Not sure if this is the correct forum for this question but I figured some of you guys might be able to answer this. What are the rules/laws for having a handgun in checked baggage? Is it that it has to be unloaded and in a locked case in your suitcase?

Are you required to declare it when you check your luggage?

What about ammo--can you have a loaded mag outside of the pistol but in the same case/container?

If there's anything else I'd need to know, please advise. Thanks in advance!

http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/firearms-and-ammunition

I would also suggest allowing at least an extra half hour for inspection. On rifles I remove the bolt & handguns I lock open the slide & remove magazines.

In addition make sure you can lawfully possess a handgun in the state you are taking off from or landing in. Bring a handgun into NYC and you will be arrested if you don't have a permit or an FFL...I have also heard about problems in NJ and Mass.

So much for the 1986 Firearms Owners Protection Act and Interfering with Interstate Commerce Statutes...

Bob

I travel with mine the same way out of Dulles and Reagan. No problems from traveling with both for the last three years, but lessons learned:

1. Don't expect the TSA rep to know what to do, they train new people too. I've had to repeat several times at the counter that I am declaring the weapon in the case, but only on one trip. It took the full extra 30 minutes to get the inspection and securing completed.

2. Every airline has required the ammo to be in an ammo box, factory or commercial box did not matter, but it had to be in a container and secured. Blue's link above will give you ammo quantity limits.

3. The transport case is supposed to be "pry-proof", think Plano $30 flexible case that locks - bad, and a Pelican style with the hard shell-good. The better cases will be marked "TSA approved", as will the case locks. The case must be secured so that the locked lid can not be pried open up and the firearm extracted without opening the case.

4. Have the keys, if they cut a lock(s), you have to be able to replace it to continue your trip. I usually buy a four lock set, two go on the case, two go inside in case TSA cuts or loses one. In theory, once the inspection is done at the departure and the case is locked, it stays that way until you pick it up at the arrival airport.

JMO< East Coast airline terminals are less prepared for weapons transport than Western desitinations. Virginia is usually a bit more trying and time intensive than Denver or Idaho/Washington.

With respect to your number 4, I pack a couple of key locks (that are open and unlocked, and with no key in the case) and a couple of opened dial combination locks in the case with the gun along with a note for TSA to feel free to use them if necessary. I also have my name and cell phone number in the gun case. Although I always wait until TSA has cleared the luggage, you never know if something will cause an alert later.

I also keep the locked handgun case inside a regular piece of luggage so that no one knows a gun is in there when it comes through the baggage conveyor system.

I just flew back in yesterday. I have been away, training some good guys who are in a tough situation and needed some help. I traveled with a couple Glocks.

Prior to flight, I went to the airlines website and printed off the instructions for putting weapons in checked bags. They had the hard side case requirements, locks, etc all on the website in very easy to follow format. I kept a copy of their rules with me when I went to the airport. I gave myself an hour extra since I have zero faith in TSA.

I literally had the airlines rules in hand and showed the person checking that I went down the very short list. The person looked at me, with my papers in hand and said " good enough for me". Then slipped his paperwork in the case and closed it. Never asked me to show the weapons clear.

Appearance is everything. If you look like you are 100% compliant and don't look like you are trying to pull a fast one, chances of problems are greatly reduced. I was done, start to finish in maybe 5-7 minutes.

Regular TSA screening to get to the gate takes longer.

Very much my experience, and my flight was into and out of O-Hare in Chicago. The "Appearance is everything" comment is really true. To make the Airline folks and TSA folks more at ease, I took a photocopy of my Drivers license and my four CCW permits and taped it down with clear taps to one side of my pistol box. I then taped a copy of my FFL (the TSA and Airline folks don't typically know the difference between a full and a C&R FFL) to the other side of the box. Stand tall but relaxed, and TELL the airline baggage agent that you need one of thier unloaded firearms declaration forms to sign. Having an old one in hand from a previous flight is a good idea, and say "like this one that I used on my last flight" in hand to show them is also helpful, IMO. looking like you are a knowledgeable, relaxed, compliant good guy with lots of paperwork in hand goes a long ways toward a smooth transfer.

I did not have the Airlines and TSA's rules in hand last time out to Chicago, but that is a grand idea that I plan to execute in the future.

At Chicago/O'Hare an airport official came and got my suitcase with the handgun in it and carried it to the TSA station, in JFK New York they actually called an airport/City Police officer to carry my firearms case over to TSA but no real heartburn moments. So far I have been very fortunate to have airport and police personell who were gun friendly and wanted to talk about the guns I had and was transproting. I do not count on this, however, and I am going to add Mackay Sagebrush's idea's AND Bluedreaux's ideas. AH64guy had very good insight and thoughts, too.

Even though I have flown with firearms some, I learned from this thread and will be even MORE prepared and equiped on my next flight!

Thanks to Crusader for starting this thread, and thanks to a couple of well educated and experienced guys for adding in their two cents worth (very valuable and helpful!) here.

Good advice given, especially as far as printing off the rules and having them in hand. The TSA agents stood in front of me arguing once, whether the locks on the actual handgun case were supposed to be TSA locks or regular ones, until I showed them the print out I had. They all agreed that the checked luggage had to have TSA locks to they could inspect that anytime, but said the rules kept changing about the locks on the actual gun case inside the luggage. The locks themselves are cheap enough, so I always carry sets of TSA and regular, just in case.

I don't print the rules and carry them because I don't assume the TSA people can read or comprehend. I could call up their website on a smart phone if I need to. I just carry the extra locks so they can go whatever way their "made up" determination wants to take them. I have never had any trouble, though, and the airline and TSA people seem to be pretty savvy about the gun rules, at least in the airports I frequent. I avoid places like NY and Chicago like the plague, though, so I cannot comment on them.

As Mackay said, knowing what you're doing and acting like you know it goes a long way to getting through it without incident.

Oh, it is pretty funny when the people in line behind you at check-in are anti-gunners who are mad that you have to open up stuff and do some paperwork that delays them.