Fear & Loading: Upcoming Travel?

by
posted on October 23, 2018
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
tsa.jpg

The average first-offense fine for someone caught bringing a gun through an airport TSA checkpoint is $3,900 and it applies—with certain law enforcement and armed flight officer exemptions—even if you’re one of the more than 17 million people with a carry permit. It’s an expensive oversight guaranteed to dampen the holiday spirit of anyone traveling in the next few weeks. Civil penalties of up to $13,333 can be levied by the agency and when local law enforcement arrives criminal charges may follow. 

Flying with an unloaded firearm in baggage is legal, but airline and airport rules and check-in procedures are strictly enforced. Local, municipal and state regulations also apply, so research before your trip is mandatory. The TSA also has a handy list for reference, but know the storage requirements and ammunition limitations of your preferred carrier—they vary widely.  

Things get more complicated for CCW holders unwilling to surrender their right to self-defense while at a destination. Permits are not honored in everywhere. NRA-ILA has a handy interactive map to check reciprocity status between your state and others.

Although reminders for people traveling by air are frequent in the media, not everyone gets the message. From Sept. 24 to 30 TSA discovered and confiscated 91 firearms nationwide in carry-on luggage. The agency’s year-in-review blog reported its staff found and processed 3,957 guns, as well  flash bangs, grenades, a replica suicide vest and inert blocks of explosives during 2017. 

Last week a man was stopped at the checkpoint in Baltimore-Washington International Airport when TSA screening detected an unloaded Hi-Point carbine in his carry-on luggage. Officials were told he didn’t know it was in the bag because his mother did his pre-flight packing. Experts speculate he’ll remember to make his bed before the next trip.  

Latest

Hearing Healthy
Hearing Healthy

Summer Suppressor Deals On Now

Whether it is a BOGO deal from SIG or free tax stamps from Guns.com and Silencer Central, there's plenty of hearing-safe savings to be had this summer.

Rifleman Report: Defending Freedom For 250 Years

"Anyone who claims not to understand the plain and simple intent of the Second Amendment—especially if that person happens to be a constitutional law professor, Supreme Court justice, congressman, senator or president—is likely hiding nefarious intent: to strip individual liberty from American citizens for the express purpose of making them susceptible to a tyrannical government."

Book Review: 2025 Traveler’s Guide To The Firearms Laws Of The Fifty States

Newly updated for 2025, the 29th edition of the Traveler’s Guide To The Firearm Laws Of The Fifty States is packed with all the need-to-know information for cross-country trekkers seeking to bring their arms along with them and remain legal in all localities.

Springfield Kuna: A PDW For The Masses

Small, yet fierce, the namesake of Springfield Armory’s latest large-format pistol is a revered forest dweller in the land of its Croatian manufacturing partner, HS Produkt. The new Kuna is poised to be just as welcome in America.

The Armed Citizen® June 30, 2025

Read today's "The Armed Citizen" entry for real stories of law-abiding citizens, past and present, who used their firearms to save lives.

Book Review: Clockwork Basilisk: The Early Revolvers Of Elisha Collier & Artemas Wheeler

The result of a decade of research, Clockwork Basilisk is a comprehensive, two-volume history of the rare revolvers that preceded the development of the well-known Colt guns of the 1830s.

Interests



Get the best of American Rifleman delivered to your inbox.