Chris wrote:...
out of the 5 or so TSA people searcing bags at each airport, there was at least one who was just appalled by the thought of someone having a firearm in their luggage, and that was usually the person collecting the bags, not searching them. the other screeners, or the ones who actually did the baggage inspections, showed very little concern.
Unfortunatley we are a cross section of society. The other day I bought an issue of "Combat Handguns" while on my break and took it back to the checkpoint with me. The screener I was working with saw it lying face up and turned it over, and there was a gun on the back cover too, so she opened it and flipped pages until she found one that had no guns on it and folded the mag to lie with that page showing. I almost laughed my butt off, she was in a total panic just at the PICTURES of handguns. BTW, if you ever get the chance, try to find a page in CH that doesn' have a picture of a gun on it - ROFL!
Fortunately, the rabidly anti-gun types are comparatively few and not usually in a position to have much of an effect, but that's not to say that they don't have some. I am not a big "gun talker" IOW I don't spend all of my time talking about guns, but we have a couple of people who are (and there are one or two that seem to me to be all talk and no action) but one of our anti-rights types decided that another screener had talked too much about guns and filed a complaint about him.
At least at my airport the laws and rules are reflected in the policies, and I believe the same holds true for DFW, but I can't speak for the other airports. I will stick to my recommendation that you follow the posted rules and take copies, and insist on escalation of issues that pose a problem between you and a screener to a higher level for resolution.
Chris wrote: however, they didn't even open the cases that the guns were in. every other airport had to inspect the actual guns. the guns were in a locked suitcase, in locked plastic containers, with gun locks through the barrels.
If there were any "gun savvy" screeners on duty that saw that, they probably had a good laugh at your expense later, that was a little over the top.
TSA's rules, which I can quote but not post, do state that the only time firearms are to be inspected is under v ery strictly defined circumstances, including that the xray machine alarmed. Since guns tend to be heavy lumps of metal, it's not a surprise to see the machine alarm on them, as a matter of fact, it always surprises me more when the machine doesn't alarm.
Chris wrote:overall, i don't see any correlation of TSA employees giving me crap about it, moreso than i think some employees of TSA happen to personally be very anti-gun and don't mind incorporating that into their work. throughout this whole ordeal, i didn't present my CHL to a single person.
OTOH, you could have run into one of us "gunnies" and missed your flight for the chatting, seen that happen.