Good experience flying with weapon

[jimlongley]

I flew to NYC and back last week so I did not bother to bring my gun.

The funniest thing at LaGuardia airport was the warning about SNOW GLOBES! Evidently they are not allowed and they had big signs stating that!

Who travels with snow globes?

Its good to be back in Texas!

I was operating the xray machine at Love Field during the State Fair a few years ago, and saw a bunch of bones in a bag. The machine alerted on them and other stuff, and the screener that checked the bag manually discovered a bunch of Turkey legs, still hot, from the State Fair.

And there is other strange stuff that I saw, many times, going to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but it can't be discussed on a family forum.

[RHenriksen]

Actually, it's a violation of TSA procedures to run such a test on a gun box. I had a screener insist on swabbing my gun a few years back, and I was sure it would alarm. It did not, and since it didn't, it tells me that the test equipment was not properly calibrated, because the gun had not been cleaned since it was fired the night before.

At the time I was a screener myself and well aware of the procedures. I filed a complaint/report, and the screener was disciplined for her actions.

That's great information - I'd love to add it to my cache of rules/regulations I travel with in the event of disputes. Do you have a link to that procedural documentation? My steel box gets swabbed without fail, every time I depart from IAH, and it's been done in Boston as well.

[TexasFlash]

the thought occurs...I wonder who makes the swabs, what they cost, what company has the contract, who the stockholders are....and on and on. Guess I'm getting cynical, but someone makes money off of the disposables, etc
Dave

[jimlongley]

Actually, it's a violation of TSA procedures to run such a test on a gun box. I had a screener insist on swabbing my gun a few years back, and I was sure it would alarm. It did not, and since it didn't, it tells me that the test equipment was not properly calibrated, because the gun had not been cleaned since it was fired the night before.

At the time I was a screener myself and well aware of the procedures. I filed a complaint/report, and the screener was disciplined for her actions.

That's great information - I'd love to add it to my cache of rules/regulations I travel with in the event of disputes. Do you have a link to that procedural documentation? My steel box gets swabbed without fail, every time I depart from IAH, and it's been done in Boston as well.

Those were internal "not for publication or disclosure . . ." rules. I was able to cite those rules because I was an active screener and what she did was a blatant violation of written TSA rules. She also handled my gun, another blatant violation, and I could tell at a glance that the xray machine was being operated in the wrong mode. All of those facts plus some others were included in my complaint. None of what I complained about would be in the general knowledge of a person who was not an active screener at the time.

I can see a steel box getting swabbed after xray, in some circumstances, because the machine is likely to alert on items that are opaque or almost so. I would recommend against using a steel box under most circumstances for just that reason.