Packing heat: Ensure your checked luggage arrives safely by packing firearms
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The increase in checked luggage, a side effect of the ongoing War on Moisture, leads many to fear that their bags will be lost. And it’s a legitimate fear, of course. So how do you minimize it?
Pack a pistol in your luggage.
Bruce Schneier links to a discussion on a photographer’s blog, in which high-end equipment owners discuss their options. The solution is brilliant:
- Weapons (including starter pistols, which don’t require a permit since they don’t fire bullets) must be declared by the passenger and packed in checked luggage.
- Thereafter, the suitcase is given priority handling by TSA and the airline, since no one wants to be responsible for letting a weapon fall into “the wrong hands.”
- Therefore, putting a gun in your suitcase ensures that your luggage will be handled carefully, and will certainly reach its destination. It’s essentially like sending your suitcase via registered mail.
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September 24th, 2006 at 10:28 pm |
Well, except not so much.
I travel with firearms all the time, and while they haven’t been lost (yet) it is not uncommon to hear tales from trap/skeep shooters about lost guns.
Also, there is nothing on the outside of the case to indicate that there is a firearm inside.
I seal my guns with zip-ties (pink!) and they are rarely opened - less often than my checked luggage with shaving cream in it.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:41 am |
If there’s no outside tag on the suitcase indicating a firearm is inside, how can the suitcase possibly receive special handling once it leaves the initial check-in? Could it be that Bruce Schneier has just been fortunate?
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:48 pm |
[…] - Packing heat: Ensure your checked luggage arrives safely by packing firearms - Feeling safe? Armed pilot discharges pistol in […]
November 1st, 2008 at 11:43 pm |
It is against policy to mark luggage to indicate the presence of a firearm. Airlines are not allowed so your luggage will not receive special attn.