Quote Originally Posted by wctriumph View Post
I NEVER leave a gun unattended anywhere outside the home, if no one is home, all guns in the safe. I don't have any firearms related stickers on my vehicles to alert any thugs that there might be a gun in the vehicle. I have had my truck broken into twice when I used to have a NRA decal in the back window, nothing stolen but all the places where a gun might be hidden were opened along with a broken driver side window smashed out. I removed the sticker and no smashed windows since. This happened in a nice neighborhood too, not in the bad parts of town.
This. 100 times this...

The one time I had a truck broken into, I was out of town in the truck, and a friend had left a Ducks Unlimited Hat on the dash. Locking handle was wrenched out of place to be able to unlock the door, and the truck was ransacked. Nothing was stolen. Not the $10k of tools, the $4K of stereo I had in the truck, not even my 2 laptops. Every cubby was open, the laptop bags were dumped of everything, etc, but nothing was gone.

Stickers make you memorable and identifiable to other idiot drivers, and depending on the stickers, they open you up to potential smash and grabs.

As for when I travel, that depends on where I'm going, who's with me, and how long I expect to be gone.

Usually one of my carry pieces and extra mags.
If I'm going across country, and the laws permit, I take extra ammo.
When I am volunteering to drive all the youth from my church to a youth camp and be a counselor for a week? I take an easily hidden EDC, and then I have a pocket in my suitcase that holds something MUCH more effective in a controlled manner. No access to trigger or mag release when it is locked in, but I can get it out quickly.