I’m still thinking about the travel I did last week. I didn’t fly with my gun this time but normally do. Of course I declare my firearms to the airlines and follow (to the best of my abilities) the TSA rules to carry the weapons legally.
There has been a lot written in the last year about firearms theft in airports. Unfortunately a lot of them are supposedly done by TSA and the airlines. It seems when the firearm goes missing during transit, the TSA blames the Airlines and the Airlines blame TSA, and no one will give up the tapes from the cameras that are supposedly monitoring these areas.
So what can we do? Politically TSA needs to go or be restructured. It was a good idea to have a set standard for all security people at airports, and a good idea to get them extra training. But now they are above the law and they answer to know one. They can do what ever they want in the name of anti-terrorism and the people don’t have a say.
Next we can simply choose not to fly, which I do as much as possible. I’d rather drive anyways. If you can get there in less than 8 hours of driving it will take you the same time to fly as drive. I proved this on a trip from Phoenix to LA. We had plane tickets and our friends drove. They dropped us off at the airport and then left. We got there at the same time (yes I know we should of drove with them, but it was unplanned for us all to be going the same place at the same time).
Lastly, I disable my firearms when I travel. I have no idea if that is legal or not, but I do it. I don’t want someone to use my firearm to commit a crime. I simply take a piece of the gun and put it in another part of the bag. Not a major piece, but something the gun needs to function. Things I’ve taken out are firing pins, take down pins, recoil springs, or on an old Ruger pistol I put the weapon on safe and then used a screw driver to take the safety lever off so the weapon couldn’t be put on fire with that piece. If you don’t know what to do with your firearm, send me an e-mail and I’ll help you, or just Google it. This way if the worst happens at least you will have peace of mind to know that your gun can’t hurt anyone without someone buying parts.
Stay Safe,
Ben