car gun stickers
Courtesy KHOU 11 and Twitter

We’re hearing this more often from police. They’re telling gun owners that certain stickers on your car (NRA, gun brands, something like this) make your vehicle a more likely target for criminals looking to steal a gun.

Last month the warning came from outside of Atlanta. A sheriff there said he’s seeing thieves focus on trucks with the stickers looking for a free firearm.

Now, it’s Houston where, according to KHOU 11, Chief Art Acevedo’s boys report more than 2000 gun have been stolen from vehicles this year, a big jump from last year.

“It’s not a good guy stealing your gun. It’s a bad guy using it for who knows what,” said Sgt. (Tracy) Hicks. “What is my gun being used for now? That’s scary.”

This seems like common sense. But even if your vehicle has no flag-raising stickers, there are times when you’re forced to disarm yourself and leave your firearm behind.

Entering buildings such as schools, hospitals, or the post office while armed can result in a felony charge. Which means you either don’t carry at all when you know you’ll be in a designated no-go zone, or you leave it in your car…preferably in a locked container.

Not that going sticker-less is a sure way to avoid a break-in.

(Sgt. Hicks) said thieves are jugging from gun ranges, too, waiting for people to leave the range, and then take their guns at their next destination, knowing there are guns inside those cars.

Still, why advertise? So which is it? Will you keep your stickers and risk it or avoid putting anything on your car that lets thieves know there might be something valuable within?

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146 COMMENTS

  1. When the gun owner displays “Come and Take It”, the thief takes that very seriously.

    The best way to be is armed without looking like you are.

    • So much of the sticker virtue signaling is psycohype. The poor saps with SIG Magpul CATI NRA III% Browning deer head nonsense literally believes the sticker alone punches their man/tactical/patriot card.

      In addition to being catnip for thieves, the stickers attract cops too especially ones looking for a rough arrest. Very few sticker-laden trucks are in 100% compliance with the law. In our copshop locker room that’s what the phrase “stickers solve quotas” means.

      • Lol, looks like you and I were typing the same thing at the same time. You beat me to the punch by three minutes.

      • Sounds like its time to abolish the wanabe tyrant force called police then, deliberately targeting people for anything other than criminal activity is a big fat no-no in my book.

        • It’s a violation of the Constitution! ALL laws are supposed to be applied equally to everyone, not picking and choosing who to target!

        • You need a legit reason to conduct a traffic stop, stop sign, seat belt, improper change of lines, whatever…who said the cops were pulling over cars just for the stickers? Unless the sticker is on the license plate (in my state it’s a violation and it probably is elsewhere).

        • You need a legit reason to conduct a traffic stop,…

          HaHaHa.
          Do you ever watch LivePD?
          If the cops want to pull you over it’s impossible for you to drive a few miles without violating some minor infraction.
          They are bold enough to do it while being watched live by millions.

      • So what are you telling me? That as I gun owner, I should fear the police? I don’t understand what you are saying. Why should the fact that I own firearms make me a target of the police?

        • Chill dude. Take a pill. Vice didn’t say police were targeting gun owners. Just sticker owners. It’s your business if you want to advertise your gun lust. It’s the cops business to scrutinize your behavior. Waving a red cape in front of the local bull is always stupid. Most of them are in a perpetually bad mood.

        • You should fear the police no matter who you are. They are not your friends and are not interested in your rights or freedom. They are specifically out to decimate your life, no matter how trivial your real or imagined infraction may be. Don’t answer questions under any circumstances.

        • Smokey, you are WRONG! It’s NOT the cops business to scrutinize your behavior. Their job is to deal with people who have broken the law. Scrutinizing someones behavior means assuming or speculating that someone is ABOUT TO commit a crime when they may not be.

        • Whoa Rat’lr, I guess I’ve got some bad news. Not everything your teacher told you in kindergarten is true.

      • “catnip for thieves” LOL Actual. I have to remember that line.

        Stay grey, stay alert, keep training.

      • What’s funny is that around here it’s all those very officers who have those stickers on their cars, lol. Where the hell do you work that you and your sad statist (and I should add, not-really-law-enforcement, because officers who spend their days looking for easy hits are usually ignoring more pertinent matters and ignoring their constitutional mission to the public) friends spend your time sticker-hunting, lol?? What a joke! Is northern Illinois nice, hahaha.

      • You sound like a real peach and a credit to your community. You shouldn’t be issued a gun. You’re the guy that got picked on a bit too much in school, so you went for a badge to throw your weight around. Ugh.

      • “Very few sticker-laden trucks are in 100% compliance with the law.”

        Really? How exactly so?

        (Personally, my vehicles are ‘sterile’ of 2A stickers…)

        • In many states, your rear view mirror on your windshield is illegally blocking your view; the legislatures simply forgot to exempt them. That dash cam is illegal for the same reason.
          Likewise for window tinting; factory tint, while meeting federal guidelines, doesn’t always meet state guidelines.
          Oversize tires, right off the showroom floor, often exceed fender width, another violation in some states.
          These are just a few examples.
          Then there’s that stop sign you were sure you stopped at, while video shows you actually rolled through. The right turn on red you made, not noticing the multiple “No Turn on Red” signs. The lane change where you either didn’t signal, or signaled after you already crossed the lane marker (that one is rampant).
          Seriously, it really is hard to drive without giving a zealous LEO reason to pull you over for a citation. Sticker or not.

