[rellimpank]

—not originally—when I was a kid (60 years ago) , “uncased gun in vehicle” was probably the most common game law violation prosecuted.

—it was more of a safety measure , similar to the prohibition on leaning a firearm against a vehicle—

[marktwain]

So what was the purpose of the regulation? The western states never had that regulation, and did just fine. Having to load and unload everytime you get in and out of a car is very unsafe.

The regulation was put into place to give the game wardens an easy way to ticket people that they thought were poaching. I would bet that the first case regulation was a product of the game warden's lobby.