Is it safe to leave my shotgun in the car?
A reader is concerned about what to do with his gun when travelling. David Frost replies
Q: I travel quite a lot for my shooting and stay at a number of different hotels, some of which refuse to have guns on the property. Is it okay, legally, to break the gun in two, leaving one half in a locked car, and take the other into my room in a suitcase?
A:
Unless you can put the gun in a proper security container it is always desirable that it is broken down into at least two parts, so as to prevent loss of the whole.
Keeping the fore-end on your person and leaving the barrel in one place and the action in another is a sensible solution to your problem. Even if the hotel doesn’t mind guns being kept in rooms you must still not leave it all in one piece.
Gun security in your car – your responsibilities
The shooting season is now well underway and so I think that a timely reminder about gun security in your car…
Can you leave rifles and shotguns unattended in cars? Am I breaking the law?
I have just completed the DSC Level 1 and was told during the course that I am only allowed to…
Lock the car
The official guidance is that for short periods of absence from the vehicle any guns in it should be stowed out of sight and the car locked with the alarm (if fitted) set.
A key component such as the fore-end or bolt should always be removed from the gun and kept with you at all times.
Sadly cars are often broken into in car parks and several people have come to grief through not removing a key component. In these circumstances you may find yourself being treated more as a criminal than as a victim of crime.