    • I believe we discussed this very same topic here on TTAG only a couple of weeks ago. I fully support someone’s prerogative to support the 2A by putting decals on his/her vehicle’s windows saying “III%er”, “Molon Labe”, “5.56 Club”, “Don’t Tread On Me”, etc., but I don’t for the very reason that I don’t want (at least here in SoCal) any malcontent LEOs pulling me over for some tiny infraction and then asking me questions about what guns I might have.

      Since I typically park in public places where I know there are security cameras (and thieves know), I’m not too concerned about a break-in, but yes, I also want to avoid drawing attention to my vehicle for that reason, too.

      Mostly to be the Gray Man to avoid cops, though.

    • I couldn’t agree with you more… But let me also add this:

      Most vendors of firearms and accessories sell wearing apparel with their logo on it and want you to wear their gear as this helps promote their brand or company. However, wearing that baseball cap or T-shirt or other item which displays any such gun related logo lets everyone around you know that you are a person that is very likely to have a gun either on you or in your vehicle or both.

      My point being this; By wearing this type of apparel, you are not only possibly sending out an invitation to being followed and then having your car broken into, but then also, why even bother to carry a concealed weapon if you are also walking around wearing a sign that screams out to everyone that you are a “gun guy”. Just think about it, if I’m a bad guy looking to commit an armed robbery in a place of business where you also happen to be and notice that you are wearing such an item with a gun related logo, I’ll give you one guess as to who I am going to be focusing on taking out first as I begin to act out and commit my crime.

      • I have a Beretta and a Browning hat that gets worn to the range. I don’t wear them anywhere but the range. I have various t-shirts that usually get worn under something else.

        You want ‘MOE’ on your 6 position adjustable stock? OK…whatever….

        It’s one thing for a priest to openly display his white collar. But telling the world to ‘come and take it’ is on par with a ‘kick me’ sign on your back.

    • If thrived were smart they’d also break into all the feel the bern and coexist cars, and snatch up their pills and weed.

    • In the movie ” The Godfather”, Don Carlione told his son Santino, ” never let anyone know whats under you finger nails “. Never reveal your beliefs to the world by advertising on your vehicle. Vandals or theifs love it. Once got pulled over for an NRA sticker.

      • Really? You got pulled over?…by a LEO?…for something that’s not considered probably cause anywhere in the nation?…just for a decal? Was there any other activity involved? Were you perhaps speeding? Run a red light? Text while driving? Throw trash out your window? Drive after sunset without your lights on?

        Elaborate please. I highly doubt you’ve told the whole story.

    • I just stripped off my NRA and USCCA stickers from the rear cab window of my truck.

      Thanks to TTAG for the tip…I live near Houston.

      • “I just stripped off my NRA and USCCA stickers from the rear cab window of my truck.”

        Run Silent, Run Deep.

        Move through the people as fish in the Sea.

  2. And right after the scumbags steal em, I’m pretty sure the go to the nearest FFL and register them, right Doomberg?

    • Wait, now. This is all very confusing. I’m pretty sure breaking into cars is illegal, I KNOW stealing guns is illegal, and for bad guys, well, they’re not even allowed to touch the guns, right? So how can these things happen? Could it be that gun laws are totally worthless? Say it ain’t so!!!

      • ” Could it be that gun laws are totally worthless? ”

        Depends entirely on your opinion of “worth”. If a law is “worthless” because it doesn’t prevent a specific crime, then all laws, of every kind, are worthless.

  3. Put your gun in a holster and take it with with you.
    PROBLEM SOLVED.
    P.S. Ban gun free zones.

    • Exactly! The amount of people who get a carry permit and then don’t actually carry, but just put a gun in their car/truck astounds me. It’s like they think they won’t get attacked outside their vehicle or something. I’ve been told so many times “oh well I’m not gonna actually carry it, I just want it in my car”. What kind of idiocy is that?

      It doesn’t matter what kind of stickers you have on your vehicle. Can’t get your gun stolen out of your vehicle if you actually carry it!

  4. ‘The Truth About Guns’ is an odd name for a website that caters to left leaning, nanny state loving cowards.

    • I find the site seems to be catering more to the extremist right, particularly those with deep, spend happy, pockets. Unfortunately the extremism is spreading and I’m finding more and more of my favorite right/conservative/libertarian news sites have gone full party line.

      All the more reason why I’m trying to make enough money to bug out to bum**** nowhere into the mountains of flyover territory or northwestern Norway.

  5. Have a lock box fastened to my car, but it sees almost no use since my pistol stays on my hip 99+ percent of the time. Never have put stickers on my vehicles and the range is 45 minutes away, so no one is gonna follow me that far and even if they did, there’s little chance I would fail to notice.

    • In Her Majesty’s colony of New South Wales it states in the firearms regulations you are to proceed directly to and from the range with no other stops. My hour-plus drive each way would bore most thieves senseless. And if they wanted to steal my guns, they would already know what I have and where I live from the leaked Firearms Registry database.

    • You are 100%, and mistaking a “gray guy” for a potential victim or ignoring his existence is the last mistake many criminals make…Stay armed, stay stealthy, train regularly.

    • I get the whole grey man argument but my experience dealing with criminals has taught me it’s probably a fruitless endeavor.

      Think about how you would do it. If you were in parking lot which vehicles would you break into to look for firearms? Trucks. Does that mean now it’s a bad idea to own a truck?

      This applies to more then just firearms. Not only are you going to look for trucks to break into, your going to look for nice new looking vehicles and luxury cars.

      You’ll even look for family stickers and baby on board stickers because things like car seats and strollers are expensive these days.

