My experience flying

[nedmoore]

I flew from Houston to Harlingen today. I had my handgun in a locked box in my suitcase. Told the ticket agent, just had to fill out a small form and place it in my suitcase. No TSA check. Very pleasant experience.

[fm2]

I had a trouble free flight to Little Rock last month. I packed similar to you. The only possible problem was the inspector didn't get the zipper all the way closed and it was about 2-3" open. It could have spilled my lock box & clothes on the luggage carosel.

[nedmoore]

I flew back to Houston tonite... At the little airport in Harlingen you have to take your checked luggage directly to the TSA where they put it through one of four scanners. Instead of going upstairs to the gates I decided to hang around and drink my bottle of water before going the security checkpoint. I watched my bag with my gun go through the scanner, and then observed the TSA employee take my bag and put it aside.

He then put on rubber gloves, and opened my suitcase. He removed my gun case, set it aside and then went through the rest of my suitcase. After he went through my dirty clothes and box of ammo, he placed the gun case back into my luggage and set it on it's way. When I picked up my bag in Houston there was a TSA sticker on it and the inspection letter on the inside.

[fm2]

I had the same thing happen in LR. I waited around the x-ray machine and told them I would provide the key for the lock boxes.

[sar]

6 flights with my seecamp in the last 3 months. Not a problem in the least. Have been treated pleasantly and professionally without exception. Also, it has not slowed my check in.

Interestingly, when I flew to philadelphia, they lost one of my 2 checked bags. The one without the gun. That was checked right at the counter, the other made a detour through TSA.

[KBCraig]

If you fly through Little Rock, don't forget that even the non-secure area of the airport is off-limits by state law.

[BrassMonkey]

5/8/08 DFW Terminal C (DFW->FLL)
Declared to the ticketing agent, filled out a little form. he zip tied the suitcase. Sent me to a little TSA room. TSA officer got mad that he zip tied it. Opened the gun case, made sure it was unloaded. Re-zip tied the suitcase, have a nice day.

5/11/08 FLL terminal 3 (FLL->DFW)
Declared to ticketing agent, asked if it was unloaded. Zip-tied the suitcase, placed on conveyor, have a nice day.

[jimlongley]

5/8/08 DFW Terminal C (DFW->FLL)
Declared to the ticketing agent, filled out a little form. he zip tied the suitcase. Sent me to a little TSA room. TSA officer got mad that he zip tied it. Opened the gun case, made sure it was unloaded. Re-zip tied the suitcase, have a nice day.

Interesting, did you get the TSA screener's name? That was a violation of TSA rules.

[BrassMonkey]

I know. I however deliberitly(sp) did not look at his nametag or the clock when it occured. I am personally ok with his action. Rules or not, I am ok with it in the name of safety.

[Crossfire]

If you fly through Little Rock, don't forget that even the non-secure area of the airport is off-limits by state law.

KB - that's good to know, as I have a trip to Little Rock coming up in June. So how are you supposed to get the firearm from point A to point B through the airport?

[jimlongley]

I know. I however deliberitly(sp) did not look at his nametag or the clock when it occured. I am personally ok with his action. Rules or not, I am ok with it in the name of safety.

Actually, one of the reasons for the TSA rule against screeners verifying that guns are unloaded is that TSA has declared it unsafe, as well as unnecessary, for screeners to handle firearms. It was a termination level violation of TSA rules and should have been reported.

[Keith B]

If you fly through Little Rock, don't forget that even the non-secure area of the airport is off-limits by state law.

KB - that's good to know, as I have a trip to Little Rock coming up in June. So how are you supposed to get the firearm from point A to point B through the airport?

Here is the portion of the statute from Arkansas Code 5-73-306

(16) Inside the passenger terminal of any airport, except that no person shall be prohibited from carrying any legal firearm into the terminal if the firearm is encased for shipment for purposes of checking such firearm as baggage to be lawfully transported on any aircraft;

[Luggo1]

Flew Lubbock to Dallas-Love round trip in April.

Zero hassles in either location, though now that it was mentioned above, I do believe the TSA guy in Lubbock wanted to see the gun, so I opened the locked case. No hassle though. This is indeed a violation of TSA's own rules?

[jimlongley]

Flew Lubbock to Dallas-Love round trip in April.

Zero hassles in either location, though now that it was mentioned above, I do believe the TSA guy in Lubbock wanted to see the gun, so I opened the locked case. No hassle though. This is indeed a violation of TSA's own rules?

The are some circumstances where a TSA screener may need to see in the case containing the firearm, such as if it obscures an area on the x-ray that may present a threat. I have had to open suitcases containing firearms because someone's travel alarm clock was positioned in such a way that their firearm made it difficult to determine whether the clock was connected to something else, which would be a threat. Such situations were always manually resolved when I was with TSA, but now they use something called OSARP, which is On Screen Assessment and Resolution Protocol.

We often used to take a bag where a firearm was obscuring something, and run it through a second time in a different position, usually resulting in a satisfactory resolution without having to open the bag.

Rarely, very rarely, once we were all trained properly, did we ever have to actually have the gun removed from its case, and in that circumstance we were required to call a LEO to handle the firearm. One time we had a shotgun in a case and the owner had a mini-cassette player, with headphones, in the case that he used to listen to talking books while in a deer stand (seems kind of dumb to me, I like to listen for my deer too, and whatever else might be going on nearby) and the cassette player, headphone cord, and some ammo (in the case with the gun but properly packed) lined up in such a way as to resembole an IED. One of our screeners got antsy, pretty much sure that he knew what the score was, and he would have been right, and got tired of waiting for a supervisor and a LEO to show up, so he took the shotgun out of the case to look. He got an instant three day vacation without pay.

The scenario presented by the poster above, where the screener gave him attitude about a bag that was zip-tied by the airline, and then handled his gun, is a prime example of a situation where the screener deserves to be disciplined. The screener did nothing to enhance the safety of the flight or passengers (if we have the whole story, not questioning that, just sayin') and violated several TSA rules, the worst of which was to handle a firearm.

TSA screeners, even those of us with impeccable firearms training credentials, are not allowed to handle firearms. I was qualified to teach NY State's Pistol Permit safety course to help qualify people to obtain a NY Pistol Permit, was a Gunnner's Mate in the Navy, and ship's armorer, and have a bunch of other firearms experience including several safety officer certifications, and I was never allowed, under any circumstances, to handle a firearm, even to check if it was loaded. I even used to take great delight in identifying various firearms' makes and models from their silhouettes during tests, suitably impressing others with this minor feat.

As a civilian I have had no compunctions about reporting my former co-workers for violations of the rules, including people who handled firearms, allowed knives through screening checkpoints, and other things I know they are not supposed to do. I even went so far as to report a couple while I still worked for TSA and was traveling on personal business.

Just because they enforce the rules doesn't mean they get to violate them.

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" Juvenal 1st century AD.

And a famous satire by Zero Mostel during the red scare in the late 1940s.

[jimlongley]

.

Don't know how I wound up quoting myself, my apologies.