“My father had one he kept down under the seat of the truck.”
Nearly fifty years ago my neighbor had a cut down dbl-barrel that he carried in his truck. He worked night-shift on the railroad near Union Station in Washington, DC.
Locals from the neighborhood would occasionally get frisky and fill orders for their Midnight Auto Supply from the employee parking lot.
One night enough was enough. Catching a few thieves nearby, my neighbor cranked off a few rounds of Thunder & Light. Thieves beat feet until they noted that the pellets only made it 30-40 feet out of the barrel. Next it was neighbors turn to beat feet. Enthusiastically so! No idea whether it was an old lot of shells or simply the wrong load. Neighbor did get his money’s worth retelling the story.
It had to be bad ammo.
I used to carry an 18” Winchester Defender in a cab top carrier in my F-250. The shotgun fit fairly tightly between the cloth covered carrier and the roof. Two velcro strips kept it secure. They also kept the gun from contact with the metal.
Almost no one ever noticed it. For some reason people just don’t look that way.