Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Declaring a handgun at the airport

Any tips or suggestions for declaring a handgun when traveling by air? This will be a first for me. I have a small Pelican hard side case that I used to use for a camera that I plan to use. One box of cartridges should be plenty. Thanks for any tips.

Just declare it at check in and make sure you have no ammo in the same case with the handgun

As long as its lockable, and can't be pried open on any side more than 1/4 inch when locked.

I've never declared a handgun. With a rifle I had the ammo in the same case.

The rules are pretty clear on the TSA website. Check the particular airline site too.

Follow the rules to the letter and don't be a "latrine lawyer" with the TSA and airline folks and you'll be fine.

It's easy. I've done it twice. In Seattle, with Alaska Air, they just gave me a slip saying it had been checked in. They didn't open the gun case. In Anchorage, on the return trip, they gave me the slip but sent to me a separate TSA checkpoint where they opened everything and ran the sniffer over my luggage.
Either way, don't make any dumb comments. Keep your mouth shut. Anything you say can be taken as 'not a joke' and attract the TSA's interest.

Ammunition must be packed securely in a proper ammunition holder - what it is packed in is important, whether it's a flimsy original paperboard box or a plastic or metal ammo holder; but it may not be packed loose. The Feds don't care if it's in the same case as your firearm however. Check with the specific airline for more details. 50 pounds of ammo is okay on domestic flight; 11 international. Some carriers only allow 11 pounds on any of their flights.

Make certain you declare both. Also be sure to have a lock on that Pelican case.

Just be certain that if you have a layover in some gun-free place like NY or NJ, that you leave the case to the tender mercies of the baggage people. More than one person has been arrested when they returned to the airport after spending the night in the city with their luggage. Common sense doesn't apply in these cases.

In Texas they wanted the ammo in the same locked case as the pistol and the pistol CANNOT be loaded. I'm pretty sure it was like that everywhere in the USA when I flew last. The baggage clerk will have you open your baggage and unlock your gun case so she can verify that the pistol is unloaded. She'll fill out a form that you sign and send you to TSA to check your baggage. Just check the latest TSA rules before you pack and make sure your destination allows you to posses a pistol. Nothing to it.

Don't do like the guy in Boise some years ago. He was demonstrating that his gun was unloaded and shot a hole in the baggage scale.

Also be aware that some places consider a loaded magazine packed with a handgun to be the same as a loaded gun. The Peoples Republic of Maryland is one such place.

Good stuff, thanks all. There are 2 locking points (1 on each corner) on the case, so I will have to get 2 locks and make sure they snug up to prevent the case from opening the 1/4" in a corner.

My destination is VERY gun friendly.

I've flown with firearms a dozen or more times always on Alaska airlines and have had a total of zero problems or headaches. I recommend using TSA locks or you could be forced to go back to the baggage checkin and unlock it for inspection.

"Firearms must be unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container and transported as checked baggage only. Only the passenger should retain the key or combination to the lock."

^From the TSA website.^


TSA locks don't meet this requirement.

You might get away with it, but be prepared otherwise.

I've flown with both kind of locks and not been questioned. Bastards made me buy tsa locks; I'm going to use em

Ya pays your money and ya takes your chances...

I believe they changed it because their employees were thieving bastards

It has more to do with ensuring a constant state of confusion. Very few of the people that are supposed to know, actually do. Printouts from the agencies who were ordained to make your life miserable can serve to minimize the headaches.

it's just the opposite of kindergarten


tell and show


don't get it reversed


last trip outside I'd gone to the farm and took my old first gun for spin


sure enough I used my lil backpack to throw the extra ammo in there


yep a box of .22 ammo tried to make it through the scanner.


embarrassed? possibly

Not all TSA agents seem to follow the rules the same. I checked a handgun in Erie a cuppla years ago. The lady told me to do the self check-in and I leaned forward and whispered, "I can't. I'm traveling with a firearm." She rolled her eyes and told me to wait.

In Erie they checked to make sure my .44 Mag S&W 629 was unloaded. They closed it, locked it, put an orange card on it, closed my suitcase and told me to lock it. They asked me to take it to the X-ray which was right beside the check-in desks, and to tell the man running it where the firearm was inside the bag.

Coming back from Boise they swabbed everything and locked the orange card inside the gun case. I told them it should be on the outside so that anyone can tell it has been checked without breaking the case open. He disagreed.

That makes no sense. If the orange card indicates the firearm has been checked, it should be on the outside of the gun case.

But cooperate, and you'll be OK.

Steve.

The card always goes inside the locked case after its been checked by TSA. Nobody else should know or needs to know.