I recently went through this exact scenario.
I have lived in Austin Texas for 20+ years, in the west side (i.e. safer) side of town and never felt like I ever needed anything more than my normal carry piece even if I ventured into the more "sketchy" neighborhoods. But even "sketchy" in Austin is nothing like were I grew up in Saint Louis, or the bad parts of Houston or Dallas.
However, with all the protests and riots starting to move outside of the normal core downtown area I finally decided that I needed something more than my normal 9MM carry handgun and wanted a higher capacity firearm in a traditional rifle caliber in the car.
I also have a Jeep Grand Cherokee (2014 SRT) and the storage/hiding places were limited.
My requirements:- Something small enough to be wielded inside the vehicle but packed enough "punch".
- A gun that was reliable and had an red dot optic but also wouldn't be tragic cost wise if it was stolen.
- Something not NFA in the event it did get stolen.
- A case that was covert and didn't scream "gun" and draw attention to it both from a theft point of view and if I needed to remove the AR and take it with me. (dropping the car off for service, checking into a hotel, etc.)
- I wanted some level of smash and grab type security but also wanted to make sure that I could access the rifle caliber AR15 Pistol from the driver or passenger seat. (i.e. its of limited utility if I have to get out of the car, open the tailgate, remove the spare tire holder, and then assemble the upper to the lower)
Ultimately I ended up building an 10.5" AR15 "pistol" in 5.56 on a RRA lower and a PSA kit. I added Sig Romeo 5 Red Dot co-witnessed with a fixed A2 front site tower and a magpul flip up BUIS.
I bought this AR15 "Discrete" carry case from Bulldog as the 10.5" pistol with an SBA3 brace fits it in without having to be broken down.
https://www.bulldogcases.com/product/ultra-compact-ar15-discreet-sporting-rifle-case/ Attached FileFor security I grabbed this AR15 lock.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KLYA4OM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Attached FileI keep the case pushed up against the rear of the back seat and since the case is black and the interior is black its blends. I keep my medical bag on top of it as my medical bag has rode in my car for years and nobody has ever had any interest in stealing it. Add in tinted rear door windows its pretty hard to make out.
I keep the lock in the magwell, the cable strung out of the case and wrapped around the rear seat support and the key to the lock on my keychain.
Would it be great to make a custom vault that fit in the rear seat area.....sure. However, this was the best compromise of adding a "rifle caliber" AR15 Pistol to my Jeep, keeping it hidden/discrete, still having handy access to it from the drivers seat if the needed, not compromising my storage/trunk area or rear passenger space, still allows me to easily fold my rear seats down, and adding at least a small security barrier to a smash and grab type theft from some homeless hobo looking for an easy score.
Total cost all in was less than a $1000.
$100 for the RRA lower
$500 for the PSA Kit
$150 for the Sig Romeo
$50 for the case
$20 for the lock
$50 for two pmags loaded with M855
Final Setup.In case and under med kit bag on Left, AR Pistol in case with lock on right.
Attached FileGood luck with whatever you decide.