      So what, now do we all have to start driving beat up used little four bangers to prevent thefts?

      No, this is starting to get silly. There’s a much easier answer to all this. It’s called:

      Don’t leave expensive shit in your vehicle. You can’t get anything ever stolen out of your vehicle if you don’t leave it in your vehicle in the first place. Carry your gun on you, and leave your ipad at home.

      • Because most of us can’t walk around with a .300 BLK AR-15 pistol under our coats. So the sidearm goes on the hip, and the trunk gun (not a typo) is for if the SHTF while you’re away from home. More than once in my life, I’ve had to sleep in my vehicle while traveling due to emergency road closures. Your fellow drivers don’t like closures and tend to be in bad moods.

  7. Was there ever a time when we could safely hang a rifle in a rack in the back window of our pickup trucks? Other than in very rural places where little travel to towns and cities ever took place?

    All stickers of personal opinion or religion or politics placed upon vehicles are invitations to ill behaved scum to demonstrate their failings of character. Best to avoid them.

    • Or, best we change the laws to indemnify citizens enforcing it, or remove the laws and let us take out the trash our selves. Clearly the laws either aren’t working or aren’t being enforced and thus not working anyway.

    • There most certainly was, at least in Houston. You may be too young to remember it though. I personally remember a time when you could leave long guns in the racks that used to come standard in some trucks pretty much anywhere you went. Not the bad parts of town, obviously, but if you parked in one of those you were lucky if breaking your window was all the hoods did.

      The problem isn’t that the thieves learned, after so many years, what to look for; the rifles (and shotguns) were right there in the window after all. A much clearer sign than a sticker. No, the problem is that the thieves have moved in next to you, wherever you are or wherever you are going. Sure, you should stop putting gun stickers on your car for that reason, but that itself is not nor ever was the problem. The problem is that through decades of failed social, economic and judicial policy, the streets aren’t safe anymore. They very much were that safe once, and I remember it.

      • I find myself thinking the same thing from time to time. However, while it’s true that things have been better than they are right now, they’ve also been far worse.

        We are seeing the lowest violent crime rates in the US that we’ve had in several decades. Yet, round the clock, “if it bleeds it leads” news coverage makes many of us feel more unsafe than we should.

        Maybe our biggest enemy is fear.

    • There still is actually, if you get far enough out into the boonies. Far enough out to where city folks are literally afraid to go.

    • At the time of the shooting at the UT tower (’60’s?) there were a few dozen good ol’ boys blazing away at the shooter with their lever 30-30s, which unfortunately didn’t have the range. But yes, they were being carried around in the back window of the truck, I’ll bet a hundred thousand of those window racks were sold, some were mounted in side windows as well. It would work fine in my area today, unfortunately motor vehicles tend to go to other areas.

    • When I was in high school, seniors and juniors who drove pickup trucks to school often had rifles on gun racks, and no one ever worried about them being stolen.

      • Me, too. I wonder if some of the difference might be that if the gun was stolen, you could stop in at the store down the street and buy another rifle for $25. If you succeed in preventing bad people from buying guns, doesn’t it make sense that they will steal them? Somebody pointed out to me once that the high-security car keys some manufacturers use may have the result of the thieves coming after the keys! The solution, IMHO, is to lock the bad people away from civilized society. Some say that opinion makes me a racist, although I did not mention anything about race.

  8. More people have guns, so more will be stolen. They are stolen because stupid people leave them in their vehicles without securing them or taking the gun with them. I never leave my guns in the car unless I am entering a government building were I can’t take it, (Which is very infrequently) and then it’s locked in a safe and hidden from view and the car locked and alarm set. Otherwise my gun is where it belongs, on my person at all times, even at home.

    • avatar Oh wait gimme a sec I left it in my car somewhere, I think, or maybe it’s in a public bathroom, or at home

      That’s common sense, but it seems to be rare nowadays. Why would you take a gun and leave it in your car anyway? Unless, as you posted, you have to enter a government building where it is not allowed. When you’re eating your lunch or shopping and stuff hits the fan, are you going to tell the bad guy(s) to stand by 5 minutes as you have to run to your car to get your firearm? Useless, irresponsible, leave it home then.

      • Um, CA dude. Most counties won’t issue CCWs (mine hasn’t in decades), so the only other option to have something within reasonable reach is to keep it secured in your vehicle and out of sight. We don’t have many options here. That doesn’t make us stupid.

    • Oh, poo! I bought a new car in June 2010, within a month had a loaded .45 in the console, car now has 80K miles on it, has been to both coasts several times, gun is still there. I carry something smaller, and I can afford to risk the loss of the gun in order to have more firepower if I ever needed it.

      • @LarryinTX So how would you feel if your .45 was stolen and used to kill a 12 year old girl by some MS13 gangbanger because she happens to be the cousin of some other MS13 gangbanger POS? How you going to justify that? Keep your gun on you or lock it up.

        • “So how would you feel if your .45 was stolen and used to kill a 12 year old girl by some MS13 gangbanger…”.

          No one is responsible for the results of someone else committing two crimes, unless they are directly participating in the acts.

          Same as if someone stole your car, and used it to rundown dozens of people at an open mall.

        • I would feel like the thief/killer/MS-13 gangbanger should be executed within a week, not coddled for the next 20 years and released. That will end that kind of behavior. And I want my gun back! You will not order me to do jack shit, doofus.

