When flying with a firearm it pays to keep up with all the rules

I don’t fly much. I'm more of a road trip kinda guy. Throwing a bag or two in the truck and heading out on the open road is much more inviting than fighting the hordes of humanity for the right to be wedged into an unforgiving seat for hours, but unfortunately you can’t drive to Hawaii.

The wife and I took a well deserved vacation to Kauai last month.

As always, I travel with a firearm even if I’m not allowed to carry in that particular state. You never know what might happen if you’re staying in a resort or time share. (After our stay in Kauai and our last trip to Maui a few years ago I am fully convinced that island resorts are the ultimate in “soft targets”). Also, I thought it would be cool to say I shot at a range in Hawaii. (THAT, proved more daunting than I imagined but I’ll save that for another post)

The last time I flew with a firearm was in 2019.

The last time I flew with a firearm was in 2019. Once to Seattle out of John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA on Frontier Airlines, and a week later to Maui on Delta Airlines from LAX. The procedure was different both times but the one thing that remained constant was carrying your firearm in a locked, approved TSA gun case, declaring at the ticket counter you had a firearm to be checked, gun unloaded, slide locked back but your magazine could be loaded.

2019 - TSA went the extra mile. Tapped-out a round to check. Bullet was loose, casing was empty, primer still attached and no powder anywhere.

When we arrived in Maui and opened my gun case in the hotel room I saw that TSA had actually tapped-out a round from my magazine. Bullet was loose, casing was empty, primer still attached and no powder anywhere.

As much as we'd like to think that TSA, the airports and airlines have their act together, there are little things that make you scratch your head. Arriving in Kauai (and Maui) my checked bag with my gun inside was on the carousel with all the other bags for pickup. At LAX flying in on Frontier and Delta the bag was also on the carousel but on American I had to go to the special handling desk to retrieve my bag and gun. Weird.

In 2025 though, flying with magazines and ammo is a little different.

We flew American out of LAX this time and I had my 365XL in my locked case, full mag to the side. When checking in I told the ticket agent at the counter I had a firearm to transport in my bag. She was cool about it (undoubtedly she had done this before). She asked me to open the case to inspect and demonstrate that it was not loaded, which I did. She looked at my magazine and then asked if I had an ammo box or case. I said no and she then informed me that I can’t travel with a loaded magazine even if it out of the gun on in another bag altogether. I said OK and asked my wife if she had a coin purse or baggie in her purse so I could pop these into but the agent said that wouldn’t be allowed. “It has to be an actual ammo container designed specifically for ammo.” I asked how to resolve the dilemma.

“Well, you could call a friend to come down and collect them or we could dispose of them for you.”

Calling a buddy to drive to LAX to hold onto 10 rounds of Ranger-Ts was a bit on the absurd side so that wasn’t an option, so I was forced to the second option. I’m pretty sure “disposal” was handing off to the nearest LEO who pocketed his free ammo immediately. LOL

Then this ACTUALLY happened:

At the exact moment she started placing the ammo in an envelope, some shoeless, homeless, mentally ill guy in a dirty t-shirt and sweats starts screaming and swearing behind the check-in line. He starts pacing and pointing at the personnel behind the counter, yelling,

“Don’t you know who I am??!!! I’m Homeland Security and I’m being disrespected!! I’m Homeland and I’m gonna have all of you fired!!! I am sick of this!!!”

I looked at the agent who’s eyes were wide as a dish plate and calmly said:

“You sure you don’t want to give me my ammo back?”

She quietly answered,

“I wish”.

NOT the guy but definitely representative of how he ended up

Flying with a firearm can be a bit confusing if you don’t keep up with the rules so it pays to double check them all before traveling:

1. TSA rules

Check the TSA website for all current procedures.

2. Specific Airline rules

All airline rules are not the same. Check your carrier before you fly.

3. Airport regulations

Flying into Cheyenne, Wyoming with a firearm is going to be a lot different than flying into La Guardia, New York City. Always check to see if there is any regulations “conflicts” between TSA, Airlines and Airport. Good people have been jammed up in a bad way because of this.

Safe travels everyone.