Traveling with Firearms on Airplanes

Here comes another important tip from the Personal Defense Network. One of the questions that we got at the Personal Defense Network website was, "Rob, can you talk about how you travel on a commercial airliner with a firearm in your checked baggage?" Now, this is something honestly that I've been doing for so long, and that I do so often that I really take it for granted because it's not that complicated of a thing. A lot of people that don't do it very often get intimidated by it, or get concerned about it, or quite frankly are just confused by the fact that the procedure isn't always consistent from airport to airport. Now I've heard a lot of different excuses for that. Different airlines treat the firearm process differently. Different TSA regions treat it differently. Some people have even suggested that it's handled differently at several different airports specifically to increase security so that it's harder for a bad guy to try to figure out how to circumvent the process and actually get a loaded gun onto the plane where they can access it. Now, the fact of the matter is, we're talking about checked luggage. Once that firearm is checked and it goes down that little conveyor belt and disappears around the corner, no one's gonna be able to access it anyway. The real issues are, first, are you doing it legally? Secondly, are you doing it in a way that complies with the actual airlines rules and their procedures? Because, of course, you're their customer, they're a private business, and they decide how they want to operate their business. And then of course, lastly, is the firearm secure? In other words, are we going to be able to keep someone who might have access to checked baggage once it does go around the corner on that conveyor belt, are we going to make it difficult for them to simply be able to reach into a bag and walk off with that firearm? Of course, we want to make sure that we achieve all three of those things. The first thing you're going to want to do is meet the regulations. Now, we know that regulations are subject to change at all times. So, you might want to check this information on the websites and with your airline and maybe with the airport that you're going to be traveling through before you rely on it. But let me start fundamentally with what the general procedures are. You're going to need a lockable case. That locked case needs to meet the regulations of the government. The TSA has standards, which, honestly are a little obscure. I've had metal cases that have failed to meet those standards, and I've seen plastic cases, and in fact, been sold plastic cases at the actual airport. When I had to replace a metal case that didn't meet the standards I was sold a plastic case that did meet the standard. So you want to have a good, strong, lockable case. You might again double-check to make sure whichever case you're going to use actually does meet the standards that are in place at the time you're gonna travel. Now, if you're carrying a rifle or a long gun of any kind, you're probably going to have a standalone case. When I travel, I primarily carry firearms, of course. I don't generally carry long guns for personal defense, and when I teach, demonstrate, or when I do things like these training videos, I'm almost always using handguns. So, a small lockable case like this one is perfect for me. And I actually put this case inside of another piece of luggage. So this will get put into a normal soft side, rolling duffle bag suitcase. But, inside of this is where I'm going to put my firearm. And of course, you're going to have to make sure that your firearm is unloaded. Of course, this one here that we knew we were going to be using for this demonstration is unloaded. I'm going to double check that, maybe I'm going to show it to somebody else in my environment. We're going to make sure that the firearm is unloaded. I generally put the firearm when I'm at home, inside of the case, locked open, because I know that this isn't the last time I'm going to see it before it actually ends up under the plane. The ammunition that you take out of the firearm needs to be put back into an original box. Now there's been some confusion about this too. The box doesn't need to be unopened. It doesn't need to be a box that's never been opened up before, and that you just purchased from the store. It just needs to be in the original container. You could see this box is pretty beat up. It's a little bit torn, this and that, but this is the box that I generally put that ammunition in. This ammunition needs to go somewhere other than inside of this case. Sometimes I'll put it in a different piece of luggage entirely, sometimes I'll put it right in that same piece of luggage, but outside of this case. Again, that meets the standard. This doesn't need to be locked up. This doesn't need to be secured. The ammunition needs to be put back into the tray. I seal it back up and then I put it somewhere else. And I can travel currently with up to 11 pounds of ammunition. Now, you have a kitchen scale, I don't know how much ammunition you're bringing. If you're like me, you carry enough for a couple of magazines or maybe a couple of cylinders. You're carrying your defensive carry ammo. You're not carrying a case of ammo for a class, for example. But if you are, or if you're going on an extended hunting trip, maybe you might want to look into exactly how much your ammunition weighs. So, we've got the ammo here. We've got the firearm here. We're going to close this up and I'm not even going to bother to lock it. Now I'm going to go to the airport. When I get to the airport and I go up to the counter, I'm going to tell the person checking me in that I need to check a firearm. This is going to create a lot of different potential responses. I just recently traveled through LAX, And I was told very specifically that I was not to open this case within view of any other customers, and I needed to handle the rest of our transaction "discreetly", was the actual word used. I've been in other places where the person's really excited about me being a shooter. They're a shooter. And they're going to say, "Oh, what are you traveling with today? Or are you going to a class? Or is it a protection gun?" They're going to ask a lot of questions. A fair amount of the time, I also get the confusion of them thinking that I am a federal officer or that I'm a local, municipal, or state police