Car thieves often make off inadvertently with with stuff that just happened to be in the car. Here in Oregon, we've had several incidences where cars have been stolen that happened to be carrying in their trunks instruments containing radioactive sources. I can recall two incidents involving asphalt gages. This instrument has a radioactive source in a shielded container on one side and a geiger counter on the other. A chunk of asphalt is placed in the middle and a window to the source is opened. The amount of radiation the asphalt absorbs is a measure of the density (and quality) of the material. These things are commonly used in road-construction and they are very safe as long as you don't go prying open the source container. There was another involving a medical source that was in-transit to a medical facility when the driver stopped for lunch and the car was stolen from the restaurant's parking lot. The source was being carried in a shielded box locked with a paddlock. But, with a hacksaw, the thief would have gotten to the source in no time. Authorities were particularly concerned in this case bacause, while well-labeled, the box in question sort of resembles a large cash box, just the sort of thing that a thief would want to break open if he found it in the trunk of a car he just stole. In all of these cases, authorities concluded that the thieves had no intention to steal the source; they just wanted the car. The point here is that I don't think that adding a firearms safe to the trunk of your car with the intention of storing your firearms in there long-term is a a very good idea.
A big part of the responsibility that comes with lawfully owning firearms (responsibility both legally and ethically) is to keep them well-secure in such a way as to minimize the chances that they will fall into unlawful hands. If you can't make a diligent effort to do that, then you really aren't in a position to own the firearms. An owner can't be expected to prevent all thefts; but it does seem to me that planning to store your guns routinely in the trunk of your car isn't a diligent approach.
The theft of and all-points-bulletin efforts that had to go into locating those two asphalt gages caused the State of Oregon to impose new rules on construction companies that use those gages. When guns are stolen from lawful owners and end up in the hands of criminals and end up being used to commit crimes, that just gives fodder to the anti crowd. As I said, it is impossible to absolutely elliminate theft, but, as a community, we gun owners have to self-police each other to minimize those incidents. If a community does not police itself, then it leaves itself open to intervention by the government; the classic and recent case is the telemarketing industry which was unable to get its members to stop unwanted calling thus forcing the government to impose the Federal Do Not Call list which devastated the industry.
