7 ms·

This has been known forever to people who frequently travel with high-value gear (photographers, videographers, etc.) It is a good hack, but it also prevents y

by brk 17y ago

This has been known forever to people who frequently travel with high-value gear (photographers, videographers, etc.) It is a good hack, but it also prevents you from easily doing kiosk bag check-and-drop stuff, so there is a lot of waiting in line. And I wouldn't recommend it for international travel. I haven't kept good track, but I'm sure I've flown over 200,000 miles in the last decade, with all sorts of miscellaneous high-value gear. The only domestic baggage incident I've had was a Canon EOS5D and 28-300mm L lens go missing on a flight from SFO->BOS. Granted that was an ~$5,000 loss, I probably should have kept the gear in carry-on. I don't think I would have wanted to deal with the process of declaring a weapon in my bags on every flight where I had something work stealing just to prevent the 1 incident out of 1,000 where there was actual threat, that's why I have insurance.

hga 17y ago
It's also a good way to get arrested at a Chicago or NYC/NJ airport if you're forced to be reunited with your checked bags (say your flight gets diverted).
- brk 17y ago
  Why, are starter pistols illegal there? Are there no provisions for people carrying weapons through those cities? Even in the case of checked luggage with a firearm, it is usually required (and a good idea in any case) that the weapon be unloaded and disabled (gun lock, etc.). My personal opinion is that the airline is not going to call the local authorities and tell them they just turned over a bag with a weapon to you. So, as long as you don't call attention to yourself, the likelihood of getting arrested is too small to worry about.
  - hga 17y ago
    Not sure, but to my knowledge they arrest first and would check on those sorts of details later. And yes, there is a "provision" for carrying a weapon through those cities, the Firearms Owners Protection Act (FOPA) of 1986, but it only provides a defense once you've been charged. You would spend weeks or months with your life in turmoil, perhaps locked up (you're obviously a flight risk, no ties to the community) and spending significant money for competent counsel to get the charges eventually dismissed. And this does frequently happen (arrests at O'Hare, La Guardia (sp?), JFK and I think Newark), enough so that I don't see the ruse as being worth the risk.
    - fatdog789 17y ago
      FOPA makes it illegal to arrest a person for carrying a firearm while traveling through a jurisdiction. It is not a defense after-the-fact, it is a complete defense. If you are arrested, that is a violation of FOPA, which means a constitutional violation of your due process rights accorded under FOPA. This means not just an automatic dismissal of the case, but significant moola for the violation of rights.
- CWuestefeld 17y ago
  No, there's explicit legislation at the federal level making it legal to transport firearms. This overrides any state and local laws. The conditions are basically: (a) You can legally possess the gun at your origin and ultimate destination; (b) you take a reasonable route between them; (c) firearm is unloaded and not immediately accessible. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_Owners_Protection_Act#.22Safe_passage.22_provision http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_Owners_Protection_Act#....
  - hga 17y ago
    That makes it legal, but: It obviously doesn't stop an abusive law enforcement agency from ignoring the law, e.g. the New Jersey State Police were notorious for doing that until they got slapped down enough times. The FOPA provides a defense; legally, as a matter of procedure, all it does it allow you to get a case dismissed. And as noted, it has specifically has not stopped travelers in the cited airports from getting arrested when they were forced to take possession of their luggage en route due to a diversion or whatever. (In fact, if you were to take gun to a hotel in such a situation the FOPA wouldn't protect you at all, would it?)
    - fatdog789 17y ago
      You don't understand how FOPA works. FOPA is not merely a procedural defense. It is a due process protection against being arrested for mere firearm possession by local authorities. In that situation, FOPA provides for automatic dismissal; the burden is on the local jurisdiction to prove that FOPA does not apply. TSA stops are not arrests; the TSA is a federal agency, and so FOPA does not bar the TSA from detaining persons for firearm possession.
    - tedunangst 17y ago
      You've "noted" this happening several times, but so far, you're the only source of this info.
      - hga 17y ago
        Grrr, there are too many false positives for me to be able to find a case using Google (i.e. people trying to take guns through security, theft of guns in checked baggage, etc.). So this is going to have to a matter of trust: trust my memory and distrust notoriously anti-gun cities/states. Or not, it's your time, money and freedom on the line. I should also note that the usual point of arrest is after the victim accepts his checked baggage, when he later declares the firearm at the baggage counter when restarting his journey.