officer, who's going to be traveling for official duty and need to carry my gun in the cabin. If the person you're dealing with misunderstands what you want to do and starts to hand you other paperwork or asks to see your credentials the worst thing you could possibly do is think, "Oh wow, they're going to let me carry the gun on the plane", and try to get away with it. Don't do that. What you really need to do is just simply explain to them that you're going to be checking the gun in your luggage, the guns unloaded, and you're not going to be carrying the firearm. Once you do that, at some point they're going to hand you something that looks like this. It's an unloaded firearms declaration card. They look a little different for each airline. They've looked different over the years. They've changed, and this may not be the color that you get. You're going to need to sign it and date it. And probably someone from the airline is also going to need to sign it or initial it. And what this verifies is that you believe the gun to be unloaded. As you can guess, the airline employee may not have any idea whether or not that gun is unloaded. And again, as some airports do, they may want you to not even open the case any more than that, to put it in there. At some airports, I'm being told not to put it in here at all, not even to open the case, simply being told to put it inside of that piece of luggage on top of the case or anywhere else in there. Now, again, this has a lot to do with the politics or the atmosphere at that particular airport. Most airports, they want you to open up the case. They want you to go through the motions of showing that the gun is unloaded, at least to yourself. That's my experience with most of the agents, but again, follow their instructions. At the end of the day, this card is important. The locked case is important. And honestly, the fact that you absolutely know the firearm is unloaded is important. At this point, I may close this down. I make sure the magazine's unloaded. I look around. Another thing that I've done, is I collect these things. I stick them under here. They're inside of this case. I've got them in here from 2002. This is 2010, there's one from 2003. I collect these things in here. Quite often, I know a lot more about the procedure than the agent does, depending on where I'm traveling through. Only because I've gone through it so many times and they may not deal with it very often. So, on several occasions I've been able to assure the agent at the check-in counter that that I've been through this before. It's not a big deal, and I'm sure that together we can get through it, because they might get nervous or confused or discombobulated, especially if it's a new employee or maybe a part-time employee. They're going to look for supervisors, there's gonna be a lot of issues. So, if you do this often enough, you're going to collect a few of these. I suggest you just hold on to them, stick them inside of the case underneath the foam, and that way you can convince them that, hey, you've done this before, it's not that big a deal if they act like it's the end of the world or something bad has to happen in order for you to be able to do this. Once you get to this point, you then can lock the case and spin the dials, or actually lock the padlock on the case, whatever it is you're gonna do. This is another important step, because even in the airports where they're going to have you specifically take this to a special room so that your whole luggage can be screened by the TSA, and they can look for ammunition anywhere in here with their machines, they're not gonna want you to touch this once they've screened it. So, for example, in the Denver airport, you go to a special room, they put it through the machine and they scan it. They give you back your luggage and then you have to take it back to the conveyor belt. Now they're not watching most of the time, but the official rule is you're not supposed to open your luggage once they've screened it. Of course, you go around the corner, you're right back at the check-in counter, you could kind of do anything you want. But if they see you open the bag up they're going to want to screen it again. So, make sure you've done everything you need to do to lock this case before you put it into the luggage, seal it up, and let it go around the conveyor belt corner or you take it to the special room. At this point, your work's done. You get on the plane. Hopefully you get a comfortable seat, you don't have somebody annoying next to you, there's not a screaming kid behind you. When you arrive at your destination, you probably want to make sure you go directly to the luggage carousel. You want to be waiting so that you can get the bag with the firearm right off the actual conveyor belt. It's not gonna sit there. It's not gonna spin around. Don't go shopping. Don't go get a cup of coffee. Don't run outside to get your rental car and then come back and hope that your luggage is still there. You're still responsible for picking up this firearm. Some airports will tag with the cooperation of the airlines, different cases that contain firearms. Now, if it comes out and it looks like a rifle case, obviously a full-size long gun case, at some airports they're immediately going to personally take it to the baggage handling office, and you're going to need to go in there and claim it. Other places, some airlines, for example, United Airlines tends to tag luggage traditionally that actually has a firearm in it. And there'll be looking for that when it comes off the plane, they will again take that whole suitcase and want you to come in. I've even been to airports where they actually have you show your ID, match it up with the tag and have you sign for it. Those inconsistencies are just part of the problem. The reality is it's all done to protect the guns, to protect us as we fly, and really to make us safer. So, don't get too worked up about it. It's not that big a deal. Check the procedures. Check with your airline, follow their recommendations. Obviously, make sure you follow the laws and the government's rules, and you're gonna get where you need to go with your firearm, hopefully in one piece, your firearm not missing, and your firearm ready for your competition, for your defensive training class, or of course for your personal defense while you're traveling. Be sure to check out the Personal Defense Network for more important tips, just like that one.