Flying today with a firearm?

The best advice I have ever seen for this is to buy one of the hard golf club cases. They have wheels, they are discreet, and you can fit not only your cased firearm but other incidentals.

Mullis - based on gundude's recent experience getting a rifle from Indiana to Texas for hog hunting (new case destroyed by TSA), I'm beginning to think that maybe direct shipping the gun via FedEx to your destination may be the way to go...

I took my GP100 .357 with me from Indy to Alaska (via Chicago) a couple of summers ago for salmon fishing, and my experience was that everyone involved (LEO's vs. TSA) had a different interpretation of "the rules"... I checked with local sheriff, ISP and the airlines (Northwest) before showing up, and all said "Case must be locked, you keep the key, ammo must be boxed (not loose or in gun)..."

At check-in in Indy, I told the rep that the case I was handing him had a firearm that I needed to check-in... he asked if the case was locked (Yes) and had me fill out a form/tag, and he tagged the case, put it on the conveyor, and that was that...

Connecting flight from O'Hare to Anchorage... waiting for the outbound boarding.... announcement over the speaker, "Will passenger Demaree report to the TSA Security Office..."

I'm thinking, now what is this about??? Go to the desk, and a TSA guy escorts me back to a security office where two other TSA guys and a Chicago cop are waiting, along with my metal pistol case on a desk... a line of yellow tape is on the floor about 3' from the desk... "Stand at the yellow line...", says one TSA guy.... "Is this your case?" (Now considering it had my name on it and they had paged me to come in there, this seemed like a pretty stupid question, but I played along...)

"Yes, that's mine..."

"It's locked...", said the TSA man

"Yes it is, " I replied, "That was what I was told was the procedure by the DC TSA office, the Indiana State Police and the airlines. What's the problem?"

Another TSA rep said sternly, "Well we have to inspect it and we can't do that if its locked. Do you have the key?" I said yes and went to hand him the key...

"No, I need you to unlock the case...", he said...

I looked at the Chicago cop for a moment, wondering if I had indeed been given official permission to step off the magic yellow line, and finally asked, "So to be clear, you want me to step over to the desk and unlock the case?"

"Yes," said the first TSA guard.

So, I stepped over to the desk, took out my key, and unlocked the case, but did not open it, stepping back a step or two.

"Open the case," said the second TSA guard.

So, I opened the case, revealing the Ruger .357 with 6" barrel and red dot sight, and I stepped back a step or two again.

"I need you to show me that this gun isn't loaded," said the first TSA rep.

At this point, I was somewhat dumbfounded and unsure if I was being set up for an arrest, or what the heck was going on... I again looked the CPD officer in the eyes for a moment, and he said, "Go ahead, it's ok..."

So I stepped up to the desk, picked up the pistol (being obviously careful where I pointed the muzzle) and opened the cylinder, then laid the pistol back on the foam inside the case so the cylinder was visible. The TSA guards both looked at the gun, and then told me that I could close the cylinder and place it back in the case (foam is cutout to fit the gun profile)... so I did as instructed...

There was a box of ammo in the case on the side, a labeled Federal ammo box, and the first TSA guard asks, "Is there ammunition in that box?"

Now at this point, I notice the CPD officer has a smirk on his face, and is obviously trying to keep from laughing, so I answered completely deadpan, "Yes, sir... 158 grain Federal Hydra-shok jacketed hollow points... just like it says on the box..."

"Open the box, " says the first TSA guard... so I did and showed him the shiny cartridges... "You can't have loose ammunition in the case, " he says...

I'm confused by this, and said, "Well, there not loose... they're in the box..."

So the TSA guy grabs a packing tape gun and hands it to me, instructing me to wrap the ammo in tape. Now this seems completely stupid to me, as this case is checked luggage, and I will not have access to it during the flight (unless I do a Wesley Snipes Passenger 57 thing and sneak into the cargo bay of the plane via the mess elevator), but I do as I was told (thinking maybe there is a hidden video camera and I'm being punked for an episode of AFV)... now of course the ammo tray won't fit back in the box, so I flatten it so it will go into the case...

At this point, I'm instructed to relock the case, and am escorted to the door of the security cubicle, as I hear the announcement that my flight is boarding (and I now wonder if my pistol will make the flight)... this ordeal took nearly 15 minutes from the time I entered the security room until I was escorted out... a bloody Mary or two on the flight helped get my adrenaline level down to reasonable levels...

On the return trip, checked the pistol in at Anchorage (they're used to seeing guns up there), and didn't have any other checks done between there and Indy...

I have told this story to several hunting buddies, LEO's and ICO's, and to a man, their response has been non-belief that the TSA guard asked me to handle the weapon and "show him that it wasn't loaded..."

So, the moral of the story is, if you fly with firearms, your experience may range from completely pleasant to downright bizarre... FedEx anyone?

(BTW - I swear on a stack of bibles that this story is completely true, as I have had some folks claim I made the whole thing up... if I hadn't experienced it myself, I might have trouble believing it too...)

Ive never had a problem taking a handgun with me to Florida when i go hog hunting which is about 10 times the last 4 years. Ive flown out of Ft Wayne, Indy and South Bend and always had my handgun in a case inside my bow case. The ammo was in an original box inside a plastic ziplock bad. I guess Ive been lucky but no trouble for me. h.h.

I've flown to Alaska four times and Alberta once with firearms and never had a problem. Not that big of a deal.

