Flying with a hand gun?

[desertjosh]

Ok I'm sure it has been talked about a million times on here, but the search sucks on this site. How do I go about legally flying with a gun? I'm going from san Diego to Raleigh NC. I want to open carry there and feel life as a free American. How do I make this happen? I've never checked a gun in or open carried for that matter. Thanks

[Citadelgrad87]

[mach]

As far as I know the weapon must be unloaded in a hardsided case with a keyed lock. You must carefully declare it to the check in person and then deal with some level of TSA scrutiny or none depending on the airport. I hear NY give you hell.

[L84CABO]

Unloaded obviously. Ammo and gun can be in the same case...just not loaded (again). Airlines are big on ammo being in factory box or similar sturdy box. Limited to 11 lbs of ammo. Arrive early enough to deal with check in.

The person at the check-in counter will walk you through the process...assuming they're not new. You'll fill out the form, place it on top, inside your gun case and lock it with non TSA locks. You'll want to hang on this side of security for 10-15 minutes just in case there's a problem when you're bag passes through security in back. Some airports will have you take your case over to a secondary security check but this is not the case for San Diego...at least it wasn't the last time I went through. But every airport handles things a little differently.

You'll need to decide if you want to do a small gun case inside your regular suitcase or buy a LARGE lockable pelican case (or similar) that can serve as both gun case AND suitcase. There may be some benefits to going this route as you then get to actually lock all your stuff. If you go the small gun case route, try to find a way to cable lock it to the inside of your suitcase. A small gun case is fairly easy to quick-grab and hide. You'll want to make sure your name and contact info are in/on each case...just in case.

On the other end your case will likely be held by the agent at the oversized/baggage claim counter. Again, every airport does things a little differently and I have picked up my gun/case off of the general baggage carousel before.

As for open carrying, that's gonna be on you. Remember that just because it's legal, may not mean that it's well tolerated. You may be inviting all manner of headaches and hassle (not sure how Raleigh is in this regard). I would, however, suggest a holster with some level of retention if you're going to OC.

Good luck, be safe, and let us know how it all went when you get back.

[deephouse]

[edgerly779]

Use search many posts on this. Did you check your airlines policy and rules on this. Unloaded in hardsided case with your locls not tsa locks .Declare at check in sign affidavit and take to tsa to have inspected. Then lock take key/combo and go board your aircraft. pick up at baggage claim at destination. Best to put hardsided case inside your suitcase and use tsa locks on suitcase

[squeeze]

Search this site. I have personally posted "How to" many times.

Use the TSA web-site and the airlines too. Very easy to do. Allot an extra 30 min for your bag inspection. Some take 2 min.. Easy/no hassles to do.

Check your bag and case contents immediately after taking it off the arrival carousel. Do not wait until you leave the airport. I have had stuff stolen between the TSA bag check and the carousel.

[tonyxcom]

Don't mean to toot my own horn here.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showpost.php?p=21111517&postcount=12

[God Bless America]

OP get ready for a whole lot of nothing, people must fly with guns a lot because the ticket agents simply do not get excited. Just arrive a little earlier. You can put the locked gun case within a checked bag.

[colossians323]

Ok I'm sure it has been talked about a million times on here, but the search sucks on this site. How do I go about legally flying with a gun? I'm going from san Diego to Raleigh NC. I want to open carry there and feel life as a free American. How do I make this happen? I've never checked a gun in or open carried for that matter. Thanks

Just open carry it on to the plane

[tomk556]

It's easy, just review the airline rules. Make sure you have a lockable case and a lock. When I flew Southwest recently I believe the ammo was also supposed to be in the lockable container, but it's no big deal at all.

[Marktallica]

One tip I've heard is to use a key lock instead of a combo lock. That way you have to be personally present to unlock the case if they want to inspect your weapon, instead of some TSA idiot demanding you tell him the code and then "inspecting" your firearm on their own.

Sent from my SM-T817V using Tapatalk

[tonyxcom]

You don't have to use a key lock. They make combo luggage locks that aren't TSA type.

The rules actually state that you are not supposed to use a TSA lock to secure any firearms cases. But if you put a locked firearms case inside of your checked luggage, then your checked luggage must have a TSA lock.