Carrying but having to leave the gun aside.

[Mags]

I am carrying more often now a days. I go to the gym 3 nights a week but obviously cant carry during working out, nor do I want to. I leave my gym duffel bag in sight and on a sitting bench off to the side. I am reluctant to leave a firearm in there. No one bothers any ones duffels, but what if it got slid of the bench and fell on the floor spilling out its contents? I'm not sure how to go about carrying to the gym. I dont trust locking it in a locker either as they get broken into from time to time. I'm responsible for my firearm at all times. Leaving it in my car doesnt do me any good leaving the gym at night and walking across the parking lot either. Any suggestions.

[SheepNutz]

I wouldn't recommend it, even if it's in a locker. My wife's boss had a gym bag in his locker, locked up, while doing a 30 minute workout. When he got back to his locker, his locker had been forced open and they took his wallet. He immediately called to cancel his company and personal credit cards, and the thieves had already spent a few grand at Lowe's and bought something like 18 iPods at the apple store in that short amount of time.

[THEZACHARIAS]

If youre going to put it in the duffel bag and carry it around with you, Id probably use a soft sided pistol case (one of those small zip-up affairs big enough to hold the pistol and maybe an extra magazine). If it does fall out and someone asks, you can tell them its a PDA or a phone or some other electric gadget you wanted to keep protected; no need to deal with an "oh no, a gun" situation.

[Phoebe]

There is no way I'd leave a gun in a duffel bag at the gym, even with my eyeballs on it!! If you were female, you might realize just how fast someone can steal your purse...or duffel bag.

Why not carry a fanny pack to the gym? Or if it's not going to be on your body, lock it in your vehicle.

[Dannyl]

HI,
we had a similar problem at a Skydiving club where I was active for many years.
Our solution was to install a safe right in the hangar, which was the hub of activity. The keys were held by the Hangar-Master.
(the person who controls the activity for the day)
Every club member who had a firearm or other valuables was welcome to lock it in the safe.

Perhaps if you ( or several members) approach the manager of the gym this could be a solution.

Brgds,

Danny

[Lost Sheep]

I realize it is a major hassle, but most venues will provide an escort to a single woman to your car if you ask.

If you do leave the gun in the car, you could carry the pepper spray (one of those key-ring bottles, perhaps). A self-defense sprayer would raise fewer eyebrows than a firearm, probably.

The gym might have a secure place under observation at all times? If you could avail yourself of that, it might be OK to leave the gun there. (Please hold the critiques. The subject line does say "Not a perfect solution". I am just brainstorming here.)

Talk to the gym management. You may not be the first to ask. If you don't want them to know you are presently carrying, you could ask as if it were a future consideration. Maybe start by referring to self-defense spray and move up.

I suppose if I were to leave my gun in my car, I would put it inside a hard case and use a bicycle cable to secure the case under the seat or somewhere it would be REAL difficult to 1) find 2) pick the lock 3) get any kind of bolt cutter in position. If they steal the gun, they will have to take the whole car.

how fast someone can steal your purse...or duffel bag.

Slow down the process. In a tough-skinned duffle/gym bag, lock the bag and then lock the whole bag to a piece of furniture. And still keep an eye on it. The hit-and-run purse snatcher is not going to wrestle with a bag of unknown contents. Too obvious and too easy to attract attention.

If your bag is in a place where it is not likely to be jostled, you could put a vibration detector in it. They sell these things to people who want some security in their hotel/motel rooms. You hang it on your doorknob (inside), and if the door moves, it starts beeping. I don't know how effective or sensitive they are, just seen the ads. If anyone picks up your gym bag...beep - beep - beep - beep.

If I think of any more hare-brained ideas, I will post them later.

Lost Sheep

[Sevens]

No one bothers any ones duffels, but what if it got slid of the bench and fell on the floor spilling out its contents?

I think this one is easily rectified: Buy a day planner... or even a medium sized CD-case/wallet thingy. Something that looks like a zip-up rectangular or sqaure-ish planner book. Something that doubles as a gun rug, but doesn't LOOK like one. Gut the contents and place your handgun inside.

I'm not sure how to keep the entire bag from being swiped, but you should be able to stow the handgun in something like a day planner to keep it from being recognized as a handgun if it were to fall over.

I totally understand your concern about locking the gun in your car-- I hate doing EXACTLY that. You aren't able to use it for the parking lot walk (likely the place you'd need it most, if it all) and parked cars are TARGETS for theft. Very specific targets, especially when parked at places where folks routinely go in for at least a specific amount of time. (and by that, I mean not like a grocery store where nobody knows how long you will be in there... when people enter a gym, they tend to stay for at least a half hour. My particular seething hate for locking my carry gun in the car is at a sporting event... the whole world knows how long you'll be away from your car when you go there.)

[Brian Pfleuger]

what if it got slid of the bench and fell on the floor spilling out its contents?

Why not just put it on the floor to begin with?

Lock the bag with a suitcase lock and put it on the floor UNDER the bench, instead of on the bench.

[MLeake]

Go to www.andrewsleather.com

Sam makes a Notebook holster that looks like, you guessed it, a notebook. Steel lined, I believe, so it doesn't bulge.

+1 on setting it on the floor, not the bench, but I don't know that I'd take one into the gym, despite the psycho at the aerobics class a couple weeks ago.

