displayed. Nobody thought anything about it.
When I was in elementary school, I had to go to the YMCA for swimming lessons. I did this three times a week, taking a city bus.
And pretty much every time I went, there were boys sitting in the back of the bus holding rifles. Sometimes in cases, sometimes not.
They were going to use the rifle range in the 'Y' basement.
This was in the mid-1960s, in Syracuse, NY. I am a witness.
Easy Rider rifle rack.
Yes everybody had guns, carried guns around and used guns. It was everyday activity. If you fired off your gun in your backyard nobody even bothered to look. They just figured you had a good reason like shooting a snake or a rat or something.
Kept an old 10-22 wrapped in old fender covers behind the seat, for those impromptu shooting sessions, shells and mags locked in the glove box.
Plus a dozen extra mags ;')
I the chapter I just read, the main character - a suburban homeowner, living in the fictitious New York suburb of Bullet Park - sees a large turtle lumbering across his back yard, gets a shotgun, and goes out and blasts it with multiple shots.
Interestingly, the story takes place also in the mid-1960's.
An old .22LR semiauto in the scabbard of the seat (typical Navajo blanket seat cover), and an old 357 mag tucked in the hole in the door post behind the seat (padded by the toilet paper that is always there too). Gotta have ‘em handy, as there are always varmints, or the occasional car hit deer/dog to put down...
They are both old guns, so I don’t mind if they get ripped off - not that they ever have been, or ever would, as my truck always looks the part of a sh*tbox, and no self-respecting thief would give it the time of day.
Anything else rides in the gun rack in the back window (but doesn’t stay there, which is good, because they block the beer-can window), or in the saw box, which has a tray fitted for rifles for that purpose, and is pretty bulletproof for lockup.
No one keeps their guns in the racks for long, at least not in town - crime stats took care of that... But it wasn’t always so - I remember when Jimmy Carter showed up in Hungry Horse for some reason up at the dam - SS about had a cow about it, because at the time, every pickup had guns in the racks...
If I had one, which I don’t, I would want a Rossi Model 92 in .357 Magnum.
I have that, 16” SS.
I like it a lot. Next is a 20” 44 Mag
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.