Composed of rugged polycarbonate and securable nearly anywhere, the Snap Safe TrekLite keeps your gun under lock and key anywhere you roam.
OK, you have a CPL (and who doesn’t these days?), but there are still places you can’t go when you are carrying. If you are smart, you keep a laminated card in your car to remind you, Can I go into XYZ? while carrying.
And if you can’t?
Just leaving your sidearm tucked underneath the seat while you “only take a minute” to go into the post office, DMV office or bank is an invitation to disaster. If it’s gone upon your return, you have many headaches, possible liability and perhaps even revocation of your CPL … and that’s if nothing is done with your “missing” firearm.
So, lock it up.
TrekLite Safe
The TrekLite from Snap Safe is just the ticket for that. Instead of a heavy steel box, which can rust if left in the car, you have a rugged polycarbonate-made box that’s not only lockable, it can also be secured to the car.
The box is big enough to hold a 1911 Government model or similar-sized carry gun. So, there’s room for the pistol, the magazine or magazines, a knife and all the stuff you usually carry but isn’t allowed where you are going.
The lid locks with a key that you keep with you. The box is tightly fitted and tough enough so that someone isn’t going to be prying it open without “manly” tools (if someone can get it open bare handed, they probably don’t need a pistol).
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Anchoring Cable
A bonus is the anchoring cable. It’s really stout and vinyl coated, and the securing method to the box does not protrude into the box. As a result, you don’t have to worry about your anchor marring your blaster.
Loop the cable around a seat bolster in your car or truck and then through itself. Slip the end into the slot in the box, add your pistol and extras, and lock it. Tuck it out of sight, and it’ll be there when you return.
A quick aside here: Some will advise that you unload the pistol when storing it. Me? I figure the more you’re handling it—simultaneously trying to stay inconspicuous—the greater your chances are of having an accident.
So, my process is to get myself settled, get the box ready and then take a final look around. Then, in an easy, smooth, unremarkable motion, I draw and slide the pistol in and close the lid. When returning to my car, I look to make sure no one is paying attention (it’s remarkable how much you can “disappear” if you don’t draw attention to yourself), and then I unlock, remove and holster my firearm and get on with life.
The standard rule is that you don’t store a loaded firearm in a safe. However, we have to weigh competing harms here. While in a hotel room, at home or visiting friends or relatives, you have plenty of time—and privacy—to unload and store. With a vehicle, the more you’re moving and the more you’re handling, the greater the chances are of being observed … and the greater the chances of an AD/ND.
As a friend of mine is wont to say, “We each have to find our own salvation.”
I do it my way. If that doesn’t work for you, then do it your way. I won’t judge.
Speaking of hotel scenarios: The Snap Safe TrekLite works great—provided you make sure the metal thing you’re attaching it to can’t be lifted, moved or disassembled. It would really be too bad to attach it to the bed, only to discover later that simply lifting the box spring allowed the safe and its items to be taken.
The Snap Safe TrekLite is also TSA-approved. In this instance, you use the cable looped around the interior struts of your suitcase; that is, the ones for the trolly handle. You might have to make a couple of slices in the lining to gain access. So, lock your pistol in the safe and then secure it inside the suitcase. Proceed normally with airline rigamarole and TSA regulations. Leave it on top of your clothing, in case TSA wants to see it. And keep the key: The regulations require that if the firearm is unlocked for inspection, it must be done in your presence. Don’t hand over the keys.
The best part of the Snap Safe TrekLite—besides weighing only 25 ounces (less than your sidearm might weigh)? It has an MSRP of $28.
Really, you should buy one just because it’s inexpensive; so if you ever need one in the future, you’ll already have it.
For more information on the Snap Safe Treklite safe, please visit snapsafe.com.
The article originally appeared in the November 2019 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
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