As I understand it, under my LTC-A ALP, I can carry a loaded handgun in my pocket, glove box, or unlocked range bag in my trunk legally and drive through a school zone or by a courthouse? Am I correct?
Short answer, you are correct except for the loaded handgun in the trunk part.
I am probably wrong on this, but my understanding in Mass the only way to carry a loaded handgun is if you have it on your person, a glove box wouldn't work, the key being loaded.
The issue is that this drifts into some gray area of MGL. Don't test your limits in Mass. unless you have a lot of time and money to devote to the court process that will follow.
In Florida where I was 2 weeks ago that is true, actually according to the Florida laws you can have a loaded or unloaded gun in a holster on the back seat in plan view and that without a carry license, their law is that it has to take you a second to pull the gun to give you time to consider. You cannot have a loaded gun just laying next to you, it has to be either in a holster (not on your person as that would require a concealed carry license) or in the glove box or in anything that you have to take it out of.
Down in Florida we would not be talking soft vs. hard cases.
To clarify a few things on the law in the state of Florida.
Without a FL license/reciprocity, a handgun or long gun must be "securely encased" if carried while accessable in the vehicle in FL; it can be loaded while it's "securely encased." Basically that means any kind of case or snapped in a holster that's not on your person; the courts have ruled that carry in a zippered bag, center console and other methods all meet the requirements of the law, but people have been arrested/hassled for it anyway. The center console seems to be a big issue with some cops, since they think that if a gun is there then it's basically carried on or about the person of the driver. The FL courts have clearly ruled that it's legal, but not every cop knows every law. It's legal for anyone over 18 to have it in the vehicle like this, even if it's a handgun. The GFSZA still applies though, so without a permit you need to comply with that while within 1,000 feet of a school.
With a FL license/reciprocity, you can carry any type of weapon (guns, brass knuckles, Class 3, prison shiv...but no ballistic knives or incendiary ammo though) any way you want in the vehicle, between seat cushions, stuck under the front seat, glove compartment, on the seat, etc. The Serbu Super Shorty shotgun is actually sold in FFL's down here with a pancake holster for CCW.
There is some gray area as to whether or not guns must be concealed in the vehicle in FL (with or without a permit), so I'd recommend keeping them out of sight even if "securely encased." There's a bill in the works to legalize open carry in FL though, so if that passes it won't be an issue at all.
It is believed that the intent of the FL laws are to give you time to consider before drawing something when in the vehicle without a license, but that's not what the law actually requires. Lots of people think that there's a "3 step law" or something similar for transport, but that's not the law and never has been in FL.
Vehicle carry is extremely common down here, especially with the "take your gun to work" law that allows you to keep a gun in your vehicle at your work even if your company policy doesn't allow it. Like anywhere else in the world, not everyone knows the law, but John Gutmacher's book is to Florida what Glidden's is to Mass., so you can use it to show you're good to go if you get stopped by a cop who doesn't know any better. There are also some exemptions that allow carry on the person without a license in FL, but that's another topic (one that's covered in Gutmacher's book though).
Again, to be clear, this is the law in Florida,
not Massachusetts.
Why is it that it is legal to have guns in a glass fronted gun cabinet and that meets the letter of the law without trigger locks, but we are unsure if a locked soft side gun case may not? It is easier to break the glass on that cabinet than to cut into the soft sided case.
It is not legal to have guns in a glass fronted cabinet in Massachusetts, that's a gunstore rumor that's been shot down by court cases on storage.
If you leave the guns unattended in the vehicle, then it becomes STORAGE, and all of those laws apply.
But many LEO's will hold you to both the transport and storage laws for a gun stored in a vehicle. It's not legally correct IMO, but to avoid a lot of problems, you should comply with both the safe storage and the transport requirements anytime a gun is in the vehicle in Mass., unless of course it's on your person.
I believe that there has been precedent set as to the adequacy of using the glove box for transport or for storage, and the court ruled that it IS NOT acceptable, and it does NOT constitute a locked or secured container.
No court has ruled on the legality of carry, transport or storage in the glove compartment, but people have been charged with different law violations and/or lost their LTC for doing so.
I took my NRA course in'05 and for some reason I remember the instructor say it was legal. My memory could be wrong though.
No offense intended to instructors, but not all of them know the law. They're human like everyone else, and I've gotten bad legal info from a few of them both in Mass. and down here in FL. The ones who are the most wrong are also the most vocal about how right they are in my experience, and will often refer to "what the law says" without being able to back it up with cites.