  9. I solved this issue of stolen firearms from a vehicle by living in a community where it does not happen. Not many POC where I live, very low crime, not racist, just fact.

    • This. Once you are in a white homogeneous community, the crime rate is essentially non-existent. Its one of the biggest reasons why I want out of Texas so bad now, the crime rates are only going to go higher and higher and the streets are going to get filthier with the open borders. Ten years ago we had no gangs out here, no hard drug problems, violent crime and property crime was unheard of and yes, people parked their trucks with rifles in the back window.

      Now, we have gangs crawling the streets, property crime is up 600% in just five years in the first large town, violent crime is up, hood rats loiter outside big box stores at night and I see junkies every other week. I even kept a news paper clipping of the classic three teens breaking into someones business.

      White people are the most open, pacified, tolerant, and welcoming people to have ever existed on the face of the earth and look where that got us. We move rather than fight back, we accept abuse, we leave the problems behind hoping they won’t follow but inevitably they do. The poor oppressed difn’t duff nuffins demand entry into white, upclass, communities, then take a hot steaming dump all over our new communities we built without them then demand that those of us whom work should take care of them from cradle to grave. First they ask, then they demand, and when you don’t give them what they want, they try and steal it from you.

      People can call me racist all they want, I wear it like a damn badge of honor now. The truth often hurts. A quick glance at stats and demographics is very telling. Idaho is 91-95% white, is almost entirely a red state, and the crime rate is well below the national average. I’m saving money every chance I get for my “Buy some land up there” fund. Goal is $250,000 for a few hundred acres to retire on, long way to go.

      • I think it has more to do with the fact that these kids don’t have fathers. No one to teach them life skills. No family, so the gang becomes their family.

        • Disagree, Lazr.

          We have too many “dads” out there allowing their kids to be snowflakes and rule the roost. We need more men to be fathers and lead their children into adulthood.

      • I’ve lived in those all white communities, being white and all. We still had rapes, robberies, murder, etc. Some folks are just more accepting of crime in the perp looks like them.

      • Idaho (parts of it at least) is invaded by hordes of Commiefornians apparently. I think it was in Boise that a candidate for city hall promised to stop the invasion of Californian libtards. Wha ya going to happen to them on a smaller scale than here in Florida is: higher cost of living, more libtards on office, less freedom, too many people, more stress, more crime…They can save Idaho, Florida is done and for the similar reasons you posted I am considering getting out of here.

        • I’m looking at the northern panhandle, its more expensive but the hunting is great, its next door to Orgeon, Montana, and Canada, so I can get just about whatever I want with a short drive.

        • Jeffrey,

          Lifelong Californian here. Almost moved to ID myself back in the ’90s, and have been seriously thinking about it again over the past couple of years. Many of my conservative friends have spoken of ID, AZ, or TX as possible moves. Not a single liberal has ever mentioned ID to me as a candidate for them.

          Idaho’s own demographics have shown that the state became even more conservative over the past twenty years *because* of all the conservative Californians who have moved there.

          Stop drinking the Kool-Aid and get your facts straight. Only Boise has recently begun showing signs of a shift, and that’s happening in the major cities of nearly all the states. Even Montana has a Democrat governor now.

          This is EXACTLY why I tell people I’m continuing our fight in CA against gun control instead of giving up and leaving. If nobody stops the madness here, it will continue to spread elsewhere, and people like you will simply bitch, complain, and point fingers even more. We’re fighting on not only our behalf, but yours as well.

        • Haz wrote:
          “Even Montana has a Democrat governor now.”

          Montana has had a Democrat governor since 2013. Do try and keep up.

      • “People can call me racist all they want…”
        Thank you massah fo’ givin’ dis po ol’ black boy permission to call you a “RACIST”.

        Wif yo okey-dokey Ah wud like to add “Damn fool as#wipe ignorant MF’ing” as modifiers, cuz Ah don’ beleeve yo is pure anything. Now yo do be a “Damn fool as#wipe ignorant MF’ing piece of mouse crap Honkie RACIST”.
        IS THAT DO BE MO’ BETTER?

        I was born in a 95% Black neighborhood (Princeton Park) on the far south side of Chicago. House and car doors unlocked all night. Then we moved to a 99% white neighborhood on the far south-east side of town, Hegewisch. The second year (1953), Christmas Eve, WHITE racists burned down our home. We made it back to Princeton park in ’56. From ’56 to ’66 I know of exactly two car thefts, no muggings, and one home break-in. All three crimes by the same person.
        Ah sho wish dem negros was as peace-able as dem honkies.

      • You’re a blithering idiot and a gutless coward, “Arc”. You just hide behind a fake name as you sit on your flabby butt and try to blather to total strangers that you will never meet and who don’t care whether you even live or die.
        By the time of your posting,it’s clear that you weren’t dong a particular thing instead: the Christian things..going to church with your family on Sunday, like the winners in life.
        If you did read for the purpose of understanding many things for yourself instead of choosing to let other people tell you what is and isn’t true, you’ wouldn’t be such a know-nothing about crime.
        You want to see some crime? Go live in a White town in the sticks and you’ll be amazed. After all, about 90% of the heroin addicts in America are white now…not Black, stupid.
        There are too many examples of White crime culture to count. Here are two examples: Many professionals in law enforcement believe that the highest rate of violence ever recorded in our country was perpetuated by either the all-White “Westies” of New York or the White gang violence of North Carolina in the 1970s. Or that most poor people live in the suburbs now.

