If you carry and are staying at someone else's house for Thanksgiving, plan on storage you control: a locked box you brought with you for the room, or a steel safe in your own car with the firearm unloaded, plus one calm sentence to your hosts. A guest room has no safe, a nightstand drawer is not storage, and a house full of kids is the wrong place to improvise. State rules vary, so start with your state's rules and the state you are visiting.
Key takeaways
- The plan has three parts: where the firearm stays, who knows, and what happens at the door each evening.
- A car is not automatically the safer place. Cars are now the largest source of stolen guns, according to Everytown Research.
- Among owners who leave a firearm in a vehicle, 24.6% use the center console and 16.7% the glovebox (Injury Epidemiology, 2026). Neither is a plan.
- Children do not get a key, a code or an enrolled finger, at home or away.
- With enough time and tools nothing is secure. The job is to raise the time and the tool count.
The problem with a guest room
At home you have a system. At the in-laws you have a dresser, a closet and a drawer a five-year-old can open. Add bags everywhere and broken routines, and the careful habit is the first thing to go. Decide before you leave. Not in the driveway.
You have three honest options, and each has a cost.
- Keep it on you and under your control. It solves the storage problem until you sleep, shower or go somewhere you cannot carry. Then you need one of the other two.
- A small locked box in the room. It stays in the house, under your eye. A small box is also easy to carry off, so keep it out of sight and keep the key on you.
- A steel safe in your own car. It keeps the firearm out of the house entirely. It also puts it in a parked car overnight, which is the risk the next section covers.
What the car option takes
Cars are now the largest source of stolen guns. Nearly 62,000 guns were reported stolen from vehicles in 2022 in the 337 cities studied, one every nine minutes, according to Everytown Research. That is not a national total. In a 2026 national survey in Prevention Science, thefts often happened in residential settings such as driveways or nearby streets, and often late at night. That survey rests on 53 people who reported a theft, so read it as a pattern. A driveway is not a vault.
So the car only works with real storage. Not the glovebox and not the console, which is where a 2026 survey in Injury Epidemiology found owners most often leave a firearm. A locked steel box fixed to the car, out of sight. Some states also set rules for a firearm left in a vehicle, so what counts as a locked container is worth ten minutes before the trip. New York, for one, names its requirements in Penal Law 265.45. This is not legal advice.
Not sure your car has the anchors a back-seat safe needs? Check your vehicle before you pack.
The conversation with your hosts
You do not need a speech. The adults whose home you are in deserve to know, and most people respect directness. One sentence works: "Just so you know, I have my firearm locked in a safe in the car. It won't come inside." Use the version that matches your plan.
If they say no, that is their house and their call. Better to learn that on the phone in early November than at the door. Keep it to logistics. Nobody at that table needs a debate over the turkey.
Kids in the car and the house
Children do not get a backup key, a code or an enrolled finger. Say it out loud to every adult traveling with you. A full-size Boosted Safe looks like a booster seat under its cover, and it is not one: it is not a child seat, and a child does not sit on it. If you have kids in the car, it also takes a seat you may need. Read storing a firearm in a vehicle with kids around for the longer version.
What we would do
- Decide where the firearm stays each night, before you leave.
- Check the law at home, on the route and at the destination. Traveling across state lines covers the drive.
- Tell the hosts in one sentence.
- Practice the lock until it is boring, and keep the backup key away from the car.
- Set the door routine: the firearm is secured before you walk in, every evening, with no "just for a minute".
If the car is the plan, we would use the Golden Gate Elite and clip it to the LATCH anchors (called ISOFIX outside the US), the steel bars welded to the car's body to hold a child seat. The release is inside the safe. It comes off the anchors only after it has been opened. It is 12-gauge steel and opens by fingerprint, keypad or key. The Golden Gate Elite is certified for firearms and is a CDOJ certified gun safe (California DOJ listing). Firearms are stored unloaded. It is not fireproof or waterproof. In the pull test, cable boxes came off the seat by hand in under a minute, which is why we would not leave one in a driveway overnight. With enough time and tools nothing is secure. The job is to raise the time and the tool count.
Golden Gate Elite
Certified for firearms. Stored unloaded, in 12-gauge steel.
Preorder the Golden Gate Elite
Preorder. Shipping: November. Or see every car gun safe.
Questions
Is it safe to leave a firearm in the car overnight at someone's house?
It carries real risk. Cars are the largest source of stolen guns, and driveways are not exempt. If you choose it, keep the firearm unloaded in a locked steel safe fixed to the car, out of sight, and check the state's rules first. If you can keep it under your control in a locked box instead, weigh that option.
Should I bring the gun inside instead?
Only with storage you control. A nightstand drawer or a closet shelf is not storage in a house with children. A small locked box kept out of sight, with the key on you, is a reasonable option if your hosts agree. Ask them first. It is their house.
Do I have to tell my in-laws I have a firearm?
We cannot answer the legal part for your state, so check it. Practically, tell the adults in one short sentence. Most trouble comes from finding out later. If they object, you have time to change the plan before you get there.
What about driving through states with different gun laws?
Check every state on the route before you leave. Federal law, 18 U.S.C. 926A, sets conditions for transport between two places where you may lawfully have the firearm. Flying vs driving for the holidays compares your options. This is not legal advice.
Keep reading
- Parked cars and stolen guns: what the theft data shows.
Sources
- Everytown Research, "Gun Thefts from Cars: The Largest Source of Stolen Guns", May 9, 2024. everytownresearch.org
- Testa et al., "Firearm Thefts from Vehicles in the United States", Prevention Science, Sep 7, 2026. YouGov survey of 1,976 firearm owners, 53 of whom reported a theft. link.springer.com
- Testa et al., "Prevalence, correlates, and patterns of leaving firearms unattended in vehicles among US firearm owners", Injury Epidemiology, May 24, 2026. YouGov survey of 1,856 firearm owners, Feb to Mar 2026. doi.org
- New York Penal Law 265.45, read Nov 1, 2026. nysenate.gov
- Boosted Safe, filmed pull test on a mock car seat with child-seat anchors, published Jun 30, 2026. The pull test
- California DOJ, Roster of Firearm Safety Devices Certified for Sale, Golden Gate listing. oag.ca.gov
