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I was listening to Gun Talk on KSKY just yesterday on my way home from church. They had a caller on the air who had an absolute horror story to tell about flying to South Africa for a safari, with a muzzle loader rifle.

The guy said that he uses the more modern propellant pellets rather than black powder in his muzzle loaders, and those pellets are not classified as an explosive the way black powder is because they are chemically similar to smokeless powder - which I assume is correct. Anyway, he said that another hunter, who appears to be an idiot, said that he was tired of this guy "breaking the law by bringing explosives on airplanes all the time," and announced publicly that he was going to report the caller to the FBI when he tried to board his plane for he safari.

Sure enough, that's what he did. When the caller checked in at the airport to declare his rifle and the ammunition, he was met by FBI agents who confiscated this propellent pellets. Apparently, there is no real precedent on this stuff, so the FBI was flying by the seat of its pants, so to speak. However, the caller had been warned by someone that the other guy was going to do this to him, so he was advised by a friend to empty some unfired shot shells and hide some of the ammo pellets inside the hulls and re-crimp them closed.

Also sure enough, although they confiscated his propellent pellets which were in an unopened box, they let through the shot shells which were in a box that had been opened. When he got to South Africa, the airline had lost his luggage, and he reported for a paid-for safari with no gun, no ammo, and no clothes except the clothes on his back. He never recovered any of it until after his return to the U.S.

And to add insult to injury, when he got back to the U.S., there was a summons from a federal prosecutor for violating federal law with regard to the transportation of explosives on an airliner - despite the fact that the FBI had confiscated what they regarded (inaccurately) to be explosives, and their having allowed through what they (accurately) judged to be legal to fly with. He has retained an attorney and an expert witness, and the NRA has agreed to review his case and help in his defense if they can. He is facing a federal grand jury this week, I believe, and if successfully prosecuted, a potential LIFE sentence. And as it is, whether he is indicted or not, and found guilty or not, he is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in defending himself, all on the word of another gun owner who calls himself a hunter, and who is ignorant about the law; and because federal prosecutors have been dying for an opportunity under this administration to restrict the movement of firearms across state lines, and in and out of the country.

Furthermore, if these propellant pellets are deemed ultimately to be "explosives," and if they are in fact chemically similar to smokeless powder (and again, I have no idea if they are or not), then look for the next step to be that you may travel with your firearm, but not with any ammunition for it... ...at least until we throw these bums out of office and elect some new bums to replace them.

EDITED TO ADD: I make no warrant as to the authenticity of the caller's information in the first place. As someone pointed out to me via PM, if all of it is true, then that caller is probably ignoring his lawyer's advice by going public with it.

But, if it is true, then gun owners who travel with ammunition may be facing future difficulties. Anyway, I posted it because it was an interesting call to listen to, and it pertains to the topic somewhat.