You need an airline approved case for the gun. Go with something heavy duty. I use a Cabelas aluminum case. Ammo stays in your luggage in the original boxes.

Go to the counter, tell them there is a gun in that case, and they will walk you through the procedure. Basically, you open the case and put a signed note in there with the gun, then a little later they ask you to unlock the case and have someone inspect the contents to make sure everything is unloaded, there is no ammo in there etc. Then they lock it back up and it goes with the baggage.

Upon arrival, gun cases do not arrive at the same place a suit cases. Usually an airline employee hand delivers them to the baggage claim area.

Good old Northwest...

I had flown NW to Texas on business with two other people. When we were ready to come home we had heard on the news that Memphis had an ice storm and a lot of things were closed down. At the ticket counter we asked the clerk if there was any problems at the Memphis airport. She assured us that there was no problems for them to get in or out of Memphis.

We asked again and stated that we could go down to another airline and go through Chicago back home.

Again she said we are experiencing no difficulties getting in and out of Memphus - so we went ahead and took that flight.

We were not in the air 30 minutes when the pilot said that they were having difficulties in Memphis and our arrival would be late getting in as the planes were backed up to land.

Once on the ground we looked at the TV monitors for our flight and ALL outgoing flights had been cancelled.

We asked the clerk there what gives. She said that they had not been flying out for most of the day.

I aksed if they were going to put us up for the night and give us meal vouchers and she said they don't do that in cases of bad weather.

Needless to say we were hot. There were no motels or hotels rooms to be had as the outskirts of Memphis was without power and residents fogged into the available rooms

So we went to see about a car rental to drive out of that mess. No cars available.

We spent the night sleeping on airport benchs until we could catch a lfight out the next morning.

We wrote a letter to NW and they sent us three $100 vouchers for future travel.

I sent them back with a note - You don't seem to understand, we will never fly NW again and I will talk to the person that makes travel arrangements for our company 3,000+ employees) to never use NW again.

Fly with the gun Donnie.... I think they are all trying to persuade you not to take your trip, in turn you don't get us on the board in the big Turkey Contest! LOL.

JKD....that story is priceless. I loved your sarcasm towards their stupidity!!!! Way to go!

Heck jkd, be glad you didn't get "redirected" or hit with an involuntary stop in New York. Here's what happens there if, for any reason, you touch ground in NY with a handgun.
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Joyce, a recent widow, is a nurse by profession. Her son, a police officer, encouraged her to acquire a handgun because of her frequent traveling. She has a Indiana handgun license and has taken a tactical handgun course in Ohio, certified in three levels.

On February 11th, Joyce traveled to Vermont to visit a friend, a trip she has made many times before. On her return through the Albany NY airport, she declared her very expensive handgun through the airlines. Per TSA and federal regulations, the firearms was unloaded and in its original case with a cable lock through the barrel. It had two exterior locks and the ammo and magazines were in another case locked in the same manner.

What happened next is shocking.

Instead of asking a federal employee to inspect the locked firearm as had happened in the past, the airline ticket agent asked a young Albany deputy sheriff to do it (there is a sheriff office located inside the airport). The officer pulled her out of line and took her to a room where he eventually fingerprinted, photographed and arrested her.
He confiscated her gun without a receipt and she was never read her Miranda rights.

Two female officers then led Joyce to another room where all of her possessions were searched and she was subjected to a physical hand search under her clothing. After she posted a bond, she was escorted back to the airline ticket agent, where she had to buy another ticket from another airline because she missed her connection due to the unjustified arrest.

After purchasing her new ticket -- all the time under observation of the female officers -- she was taken back to another room and was put through the humiliating search AGAIN.

Joyce did everything the airlines and the TSA demanded of her. Yet merely because she legally possessed a firearm, she was treated as if she were a criminal.

It's become increasingly apparent that the airlines do not care about your rights. Concerns about rights are dismissed in the name of "safety." But ironically, it's becoming increasingly apparent that they do not care about your safety either.

Recently, _Consumer Reports_ magazine
(www.consumerreports.org) investigated air-safety concerns.
The article, entitled "An Accident Waiting to Happen?"
appears in their March 2007 issue. CR found that in addition to outsourcing baggage handling and food service, airlines have begun outsourcing airplane _maintenance_ as well, more than half their major maintenance in 2005!

States the article, "Contract repair facilities, especially those overseas, are subject to less oversight ... with fewer screening programs for works, fewer inspections, and loopholes that allow even more subcontracting."

At the same time, CR reports, the FAA is REDUCING actual inspections by its own staff, relying instead on statistical analysis and self-reporting by the airlines.
According to NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System, technicians have reported finding "broken, loose, and missing wheel tie bolts on wheels built up by a contract- maintenance facility."

Interestingly, these same contract maintenance facilities are not always subject to the same levels of screening as in-house operations. States Linda Goodrich, FAA inspector and union executive, "The inspector is basically rendered useless overseas."

The airlines like to cite 9-11 as the reason they have lost over $35 billion in revenue between 2001 and 2006. Perhaps they should consider spending less time harrassing widows and disarming law-abiding citizens, and more time on maintaining the safety of their planes.

As for Joyce, she's in the process of contacting an Albany law firm to take on her case. For further information on her case, you may wish to contact the Knox Firearms Coalition at www.nealknox.com or Gun Owners of America at www.gunowners.org/