      • Arc, your only setting yourself up to be taken advantage of by a white criminal. I’ve spent a career dealing criminals. Here’s what I can tell you:

        Crooks come in all shapes sizes and colors. Many of them don’t look like crooks. If you specify one type of criminal you have blinders on. The white criminals will recognize this, and smile to your face and call you brother while they rob you behind your back.

        Here’s also something else of utmost importance to you and anyone else that bothers to read this:

        Child molesters are very common, they literally lurk everywhere, and you probably have at least one in your family. Yes, your family. Yes you reading this. It’s that common.

        The amount of child molesters in this world is mind boggling. There’s no “safe” places in this world and even the most upscale, “low crime” areas have at least one child predator and it’s someone no one in the community would ever expect, and it’s likely someone in position of authority over children.

        How to keep your children from being victims: don’t leave them alone for extended periods of time with anyone older, period. Even family members. Obviously you don’t leave them with people you don’t know, that should be obvious. Don’t take them to daycares. Get to know your school and school staff and keep your ears open when people talk. One thing I’ve learned in years of dealing with both people and criminals is how much you learn about people when you don’t open your mouth. Just listen and most people will tell you about *everything*. Also, if there’s an adult your child is fearful of, take that seriously.

        Why do I bring all this to a conversation about race? Because like with serial killers, child molesters generally stick to victims of their own race. And because that type of criminal isn’t obvious, and they are everywhere. Shootings, stabbings, car thefts get all the news, but sexual crimes are the most common.

        • I’m quite familiar with perverts, my erotic-roleplay profiles would make most people about face and run. The perverts are every day people, they are teachers, neighbors, business owners, clerks, lawn ninja, programmers, contractors, and most of them stay on the good side of the law. The ones that don’t, find themselves in prison or worse.

          I don’t like people, I’m inherently distrusting of them unless they prove otherwise, even then, I verify. I don’t give people the opportunity to backstab me. I’ll keep my homogeneous society as I’ve seen it has significantly less crime and strife than a ‘diverse’ society. If its a choice between living in society full of perverts, or a society full of thieves, gangbangers, and murderers, I’ll take the perverts every time.

        • That’s rather strange, maybe your into that kind of thing. But alright.

          Look, I’ve known a plethora of racists in my life. I’m not like many of the other commenters here or the leftists who scream racism at every little thing. I haven’t lived my life in a suburb or a bubble, my job choice has taken me down some rabbit holes. I’m not going to get all bent out of shape because someone said something racey. I remember when racism wasn’t only common, but law. I’ve personally known actual hood wearers and black supremacists.

          Judging by your posts it seems your “new” to the whole racism thing. What I’m trying to tell you is, you’re going to be sorely disappointed with your new found beliefs. There’s not a racial supremacy doctrine on this planet that truly stands up to any kind of real scrutiny and any movements that align with them always, always dissolve into infighting. There’s no brotherhood in it and you’ll end up accusing everyone in your circle as a race traitor or you’ll be the one accused as one for some minor infraction.

          If you want to judge others based upon their skin color, go ahead. It’s your right to do so after all. But just know what your getting into isn’t going to find you some kind of peace or enlightenment or utopia. And any group espousing similar beliefs are not your friends. Like with most groups or movements, it’s mostly bullshit. The leaders are looking to expand their own personal power or wallet. It’s full of half hearted members or people looking to use others. And it’s definitely going to attract a number of sickos who simply enjoy violence.

          Given today’s political climate, right now it might seem edgy or cool to be a Nazi or a klansman or a panther or a communist, but just like in the 70s , none of those groups are going anywhere except prison eventually. So don’t follow them there. Otherwise you’ll learn the hard way after 20 years behind a wall that there’s nothing Aryan or Brotherhood about them and it’s just another gang.

        • Gangs are a quite antiquated and not a single person that I talk shop with is a gang member. No two people are going to agree perfectly on whats best, everyone has their own ideals. There will always be details and nuances, but as long as people are agreeing more than they are disagreeing, you can get some change rolling.

          Wanting to preserve and protect my own people does not mean I hate others, but if they won’t function in a civilized society then they don’t need to be around us. It wasn’t too long ago I could leave wares unattended, or put an honor box on the table, not so much now.

        • On top of gangs being antiquated, “make a America white again” is a position spreading by grass roots rather than gangs or parties. More people are turned on to the concept of restoring white Christian America than ever before, largely because we have criminals flooding over our southern border for decades, Muslims setting up shop in our county with their ideology of terror, and of course gangs and terror organizations like black lives matter.

          A big part of why President Trump won the office, is that we the people are fed up with the BS and the slow destruction of our country by the foreign hordes. He will win again in 2020, the evidence is at every rally he goes to. Should he not, I would expect civil war, because it will be painfully obvious that the voting machines are rigged and trunks full of ‘found’ ballots are forgeries.

  10. I view stickers on my vehicle in the same way as I think of “open carry”…why advertise the fact to the fearful idiots, political opportunists and thieves of the world?

    A concealed lock box provides peace of mind for those few occasions where carrying may have (potentially) very expensive consequences.

  11. I used to live in Philly and knew many whos cars or residences were burgled because of gun brand/NRA/Trespasser will be shot signs. Hunt club signs are in the same category.

  12. And those witty little stickers are fuel for anti gun prosecutors if you should ever have to use your firearm defensively.

  13. I have a small lockbox in my armrest and live in a pretty safe town. As far as Gun stickers I try to stay away from them. The cops around here support gun ownership and are not storm troopers.

