I am going to be flying from MA to FL soon and I want to bring a couple of empty pistol mags with me for a gun I keep in FL. Although I am sure it is legal since an empty magazine can in no way be considered a weapon I was wondering if TSA is going to give me a hard time if I have them in my carry-on baggage. Does anyone have any experience with this?
-
If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership The benefits pay for the membership many times over.
-
Be sure to enter the NES/MFS May Giveaway ***Canik METE SFX***
Flying with empty mags?
- Thread starter carmy
- Start date
IIRC you have to declare them and any gun parts/ammo.
Giving TSA any reason to hassle you (e.g. why mags, no gun? Are you a terrorist and each person is bringing one part along for the ride?, ad nauseum) is not my idea of a fun day.
Therefore why not avoid the hassle and put them in a USPO Priority Mail box and ship them to yourself for probably less than $5.00. No need to declare them or anything else this way.
Giving TSA any reason to hassle you (e.g. why mags, no gun? Are you a terrorist and each person is bringing one part along for the ride?, ad nauseum) is not my idea of a fun day.
Therefore why not avoid the hassle and put them in a USPO Priority Mail box and ship them to yourself for probably less than $5.00. No need to declare them or anything else this way.
Tweed, are you saying it is illegal? Can you point me to a reference for that?
LenS, same question.
And for why I don't just mail them, my house in FL is just a vacation house and all my mail there is forwarded here to MA.
I am thinking about mailing them to General Delivery but I was worried about them getting lost.
LenS, same question.
And for why I don't just mail them, my house in FL is just a vacation house and all my mail there is forwarded here to MA.
I am thinking about mailing them to General Delivery but I was worried about them getting lost.
TSA makes their own rules . . . they might as well be "laws". Sometime back they declared that anything associated with firearms is to be treated the same as a firearm, thus no bringing any parts on a plane in carry-on and you must declare (IIRC) everything or they will pull your luggage at X-ray and pull you too for the royal inquisition.
It's called "better safe than sorry". Perhaps a call to your Postmaster in FL (www.usps.com can find phone numbers for every USPO in the US) can solve the delivery bounce-back issue for you?
It's called "better safe than sorry". Perhaps a call to your Postmaster in FL (www.usps.com can find phone numbers for every USPO in the US) can solve the delivery bounce-back issue for you?
49 CFR § 1540.111 does not specifically mention magazines alone as being illegal, however the TSA prohibited items webpage says the 'parts of guns' are a no-no, so you'd have to want to fight it out with them...
I just flew with a handgun last week. it went smooth as can be. I just declared at the ticket counter. They had me fill out 1 form and asked if it was unloaded (magazines included) and that ammo was stored seperately. They never even had me open the case the only wanted to see that it was a secure container (mine was a pelican case) with a lock. I then placed that in another more inconspicuous bag to hid the contents value. They had TSA X-ray it and that was it. It really is no big deal at all
Don't even think about carrying anything gun-related in your carry-on bags. While you have to declare firearms in checked bags, there's no requirement to declare magazines or gun parts. Flying with firearms tends to be easier today than it was prior to 9/11, since TSA has standardized the previously inconsistent and varying policies of different carriers and airports. You can see the official policy, which is followed pretty well almost everywhere, here. The only place in the country I'd avoid would be those airports policed by the NY/NJ Port Authority (Kennedy, Laguardia and Newark), all of which I try to avoid in any case.
Ken
Ken
Send them to someone that you no that lives by your place and pick them up from there (call them and say "hey I'm sending something can you hold it and I'll pick it up from ya). Or maybe you can send them to the Post office in your town down there and pick them up at the post office.
