Jumping Frog wrote:It simply isn't worth risking a felony.
I know people have successfully left their handgun near the PA-NJ border for a gunsmith to clean. Pick it up on the way home. Depending upon your route, your problem states are MD, NJ, NY.
Depending on your route of travel, MD is not as much of a problem as others. On I-81, you are in MD for less than 15 minutes driving time. We go to PA regularly and I simply follow the the Federal transport rules while I'm driving through there. It goes without saying that you want to be extra special careful about the traffic rules in MD. I don't care if everyone is flying by me at 15 over the speed limit, they don't have TX plates on their car. I've probably made that trip through MD 25 times and have never been stopped or even come close to it.
I think that you would find gun smiths around Stroudsburg (I-80) a lot more willing to work with you than the ones around Phila (I-95). We were at the Delaware Water Gap this summer and found the people in the Stroudsburg area very friendly. The "hate Texas" mentality exists from Phila East through NJ and into NY. LEOs in NJ and NY are more likely than any place else in the country (in my opinion) to be on a power trip and just look for an excuse to use the full extent of the law against someone from Texas. Friends of ours while we lived in NJ have a son who is an LEO. "Nuff said.