  16. But but but I thought that “criminals” (are we allowed to call them that anymore?) got ALL of their guns via gun show loopholes. ‘Accusing’ them of being thieves makes them look ‘guilty’ – or something.
    Seriously, lots of good advice from most commenters regarding maintaining a low profile.

  18. I keep an NRA sticker and an Oathkeeper sticker on my SUV. I seldom leave a gun in the vehicle. I avoid going to a Target Rich Environments (I refuse to call them Gun Free Zones),and am thankful that so much of the courthouse business nonsense can be handled online. If it’s necessary, I will put my gun in the lockbox that’s bolted to the frame of the vehicle. I don’t trust cable boxes as any good brand of sidecutters (Dykes) will go right through them.

  19. Never advertise!!! I belong to the NRA and GOA but nobody knows except the institutions…. Be Joe Invisible…

  20. Too many idiots leaving their guns unsecured/unattended in their vehicles. If you treat your gun like a pencil or a notepad, maybe you shouldn’t own one or at least do everybody a favor and leave it in a safe at home.

    • In Texas carry in certain places is prohibited by law, including anyplace with a 30.06 or 30.07 sign. So you might be out going about your business and suddenly find yourself with no good option except to leave it in the car, or risk becoming a prohibited person if caught.

      Contrast that with PA where the only prohibited places are K-12 Schools (not really, long story, but the state hasn’t appealed any of the test cases so the clearance there isn’t state wide), court facilities (required to provide facilities for checking firearms per 18 PACS 913, though many do not), federal buildings, and the secured areas of airports.

      Also, we have no statute regarding signs. A real asshole could try to charge you with defiant trespass, but they would have to prove in court that you saw the sign. So mostly if your CC becomes OC at the mall they will just ask you to take it out to your car at that time.

      All of this just indicates that we need national constitutional carry. Cops are exempt and bad guys don’t obey the law, so why should the rest of us have to put up with this crap?

      • @The Crimson Pirate. Yes, it sounds as Pennsylvania is “better” for gun owners than Texas, but that might not be true. Fully 1/3 of Texans own guns and most carry them in their vehicles regularly. No permit needed. The Texas Motorist Protection Act (HB 1815), effective as of September 1, 2007, permits any law-abiding Texas resident the legal right to carry a handgun inside their motor vehicle in Texas without a Handgun License to Carry or any other permit. As long as you are legally permitted to own a firearm and the vehicle belongs to you, then the answer is yes; you may have a gun, loaded or unloaded, in your vehicle in the state of Texas. Leaving said rifle/handgun in the vehicle is just plain stupid. and unfortunately we have a few of those people here in Texas. 30.06/30.07 signs are property rights issues. I just don’t patronize those businesses, I figure if my gun isn’t welcome, I am not also.

        • MB, I don’t think we’ve had car carry for 12 years now, are you sure that was 2007 and not 2017?

          • @LarryinTX Here ya go my friend, all Texans she be aware of their rights. …
            Motorists Protection Act
            Gov. Perry also signed H.B. 1815 after passage by the 2007 Legislature, a bill that allows any person to carry a handgun in the person’s motor vehicle without a CHL or other permit.[31] The bill revised Chapter 46, Section 2 of the Penal Code to state that it is in fact not “Unlawful Carry of a Weapon”, as defined by the statute, for a person to carry a handgun while in a motor vehicle they own or control, or to carry while heading directly from the person’s home to that car. However, lawful carry while in a vehicle requires these four critical qualifiers: (1) the weapon must not be in plain sight (in Texas law, “plain sight” and “concealed” are mutually exclusive opposing terms);[32] (2) the carrier cannot be involved in criminal activities, other than Class C traffic misdemeanors; (3) the carrier cannot be prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a firearm; and (4) the carrier cannot be a member of a criminal gang.[33][34]

            Previous legislation (H.B. 823) enacted in the 2005 session of the Legislature had modified TPC 46.15 (“Non-Applicability”) to include the “traveller assumption”; a law enforcement officer who encounters a firearm in a vehicle was required to presume that the driver of that vehicle was “travelling” under a pre-existing provision of 46.15, and thus the Unlawful Carry statute did not apply, absent evidence that the person was engaged in criminal activity, a member of a gang, or prohibited from possessing a firearm. However, attorneys and law enforcement officials in several municipalities including DA Chuck Rosenthal of Houston stated that they would continue to prosecute individuals found transporting firearms in their vehicles despite this presumption,[35] leading to the more forceful statement of non-applicability in the 2007 H.B. 1815.

      • You don’t become a prohibited person in TX for carrying in a place posted under 30-06, that just gives the property manager the ability to demand you leave, and if you refuse you can be fined $200. I pay no attention to them except if I am able to take my business elsewhere. If not, I carry right past them.

  21. Long time problem in El Paso. They trash the interior looking for hidden guns, or just take the whole vehicle. They are in Mexico before you notice it’s missing.

  22. The amount of anti police idiots here is always fascinating. “They are not your friends, they are out there to decimate your life.” They’re not your friends true, but they have other things to do than harassing people. I have never been harassed or stopped for any kind of b.s. I got stopped twice, got one warning and a ticket, both were legit traffic stops. I was going approx 20 over the posted speed limit and the deputy cut me a beak on the citation it could have been more $$$, my fault end of the story. I have never heard of any credible source around here reporting cops targeting vehicles with pro 2A stickers. Cops can stop cars left and right every 3 minutes for legit traffic violations and they are going to target a car with a NRA or Molon Labe stocker just to ask you what kind of guns you have? Where do you guys live, the USSR? What a bunch of b.s

    • Here 20 mph over the limit is an arrestable offense. The only time I had that issue, the state trooper who stopped me noticed my hospital medical staff parking pass, noted I was headed toward that hospital and informed me of the law (of which I was not aware) as he gave me a ticket for a lesser offense.

