Storing rifles in hotels

[Flavius Maximus]

Hello, new here. Got my gun license issued in early december, my first PTA was being processed right when those subhumans shot up bondi, & ended up buying my first rifle 3 weeks ago - a 1941 No3 MkIII*. I always wanted one of those rifles, but i was gonna stick to bows until i moved out of Oz. But peer pressure & a s**ty bow convinced me to "just get a gun". I reasoned i needed it just in case the critters stay out of bow range.
Now i bought it for deer & have it stored at the St Mary's range, & i have a hunt booked in at Vulcan in March. If i get good enough with it by then, then the plan is to grab the Lithy after work & head straight to Oberon to stay the night, before setting up at Vulcan at the crack of dawn. I saw deer there last october, but they were gone before it could get my bow.
The laws state i can have the rifle in my little Echo or "not readily accessable" while camping at the forest. Trouble is, i hate camping! Tried it, never again.
Am i able to keep my Lithy in a hotel overnight instead? Should i set up for dusk instead of dawn, given St Marys shuts at 10pm? An AI clanker says i can do the hotel thing, & i plan to ask the Firearms Registry & the DPI about it throughout the week to confirm. I have a gun bag, padlocked ammo box, SH48 topbox, & one of those massive 8 kilo "New York fuhgheddaboudit" chains. Should all that be enough? I'm not comfortable leaving a gun in the car, nor do i feel like dealing with the rigmaroll that is home storage

[Wapiti]

Should be more than enough, surely? Gun in a locked case padlocked to something.

Copper mate of mine showed me what they have to do when their unit works all over the state. The plastic-fantastic gets locked in a black pelican case, with one puny Masterlock. They have to provide their own cable to try and fasten this box to something in the motel room, but she showed me her room in town, and there was absolutely nothing to thread a cable through.
So they just hide the box somewhere, unfortunately if the room cleaners show up, they can't leave the case there.
What a mess.
Edit: and they're not trusted/allowed to conceal-carry the thing when technically off-duty, say when they do downstairs to the motel restaurant to have breakfast or dinner. What an insult.

But imagine if YOU didn't secure your smelly in your room, and it was pinched.

[Flavius Maximus]

Just called the Registry. They advised me to contact the nearest licensing officer to the hotel - in this case Oberon police

[Flavius Maximus]

UPDATE: The Sergeant at Oberon Police - lovely bloke, by the way - told me that beyond the usual transport requirements, i can take it to the hotel but it must remain in my posession at all times. In short, no need to secure it to the building, but i can't leave it there to go the pub etc. But, i'll still take the chain. Gotta use it for something

[No1_49er]

Rather than a "gun bag" which makes things look pretty obvious, why not get yourself a case??
SCA have good ones - https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/too ... e&start=12 (they're on special at the moment, $150, usually $245) which have a couple of locking points built in. A couple of reasonable/cheap padlocks will have you complying.

[Wapiti]

Check out whether locking it in the case No1-49er suggested, if that case is cable-locked to your vehicle in the boot of your car and the boot is also obviously locked.
Maybe check the relevant state regs, it should be quite clear in there as it is in my state.
Follow that, print out a copy in case the fuzz have reason to see what's in the boot and it'll all play out on their body cam.
Obviously only relevant whilst travelling, your permanent address has clear requirements for safe secure storage and frankly, anyone not prepared to follow those rules shouldn't have gotten a license. Particularly too, is the fact that you stated that your storage complies with the state law prior to getting any PTA.

One thing to check - any case carrying a firearm is not supposed to suggest a firearm is inside by its construction, shape/design, it might just end up being decided by a judge after a hefty donation to your local lawyers. Bugger that.

[fussy]

And keep copies of the discussions on emails, etc, sop you have a record that you bent over backwards to try to obey the law.

[Flavius Maximus]

Rather than a "gun bag" which makes things look pretty obvious, why not get yourself a case??
SCA have good ones - https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/too ... e&start=12 (they're on special at the moment, $150, usually $245) which have a couple of locking points built in. A couple of reasonable/cheap padlocks will have you complying.

I'll definitely look at one of those, but i might get a better deal at a gun shop

[Flavius Maximus]

Check out whether locking it in the case No1-49er suggested, if that case is cable-locked to your vehicle in the boot of your car and the boot is also obviously locked.
Maybe check the relevant state regs, it should be quite clear in there as it is in my state.
Follow that, print out a copy in case the fuzz have reason to see what's in the boot and it'll all play out on their body cam.
Obviously only relevant whilst travelling, your permanent address has clear requirements for safe secure storage and frankly, anyone not prepared to follow those rules shouldn't have gotten a license. Particularly too, is the fact that you stated that your storage complies with the state law prior to getting any PTA.

One thing to check - any case carrying a firearm is not supposed to suggest a firearm is inside by its construction, shape/design, it might just end up being decided by a judge after a hefty donation to your local lawyers. Bugger that.

I think this chain will more than exceed a cable. I'd PAY to see them get through this;

OIP.16vuCUhULwb3oDJLpANZ7gHaHh.png (201.96 KiB) Viewed 1562 times

[womble]

I lock the action to the vehicle. Won’t be too specific as to how. But it’s doable if you think about it with a decent cable lock.
Soft case so I can run the cable lock in and out. Buried under other stuff. Tracker on the vehicle that goes to my phone if it moves.

Ammo and bolt goes in the hotel room. Separately.

AirTag in the buttstock is not a bad idea either.

I don’t like thieves

[Flavius Maximus]

I lock the action to the vehicle. Won’t be too specific as to how. But it’s doable if you think about it with a decent cable lock.
Soft case so I can run the cable lock in and out. Buried under other stuff. Tracker on the vehicle that goes to my phone if it moves.

Ammo and bolt goes in the hotel room. Separately.

AirTag in the buttstock is not a bad idea either.

I don’t like thieves

I'd be worried if you did! Plan was to wrap the chain tightly around the soft case before locking it to something heavy. As with the car? I'll chain it to the back seat in the boot. Either way, they'll need to cut through it, & there ain't no doin that without making a ruckus. I mean, they could rip the seat out, but then they'd have to carry the seat. Not exactly subtle now, is it?
Sorry, i just don't trust cable locks. Seen too many cut way too easily. In fact, you don't even need tools! I'll stick with chains, boxes, & bars, thank you very much

[Flavius Maximus]

Either way, i'm pretty new to shooting. But if i'm still not as good with the rifle at bow range by then, the Smelly will stay in storage, & i'll go pure bowhunting instead. Guns are cool, but so are bows. Plus, bows don't have nearly as many restrictions. I'm also a bit worried my archery skills might affect my 2nd PTA. We're run by arrogant busybodies, after all