by brk 17y ago

hga 17y ago

It's also a good way to get arrested at a Chicago or NYC/NJ airport if you're forced to be reunited with your checked bags (say your flight gets diverted).

brk 17y ago
Why, are starter pistols illegal there? Are there no provisions for people carrying weapons through those cities? Even in the case of checked luggage with a firearm, it is usually required (and a good idea in any case) that the weapon be unloaded and disabled (gun lock, etc.). My personal opinion is that the airline is not going to call the local authorities and tell them they just turned over a bag with a weapon to you. So, as long as you don't call attention to yourself, the likelihood of getting arrested is too small to worry about.
- hga 17y ago
  Not sure, but to my knowledge they arrest first and would check on those sorts of details later. And yes, there is a "provision" for carrying a weapon through those cities, the Firearms Owners Protection Act (FOPA) of 1986, but it only provides a defense once you've been charged. You would spend weeks or months with your life in turmoil, perhaps locked up (you're obviously a flight risk, no ties to the community) and spending significant money for competent counsel to get the charges eventually dismissed. And this does frequently happen (arrests at O'Hare, La Guardia (sp?), JFK and I think Newark), enough so that I don't see the ruse as being worth the risk.
  - fatdog789 17y ago
    FOPA makes it illegal to arrest a person for carrying a firearm while traveling through a jurisdiction. It is not a defense after-the-fact, it is a complete defense. If you are arrested, that is a violation of FOPA, which means a constitutional violation of your due process rights accorded under FOPA. This means not just an automatic dismissal of the case, but significant moola for the violation of rights.
CWuestefeld 17y ago
No, there's explicit legislation at the federal level making it legal to transport firearms. This overrides any state and local laws. The conditions are basically: (a) You can legally possess the gun at your origin and ultimate destination; (b) you take a reasonable route between them; (c) firearm is unloaded and not immediately accessible. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_Owners_Protection_Act#.22Safe_passage.22_provision http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_Owners_Protection_Act#....
- hga 17y ago
  That makes it legal, but: It obviously doesn't stop an abusive law enforcement agency from ignoring the law, e.g. the New Jersey State Police were notorious for doing that until they got slapped down enough times. The FOPA provides a defense; legally, as a matter of procedure, all it does it allow you to get a case dismissed. And as noted, it has specifically has not stopped travelers in the cited airports from getting arrested when they were forced to take possession of their luggage en route due to a diversion or whatever. (In fact, if you were to take gun to a hotel in such a situation the FOPA wouldn't protect you at all, would it?)
  - fatdog789 17y ago
    You don't understand how FOPA works. FOPA is not merely a procedural defense. It is a due process protection against being arrested for mere firearm possession by local authorities. In that situation, FOPA provides for automatic dismissal; the burden is on the local jurisdiction to prove that FOPA does not apply. TSA stops are not arrests; the TSA is a federal agency, and so FOPA does not bar the TSA from detaining persons for firearm possession.
  - tedunangst 17y ago
    You've "noted" this happening several times, but so far, you're the only source of this info.
    - hga 17y ago
      Grrr, there are too many false positives for me to be able to find a case using Google (i.e. people trying to take guns through security, theft of guns in checked baggage, etc.). So this is going to have to a matter of trust: trust my memory and distrust notoriously anti-gun cities/states. Or not, it's your time, money and freedom on the line. I should also note that the usual point of arrest is after the victim accepts his checked baggage, when he later declares the firearm at the baggage counter when restarting his journey.