Personally, for those occasions when I'm going into a place where carry is illegal or problematic, I bought a console vault. It is a lockable containment system, designed to fit in center consoles. I have a full-size 4x4, with a large center console, so mine fits a pair of handguns easily. It can also fit portable GPS, IPod, cell phone, checkbook, etc.

The console vault screws into the screw anchors used for your console liner. While it could be breached by either using massive force to rip out the entire center console, or by cutting through the center console itself (the vault has a steel face, and two steel bracket walls, that screw into the vehicle, but fore and aft aren't armored), the console vault will prevent the typical smash-and-grab thief from getting your stuff.

Of course, the guy could just steal the vehicle, but I can only take so many precautions.

Cheers,

M

[kay_gee]

depending on what im working out i normally wear sweat pants and carry my firearm on a ankle holster..or simply zip up your duffle bag after use..i know some have secret compartments big enough to fit a gun...

[FireForged]

IMO.. It is a bad idea to have a firearm anywhere but:

1. On your person.
2. Secured in a fixed and locked vessel. (safe, car, locker, desk)

[vsgonzo]

Place it in the locker. If it gets stolen it gets stole . You locked it up. Its all u can do.

Cars get broken into
someone can swipe your gym bag in a blink of an eye on a bench.
I just lock up my duty weapon at my la fitness.
If it does get swiped i just explain i locked it up and thats the furthest i can go to secure. You leave it anywhere else its just as easy or easiar to steal

[MLeake]

... but there are still ways to lock the vehicle in the car.

I have a console vault. I had a friend who welded a lockbox to the frame of his CJ7, because old Jeeps don't have internal lockbox capability. There are ways to make it very hard for somebody to steal things from your vehicle, much harder than it is to force a thin sheet metal door or cut a combo lock in a locker room.

[Truckman]

I carry a lot of stuff I need frequently for medical reasons,and my 9mm,in a six pak lunch box. It never gets screwed with,because not too many thieves want to risk arrest for a ham-n-cheese. (Of course,with all the Meth-Heads drifting around,their logic and risk assessment abilities pretty much go right out the window.)I haven't yet figured a way to lock it shut,but maybe...Point is,if you want to keep your handgun in your gym bag,as was suggested,lock it shut with a suitcase lock,and use a gun lock to lock it securely to the legs or frame of the bench in a way that it can't be slipped off. If the bench is anchored to the floor,the bag isn't going anywhere without a good struggle,and if it isn't anchored,it's going to make a lot of noise while the thief is trying to free it. Most likely,seeing it locked up the thief will just look for easier pickin's.
Speed

[serf 'rett]

Would you still be able to see the bag if it was placed on the floor? If it goes on the floor, it should be locked and then secured to something. While eating lunch in Moscow a few years ago, one of the group had a nice camera stolen after they set it down at their feet. It wasn't snatch/grab/run thing, the camera simply was gone 15 minutes later.

[Peter Weber]

Some gyms aren't so small that you can constantly look around and see your bag. And, if it's anchored (locked) to a bench, it isn't convenient to constantly move it. AND, it looks like you have something VERY valuable in the bag, which makes you more vulnerable to a thief.

I would just use a fanny pack holster and be done with it.

[dondavis3]

+1 vsgonzo

It's not any safer in the car - if you are concerned about walking back to your car, rent a locker or carry a combination lock and lock it in a visitors locker.

I go to LA Fitness too and their parking lot is very well lit.

[Wagonman]

I agree with VSGONZO. I lock my weapon in locker with a better lock than I was issued to secure my weapon in the house. I believe I am on the side of the angels----Theft report, call to State Farm, trip to gun shop.

[DGTigers]

I'm not sure what type of workouts that you do while you're at the gym so this could possibly be a solution or totally irrelevant....

If you do any weight training while you are at the gym, it is very common for athletes or serious gym users to carry with them a training program where they can write down quick notes about the weight and number of reps they did for each exercise. If you were interested in doing this, you might be able to a zippered binder that could both carry your workout program and your gun. That would look a lot less suspicious to always have your binder containing your workout program near than constantly moving your duffel bag or watching it like a hawk.

[dav]

I'm not sure what type of workouts that you do while you're at the gym

But you are there to exercise. Get yourself an M1 Garand and forget that handgun stuff. Exercise with a Garand in your hands and you'll know you've had a workout.

This was an attempt at humor.

For a serious suggestion I would say get a safepacker and carry the handgun during exercise. Way too hot and uncomfortable, but a realistic solution.

[armsmaster270]

When I was going to the Gym I used a fanny pack.

[bsbllrooster10]

Maybe wear some "baggy" work out pants with an ankle holster. I know of at least one LEO at my gym who does so. He actually wears jeans but I think some nylon pants could work as well.

[rhenriksen]

Why not a SmartCarry holster? Works for me, at least with a small Walther PPS. I wouldn't want to carry a full size pistol, though.

[Daugherty16]

if you don't like the fanny pack, but if you get to sweating, you're probably going to be field stripping and cleaning and wiping your gun down pretty often. The new metal finishes can be pretty resistant to sweat, and the plastics are obviously impervious, but even so...

You could always quit the gym, buy your own equip, and work out in the basement or spare bedroom.