A firearm has to be unloaded and in a hard sided container that can be locked, and it must be in checked luggage. If the luggage is hard sided and can be locked, that is sufficient. The firearm must be declared at the ticket counter, to inform the airline that you are transporting a firearm. I like the phrase "I wish to declare an unloaded firearm" as it is non-threatening and meets the legal requirements. The ticket agent will give you a form to sign, indicating that you declared the firearm. Knives do not need to be declared, but need to be in checked luggage. Ammunition must be in a factory container, but can be in the same luggage as the firearm.
Airlines may have strickter rules than this, but those that are unreasonable tend to be weeded out by the market.
I have transported firearms by commercial airlines dozens of times since 9/11, and have not had any difficulty doing so.
However, do anything consistantly long enough, and you will make an inadvertent error. With many millions of Americans routinely carrying firearms, I do not find it unusual that a thousand or so would make a mistake in any given year.
Once, I transported a box of 50 rounds of ammunition across the country in my carry on. I had used the carry on as a range bag, and the box of ammo was tucked into a corner and was missed. It came back in checked luggage.
There should be some provision in the law to protect citizens who make an honest mistake, so that they are not persecuted by anti-freedom zealots.
I am not traveling PERIOD. Even when you think you are following the letter of the law the law has the power to change it on the fly. You just cannot respect the laws when they are changing every minute or every mile, every town, every state.
This may be a new profit center for gun stores located in tourist meccas; Renting side arms to traveling CCW holders.
BS story.
The author tries to say that more and more people are showing up at TSA checkpoints with loaded handguns.
Really? Like we don’t know already?
I will travel fully armed this summer. I’m not taking my family into the lawless wilderness unprepared.
Carnivorous animals and predatory humans are always a danger.
I don’t fly anymore because of TSA abuses. Some TSA pervert would probably put his hands on my daughter and I’d end up putting him in the hospital.
To avoid a mess, I’m not flying, I’m driving. That way, no pervert is touching me or my family and I will be armed.
I’ve mentioned before that I represented a guy in getting his security clearance reinstated after he forgot his .38 revolver in his carry-on, was arrested, charged with a felony and had the charge dismissed when it couldn’t be proven the act was intentional. Over $13K in attorney’s fees (only a teeny bit of which was mine) for a brain fart.
How stupid do you have to be to show up at a TSA checkpoint with a loaded handgun?
Good tips.
I have to comment on the title of the piece: Leave the Weaponry Behind
Like you don’t need the right or means to defend yourself whilst on vacation.
That’s like saying you don’t need any of life’s other essentials on holiday – Like a first aid kid or cell phone for emergencies.
Does the New York Slimes understand that you don’t know ahead of time when you will need to defend yourself?
The lovely and talented Mrs Zippo and I plan to travel this summer. We will take a 2500 mile round trip for a combination of business and pleasure and we will travel in our private car and therefore will be well protected along the way. No need to allow some chinless, drooling pithcanthropus paw through our belongings, nor will Mrs Zippo get groped by anyone but me. Reciprocity is a wonderful thing.
Do loaded magazines (semiauto) or speed-loaders (revolvers) count as the "factory container"?
“Traveling this summer?”
Nope. The airlines can do without my money since they refuse to fight the TSA. No sexual assaults on me or my family would ever be tolerated.