I'd invite them all in to see it and touch it.
I think they should find some oxen who have never been yoked, separate them from their newborn calves, put the ark on a wagon and see if the oxen take the ark back to Jerusalem. Would be interesting, wouldn't it?
No man unpurified could touch it without dying. Whether or not that would still happen is open to question, since the temple veil was rent upon Jesus' death and of the prophecy in Joel that in the latter days "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh". Christians sufficiently prayed up might could get away with it , but given the history of it and the OT injunctions its better left having it handled the way the Law says it should be handled. It is the symbolic presence of God in the midst of men and his Glory did rest between the two cherubim....you wouldn't just handle it like an old couch!