Traveling with guns and expensive gear in checked bags

I mention Bruce Schneier on occasion, and he has a mention of a discussion group of photographers who were swapping war stories about cameras and other expensive gear in checked baggage being stolen from the bags. Professional photographers are in the position lately of not being able to get all their stuff in carry-on bags, and theft from bags locked with TSA-approved locks is all too well known, it seems.

One photographer claims that he puts a starter pistol in each checked bag, informs the ticket agent that he's checking bags with weapons (which is legal and the proper procedure), which gets him handed off to a TSA agent who specially screens his bag. The agent then lets the photographer lock the bags with his own locks and arranges for special tracking for the "weapons cases," which seems also to prevent lost luggage problems.

See the TSA's list of permitted and prohibitted items and their helpful page on how to travel with starter pistols and other firearms and ammunition.

There are two problems. The starter pistol "must be in a hard-sided container." And while starter pistols are not considered weapons in any of the fifty states of the American union, this may not be the situation in foreign countries. Know the laws of the other country if you are flying abroad.

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