Has anyone ever traveled INTER-state by air with a firearm? I will be moving to another state and am thinking if I should get rid of my gun here or take it with me. I have contacted TSA(http://www.tsa.gov/index.shtm) and I was told that the gun needs to be in a lockable case(with key) - separate from the ammunition and will need to notify the airline at the time of check-in. I am wondering if the process is similar to traveling with a pet. They have told me once the gun is 'checked-in' with the bags, the rest of the travel should be normal - including baggage claim. Anyways I was seeing if any of our Texas friends has had a similar experience, and if so please give me your insight!
I would go with the "get rid of my gun here" option... seriously, aren't you moving to NYC? do you think you will need your firearm?
Make sure that you know the laws of the state to which you are moving. It doesn't do you very much good to take your gun with you if it is illegal to own in your new home. Texas is one of the two or three most permissive states with regards to firearms.
Post office doesn't accept handguns. FedEx and UPS only accept overnight delivery (very expensive). Under all conditions firearms must be delivered to a federal firearms licensee who will charge you for the privilege. Personally it is a pain in the rear. I can't sell a handgun on gunbroker without charging $50+ for shipping.
^ Interesting didn't know that. How does the post office check a package to see if there is a gun? My understanding was that the post office didn't X-ray or search packages.
Is that true? How do you go about using FedEx or UPS for this? and what do you mean by a federal firearms licensee? How much would I end up paying in total?
Here is a link that goes through some of the details: http://www.thegunzone.com/ship-guns.html Essentially to send handguns via UPS you have to go to a central location. I understand it is a bit easier to find a location via FedEx but I haven't tried them yet because I expect them to be more expensive. A federal firearms licensee is essentially a person who has a license from the ATF to sells guns. For shipping you can expect around $50, and then you have to pay a dealer a 'transfer fee'. This is because they have to receive the gun on their logbook and then sign it out to you. At this point they also are required to do a background check on you, even if you are the one doing the shipping. If you are flagged they can't give your own gun back to you. As far as how much that will cost, I charge $10. Most people around town charge $15. In California you can expect to pay up to $50. So by the time everything is done, you could be paying upward of $100 to ship the gun. Essentially, I think if you can take it with you on the plane you should do so. They may never find out but if they do, I believe that the offense is considered a felony. I let you be the one to test to see how vigilant they are. To legaly mail a long gun (rifle or shotgun) you apparently have to fill out a long anoying form. I have not actually done it yet either but I'm not looking forward to it.
Nevermind guys, I decided to just sell my gun to a friend.. He's paying $450 for a Glock 17C I got for $515 last year. Only used it a handful of times... I heard because of the price of metal is going up(metal is a commodity now) the value of guns will go up 15%.. is that true? I did notice however the price of bullets went up quite a bit.. Anyway what's done is done. Gun experts, are there any proper paperwork that needs to be done during this transaction? Thanks..
