Posted on 07/31/2009 7:23:53 AM PDT by marktwain
(AP Photo/Don Ryan)Karen McNutt of Women & Guns has a warning for travelers.
You could be traveling by airline with a declared and checked-in gun in your baggage, all perfectly legal, and think you've done everything required of you. Then say something compels you to claim your luggage at a layover airport: perhaps your flight was rerouted, or perhaps there was a delay and they're going to shuttle you to a hotel or an alternate terminal...
Don't assume it's safe to claim your suitcase. That could put you in a world of hurt.
I came across McNutt's article--one I missed when it first came out--in a forwarded email from Firearmsregprof, a "discussion list for scholars specializing in firearms."
Here's part of what she had to say:
Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey are particularly bad states to pass through. If you check your luggage in, then find because of some delay that the airline is asking you to claim your luggage, do not do so. As soon as you take possession you could be arrested. Go to the baggage counter or to customer service. Explain that the baggage cannot leave airline custody. If that results in the bag missing the connection and arriving late, so be it. If they insist you take the bag, tell the clerk that he may be violating the law, could be arrested for the unlawful transfer of a firearm. That should get his or her attention. Ask for a supervisor. If you have to, ask for airport security. Explain to them that you can not take possession of the bag. Ask them to instruct you as to what you should do.
Read the whole thing and pass it on. It's another example of agenda-driven "law" entrapping citizens trying their hardest to jump through all the hoops, but nonetheless at risk of having their lives destroyed.
I guess it's easier and safer than going after real criminals.
The Firearmsregprof discussion includes a note of hope from Stephen P. Halbrook:
18 USC 926A entitles a person to transport a firearm in this situation. NY is apparently the only state where passengers are arrested when they comply with TSA procedures to transport firearms by air. We are litigating this policy in the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit...We have had oral argument and are awaiting a decision.
Isn't it amazing that this is even an issue?
Also see: "Airline Transportation of Firearms" from NRA-ILA. ------------
The village may be missing an idi...uh...representative member...
...but at least he hasn't lost his voice.
"Gun Rights Examiner" David Codrea rages...
Codrea ends in dismay...
Yesterday's column was actually an exercise in optimism, Roy. There's an opportunity for a small victory there that could have larger implications, not the least of which could be to constipate Furious Mike.
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Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Anchorage Libertarian Examiner Kevin Wilmeth wants to arrange a hunting safari for a self-identified expert.
"Airdrop Deputy Chief Moore" sounds like a great bumper sticker or T-shirt slogan.
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An NRA member had the same trouble when he claimed his bags. The NRA legal defense team came to his rescue.
The NRA legal defense team is involved with approximately sixty cases a year.
Thanks - always good know these things. You should check before you travel with your firearms in a car as well. My wife has family in Maine and my father-in-law was going up to do some hunting. I don’t know what he based his decision on (they were going to stop in NYC and NJ) but he came to the conclusion he would be better off leaving his firearms at home and using a relatives gun. I know they are picky about handguns, but are they that strict on long guns as well? I am not at all familiar with the laws in that region, I just know my father-in-law was concerned about carrying any kind of firearm through the area in the event he got stopped.-—JM
I would guess Illinois would be another bad state
Surprisingly, No.
IL gun laws are somewhat more *friendly* to out of state residents traveling through the state with firearms than for us peon serf residents. As long as the firearm is unloaded and 'cased', which it would be anyway, there's no problem. This includes flying in/out of O'Hare or Midway. I've never seen one article where someone was arrested for violating Chicago's Draconian gun laws when claiming their baggage.
Out of state Hunters can even buy ammo with only a picture ID. However we peon surfs in IL need that &^%$ing FOID Card just to touch it. (oh-oh, is that a 'loophole'?) /s
A lib lady I work with just inherited a bunch of guns from her Dad including some VERY nice ones. There's an LC Smith shotgun made in 1902, a pre-64 Winchester Model 70 among others.
She asked me what she needed to do in order to legally get them back here to IL.
After I finished explaining the laws to her she actually asked me "why do you put up with this?"
BTW I got dibs on the Winchester. LOL
There's no where worse than the Atlanta airport if you have to transfer luggage with a gun inside. The GA State Assembly passed a law last year that was intended to nullify local laws against having a gun on city or county property except in a few limited places like the restricted areas of airports where federal law supersedes state law. But after that law went into effect the airport manager and his boss the "lady" mayor of Atlanta announced that anyone found with a gun anywhere on airport property, including the many outlying parking areas, would be arrested and charged with a felony crime even if they have a GA carry permit. The state legislator who had initiated the new GA law challenged the Atlanta officials and stated that he was going to carry a gun on an area of the grounds outside the federally restricted area of the airport, and if arrested let a court decide the legitimacy of the airport manager's actions. After making that announcement the mayor said that under Atlanta law he would be liable for a 20 year sentence if convicted, and he didn't follow through on his announced plan.
Instead a pro-gun rights group and IIRC the legislator himself challenged the Atlanta law in a Fulton county court but the liberal judge ruled in favor of the airport. Then the challengers appealed to an Atlanta district federal court and lost there as well. So now, according to two judges, a state law duly enacted by the legislature and signed into state law by the governor is officially superseded by a local city law that was specifically nullified by the state assembly and the governor.
I would love to see this case go to the USSC where I think the airport manager and the mayor would be smacked down hard, but I haven't heard or read anything that indicates the county law will be challenged in a higher court. Just beware if you have a gun in luggage anywhere on Atlanta airport property, because the ultra-liberal Atlanta gang is eagerly hoping for a chance to show off their court-granted "authority" by making you an example.
No doubt she'll HAVE to get a FOID Card if she intends to keep even one, or be a Felon. But I'd double check the IL State Police websites link to the Firearm Laws.
But anyway, she's right. Why DO we put up with this. It's Daley and his toadies passing this crap that affects everyone in IL. All because he can't control the animals in his zoo.
As if I needed another reason to get the heck out of NYC.
In addition to violating the second amendment, this situation seems to violate the Interstate Commerce Clause, as a state burden on IC.
Also a violation of the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986. Short version: Anyone traveling with a locked and unloaded firearm traveling from A to B can not be harassed or arrested on the way.
Anyone wishing to type out the full version, please do so.
The ex-felons who really want guns to commit crimes are not deterred. If you think they are, I have a 2008 Presidential Candidate whose hope & change you'll really love.
Ex-felons who might want guns for normal purposes like self-protection (I know, this crowd doesn't like having certain classes possessing the means to self-defense) or hunting (ditto) or collecting (ditto).
The self-evident purposes of these laws it to harrass (today's) legitimate gun owners into giving up. Including the threat of entrapments like this to make them into felons, so their 2nd Amendment right can be taken away.
But hey, we're so far into the denial of the rights of "others" for whatever reason, thinking it won't be our own rights that get lost, it's hopeless.
It's even more powerful than "bread & circuses" because it sells to the "haves" not the "have-nots."
America -- a great idea, didn't last.
In most states, felons can have their rights restored, including the right to keep and bear arms. It does take some work, though.
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