  23. I never understood the purpose of advertising, be it pro or anti 2A, political affiliations or anything similar. My main concern would not be based on those fairy tales posted on TTAG talking about “cops targeting drivers with gun related decals on their vehicles,” but rather cowards and idiots slashing my tires or other ways to damage my property just because they got triggered by a sticker. And I don’t even drive/own a nice car, but I still care. In addition, there are probably crazies out there capable of following you home.

  24. I’m not exactly sure what the purpose of those bumper stickers are, anyway. I don’t think anyone sees an old NRA bumper sticker on a pickup truck and thinks “gee, I should join.”

    I don’t know how much it is that stickers like that encourage theft but a better answer is to not keep guns in the vehicle as much as possible and to actually lock it. So many people leave their car unlocked because “no one would steal anything in this town.”

  26. I don’t stickerbomb my car. But then I also don’t leave a gun in it.

    Doesn’t matter where you are. Some people use cars to go “window shopping” (they break your windows) just to see what’s in the vehicle. Happens in small towns the same as big ones.

    A few years back some guy broke into my wife’s truck when it was parked in our driveway. Smashed the window, emptied the truck, found nothing to steal and just left the mess.

    Around the corner though, a federal agent lost his “secured” shotgun and an MP5, yeah a full auto version, the same night. Thieves came prepared with the tools to remove the locks and then did so.

    Don’t leave guns in your car.

      • So what? Around here they can go to bar, dance the worm, lose their gun, fumble the retrieval and end up shooting someone with pretty limited consequences.

        The moral remains the same: Don’t leave firearms unattended in your car.

    • Boy, if you actually believe that people breaking into your car in your own driveway “happens everywhere”, you need to get out more. I have lived in a LOT of places, while owning a car, over the past 55 years and that has NEVER happened to me, in my driveway or elsewhere in my own town. The one time it did happen was in San Antonio when my car had VA plates, while I was attending AFOTS. In 1969.

  27. I don’t advertise. American flag decal on a back window remembering 9-11. Don’t like it? Tough. If your gat gets stolen SOL. No sympathy. Have your act together…

  29. There’s a very good argument to be made for not having these stickers on your car, not for the reason this article points out, but for the Red Flag Laws being passed everywhere. It’s just a matter of time before the social justice idiots start calling in license plates under the guise of road rage, etc.

  30. WHOA…WHOA…WHOA…. calm down If this Is becoming a problem, just don’t advertise to criminals “HEY…there might be a gun In this unattended vehicle come over and ransack It”
    Now that YOU know that thieves are doing It’s easy enough to make yourself less of a target.

  31. And with gun free zones people either need to break the law and carry or leave guns in their cars.
    Maybe get a nice lock box for the car.
    Perhaps companies selling cars in the USA should think about innovative firearms storage solutions.

    • why would you leave your gun in your car?….unless forced to….no need to advertise who you are……

  32. Urban cammo for me, no stickers and a clean regular vehicle. I don’t fear the private thieves as much as the uniformed highway men, they call themselves “heroes”. Especially as the states pass ever more “gun safety” legislation.

  33. The bad thing about removing the stickers is that you are no longer exercising your free speech. The anti-gun mob would love us to just disappear. Removing stickers, posters, t-shirts, billboards, televisions ads, etc. just allows us to be marginalized. Just as they want. I say more stickers, more posters, more t-shirts, etc. Do not allow others to control your expression. The second amendment isn’t porn that needs to be hidden from the public. The second amendment isn’t terrorism. The second amendment is the confirmation of a human’s natural right to defend oneself. The first and second amendment go hand in hand. Gun owners are here. They consist of people of all classes, races, religions and beliefs. If you hide the stickers does it also mean you won’t speak about firearms? Let’s normalize it. Don’t let the public think we don’t exist. Then public opinion sways in favor of the the anti-right socialists.

    • “The bad thing about removing the stickers is that you are no longer exercising your free speech. The anti-gun mob would love us to just disappear.”

      I would recommend a special day where everyone with indicators they are gun owners/supporters simply removes any indicator of such; disappear into the populace. Make them wet their pants daily, worrying that gun owners were readily identifiable, now know one knows who they are, where they are, what they might do next.

      • Not a bad idea. I’m concerned a bit about disappearing because the uninformed think and say the dumbest things. I’ve had several co-workers say, ‘What’s the big deal about banning guns? I don’t know anyone who owns a gun.’ They have no idea that everywhere the go that between 10% to 45% of the people they see each and every day are gun owners. So when these uninformed fools go to the voting booth, they vote for banning something they don’t think exists anyway. If they would know that so many people actually do own guns and possibly carry them, without any type of crime happening, they would hopefully realize that gun violence isn’t the problem the socialists and news media would have everyone believe. I’d rather not hide. Let them wet there pants when they see half the people around them are carrying.

        • “If they would know that so many people actually do own guns and possibly carry them, without any type of crime happening, they would hopefully realize that gun violence isn’t the problem the socialists and news media would have everyone believe.”

          Gun-grabbers are irrational. The truly believe deep in their frightened little hearts that people with guns are just time-bombs. Showing even more evidence of the commonality of gun ownership would do nothing to quell their fears. Since we are dealing with completely irrational people, I say drive them completely round the bend with fear of the disappearing gun owners.

