Air travel with firearms

Ok, now we come to the crunchy bit: travelling on an airline with a weapon.

First, my standard disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. This is not, and should not be construed as, legal advice. GO TALK TO A LAWYER.

As usual, there are three steps to ensuring a (relatively) hassle-free trip with your firearm: 1) Research; 2) Preparation; and 3) Execution.

Research.

Buckle up for some reading prior to flying with your firearm. Find out if you are legally permitted to carry it at your destination.1 Also find out if there are idiot restrictions — such as magazine capacity2. If you’re flying into some Northeastern States, odds are that you won’t be legally permitted without jumping through a metric butt-ton of legal hoops. If there are stops along the way, find out if the firearm is legal at those stops. Find out if the destination recognizes your State’s carry permit; and, finally, take a quick gander at the esoteric laws around carrying a firearm unique to the destination State.

Preparation.

Have a sturdy, lockable case3 for your firearm. The case that it was sold in may or may not sufficient for air travel — buy a good quality travel case. Be advised that every locking point on that case must be secured, which means that if there are two padlock holes, both of them must have a padlock installed.

Be sure — double check — that your firearm is unloaded, that the magazines are unloaded, and secure them in the travel case. Double check that there are no loose rounds anywhere.

Once the unloaded firearm and the empty magazines are secured in the travel case, put the ammunition into a hard-sided container that has individual slots for each round. If you’re travelling with a carry pistol on non-gun-related business, I find that a 50-round box for each pistol is more than sufficient. You may want to include a small cutting multi-tool in a small exterior pocket on the check-in luggage.

The TSA happily informs the public that you can use a master-keyed/master-coded “TSA lock” to secure your firearm case. Given that the TSA has an abysmal record of accountability when it comes to the access tools, I don’t recommend it. Up to you.

Go the the TSA page on Transporting Firearms and Ammunition, read it, and then print off a copy. Go to the airline page regarding travelling with a firearm, read it, and print off the page.

Southwest Airlines.
American Airlines.4
Delta Airlines.
United Airlines.

Finally, I do something that seems to be little controversial in the gun community: I call the airline ticket counter at the airport I’m flying out of the day before, during business hours. When the agent answers, I write down their name, and then say, “Hello. My name is [Insert Name Here], and I’m flying out on [Insert Airline Here] flight [Flight Number Here] at [Departure Time Here]. I’ll be checking a firearm. Is there anything you need me to do?”

About half the time they’ll send me to their supervisor. Be sure to write that worthies name down, too.

Why do I do this? One, it’s just courteous. Second, it lets the airline ticket personnel read up on their policies, or have someone present who knows their own policies, and lastly, they’ll often have a TSA agent present and don’t have to call one over for the fiddly bits.

Execution.

The day of your flight, plan to be at the airport AT LEAST an hour earlier than normal. The reason is that there’s a pretty good chance that the TSA is going to call you back after your bag is checked and have you unlock your case so they can inspect your firearm. You do not want to get this call while you’re standing in the boarding line.

Before you leave the house/hotel room, ensure: The firearm and magazines are unloaded;
There are no loose firearms or ammunition in the luggage:
The firearm and ammunition are secured in their respective cases;
That the Bluetooth tracker is charged, or has a good battery; and
Ensure that you have the keys to the locks.

When you get to the airport, go directly to the ticket counter — you can’t use the kiosk — and tell the nice drone at the counter that you have a firearm to check in.

They’ll check your ID, and have you fill out a Firearm Declaration Form. Please note that the orange STEAL ME FIREARM tag should go on the inside of the luggage.

You will run across ticket agents — especially in smaller airports — who insist that the STEAL ME FIREARM tag goes on the outside of the luggage. This is incorrect, and you should talk to a supervisor.5 If the supervisor is equally incorrect, talk to the TSA agent.

This is important: Once you have checked your firearm in, do not go through the TSA checkpoint for about 20 minutes or so. If someone from the airline throws a conniption about how your firearm is “packed”, you don’t want to have to exit the Secure perimeter, go to the counter, and have to go back and wait in line to re-access the Secure perimeter.

After the case gets into the TSA’s hands, they may call you back so they can inspect your firearm. They may ask you for the key — my advice is to accompany the agent to the secure room, open it in front of the agents, allow them to inspect it, and resecure the case in front of them. Maintain custody of your keys.

If your flight gets diverted to an unfriendly State, do not claim the luggage with your firearm in it. Instead, ask the airline to forward it to your destination.

If — as a “for instance” — you wind up getting diverted to some Godforsaken State like New York, and you claim your luggage with a firearm in it, without jumping through all of New York’s legal hoops, assume that the airport police will arrest you just as soon as you step out of the Federal property on the way to the hotel. Yes, seriously.

When you get to your destination airport, your checked luggage will not be on the carousel. There will be an office in the baggage claim area, where your luggage will be behind a counter. You’ll need to produce ID to claim it, and don’t be surprised if you find that your bag has suddenly sprouted an absolutely ridiculous amount of industrial zip-ties. Sigh, access the cutting multi-tool6 in the small exterior pocket, and go to work. Be polite, and dispose of the zip-ties in a trash-bin.

I shouldn’t have to say this, but I will: Please don’t stand in the middle of the baggage claim and retrieve your firearm from the bag. I suggest getting all the way off of airport property before you get into that bag — it prevents a lot of fuss and bother.

Anyhoo. Now, go talk to your lawyer about this subject if you decide that you want to fly with a firearm.

Ian