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I guess it depends on where you live. In SD we can't carry a shotgun "loaded and locked" in a vehicle.
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It depends on the definition of "loaded".
Around here, there has to be a cartridge in the "firing position" (in the chamber for most firearms, or top of the magazine for open-bolt designs); and it must take fewer than 2 actions to cause the weapon to discharge (not including taking the safety off).
So... If you have an empty chamber in a closed-bolt firearm, that will take 2 actions to make it fire, you're good to go (such as operating the slide/bolt/whatever, and pulling the trigger; or cocking the hammer of a single action revolver, and pulling the trigger). According to the legal definition, it is unloaded.
When I'm leaving for a hunting trip, I fully load the magazine/cylinders of every firearm I am taking. Rifles and shotguns will keep an empty chamber, to be legally unloaded. Handguns can legally be concealed in my vehicle, though. The handguns
all remain legally "loaded".
And, then there's Wyoming... When I hunt in Wyoming, I still return to the empty chamber, when getting in a vehicle. But, I don't have to. If I wanted to, I could keep every firearm in the vehicle in Condition 0, while remaining legal.