          Aaaahhh, “But it’s just my imagination, running away with me.”

          To keep pressing on a theme, “Run Silent, Run Deep”.

    • That’s a very good point Mort22. If we are silenced by fear it will embolden the anti gun side. I think a good place start would be instead of TTAG advocating to be “grey men”, for TTAG to advocate simply not leaving a gun in your vehicle.

      • “If we are silenced by fear it will embolden the anti gun side.”

        Going dark/silent is a tactical maneuver, not an act of fear. The original Sons of Liberty did not put stickers on their windows, doors, carts, hats.

        • Fair point, but as of now we’re in a political war where popular opinion matters more then facts. Unfortunately.

          • “…but as of now we’re in a political war where popular opinion matters more then facts.”

            Something Second Amendment defenders have yet to fully grasp.

    • I agree with Mort. If we all become “gray men” it just makes it easier for gun grabbers to claim that the .1% owns 99% of guns and that all normal people hate firearms. If the regular Joe saw gun stickers on every second car he passes on his way to work he might realize that guns are everywhere and nothing bad happens.

      As I said last time this was discussed here, I do display my NRA, ISRA and gun family stickers on my van (which was broken in before, but never since I’ve put them on). I don’t leave any guns inside. I also wear firearms depicting shirts. What good is freedom of speech if we are afraid to exercise it?

    • No that’s not too much but I was thinking that I need a second sticker that says
      “I’m not really crazy”

  36. Houston is a city where elementary schoolers at the Houston ISD are trained by parents / guardians to ask friends if their dads have Remington 870s or AK 47s (the choice of gangsters in the city) and Art Acevedo and his band of buffoons goes around planting cocaine on and shooting innocent people instead. Drive around the downtown area especially around the Houston University Cougars Stadium, and find yourself in a run down neighborhood with shacks and barely standing homes, but you will see 7 Series BMWs, Audis and more parked outside. This is a city where Health and Environmental Services contractors are routinely told about a Yakuza-like hierarchy: small gangsters like old muscle cars with “Ben Hur” tire-shredders mounted on them, gang bosses prefer black Escalades with darkened windows because they are easier to shoot out of from the rear seats. Once again, Acevedo and his colleagues know all of this, but are either too incompetent or uninterested to do anything about it. It is convenient to blame someone with an NRA or a “Come and Take It” sticker on his / her car bumper when your own department wants to do little more than flop about uselessly at work, pretending to be doing something while maintaining a meditative, do-nothing Zen state. The city and it’s administration and law enforcement are an utter disgrace. This is also the next 1920s Chicago waiting to happen, if the cops working as hit-men as in the case of the murdered couple are anything to go by.

  37. You know what I do to stop thieves from stealing guns from my car… I don’t leave guns unsecured in my car, certainly not overnight. Most of these thefts are likely from unlocked cars parked in the driveway at night. Your car is neither a gun safe nor a holster. If I have to leave my gun in the car while I go someplace where carry is prohibited I lock it up in a gun vault in the car and make damn sure the car is locked. Is that perfect ? No, but it stops causal theft.

  39. These laws do one thing. They make it possible to punish the criminals if they get caught. They may deter some smarter criminals. (But so could the thought of getting shot by the gun owner.) Preventing a crime by passing a law is impossible.

  40. While no guarantee, you can get a set of keyed alike lock boxes with cables for less than the cost of a box of premium ammunition, if you drive more than one vehicle.
    Plus, keep everything that MIGHT be of value out of sight, my brother had his vehicle broken into because a backpack with a change of clothes was visible from the outside.

  42. I remember reading a story from Massad Ayoob Files long time ago where overzealous prosecutors used NRA bumper strikers against a DGU guy portraying him as trigger happy cowboy.

  43. Just go get a “Mom’s Demand Action” bumper sticker. They won’t touch your car then. I seriously don’t have anything gun-related on my car because of this.

  44. “why advertise?”?
    Thanks for asking: Because especially in cities, it’s critical for our neighbors to know that that guy they know, the one who helps the widow with her yard or volunteers for PTA is a gun owner. There are huge swaths of our country where that is a thought shaking exercise in stereotype busting. And very often most for people voting for Bloombergs initiatives and statist law making “representatives”. That’s why.
    Don’t leave your gun in a car. Cars are the most stolen large asset in North America and many end up in chop shops. If you think some felon with a plasma torch is going to be slowed down by your $200 “car safe” … I hope you never find out how ridiculous that is. Put your gun on your person, or in a real safe. Not a car.

    • “Because especially in cities, it’s critical for our neighbors to know that that guy they know, the one who helps the widow with her yard or volunteers for PTA is a gun owner.”

      While I applaud your unwarranted enthusiam and faith in “the message”, the only thing your neighbors are likely to think is….”OMG, my that guy looks so normal. Can’t believe he owns guns. And he interacts with my kids. Too dangerous. He could just go off at any minute. Someone needs to do something to make sure he can’t hurt anyone with his guns. What is that thing called where you can tell police there is a dangerous gun owner next door?”

      How do I know this? My HOA, at the quarterly meeting is proposing a change to the covenants that prohibits guns in homes and vehicles. I sat quietly and just watched. One guy said the change would violate the Second Amendment. Another said it wouldn’t, because an HOA is not government, and the HOA is the civilian property manager for all the homes, with power to write and enforce covenants.

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