[BobL]

I suspect that for most gun owners (particularly women, as they typically use purses), they think about a scenario like this, where they board a plane and then, probably on the flight, figure out that they still have their gun.

And, just to make it worse, they land in a very gun-unfriendly place, 1000 miles from home. So what to do? Options include:

1) Tell the feds when you land, as she did. Being a fireman may have saved her from a prosecution. They like to make examples out of us rednecks up there.

2) Try to dispose of the gun, and maybe try to wipe off the serial number prior.

3) Try to return home with it in your luggage. Risky if you tell the airline, since you likely need a permit just to bring it to the airport. Risky, of course, if you don't tell them.

4) Rent a car and drive back with it. Just drive very carefully when in gun-hating states.

I'd almost certainly pick #4. I'd rent a car as quickly as possible, bury the gun under the spare tire (assuming there even is one, but that's another thread), and then plan my return to Florida. I'd have to decide whether to bring the car back, or just go one-way. That would depend on a lot of factors. But I'd consider that option as the most likely path to success.

But given all that, be thankful that you even have Option 4. If you're overseas, then it really get challenging to figure out a plan.

[PapaNew]

The woman went through screening checkpoints at Orlando International Airport, but the gun was not detected.

The stupid TSA. Private enterprise has shown to be clearly more efficient and effective than the self-conflicted, bloated, and utterly unaccountable federal government's TSA. Same with healthcare and everything else the government unconstitutionally meddles with except defense (which also needs constant monitoring).

[doc1019]

I’m 66 years old with over 30 years in law enforcement and can’t get a job with the TSA because I’m too old. I guarantee a gun would not get past me unless it was made of plastic. Yet our government hires folks that have no clue how to protect us.

Hire retired police officers and the whole TSA thing might make some sense. Hire welfare queens and you get what you pay for.

[Jim from C-Town]

Or go to the Fed X store and box it up and ship it home.

[twister881]

If law-abiding citizens were everywhere permitted open *and* concealed carry, in public and private places, there would not be SandMonkey terrorists or other assorted nutjobs shooting up or blowing up this country.

[Blueflag]

5. Unload it. Put it in a sealed box with some bubble wrap. Ship it to your home address via FedEx.

Works every time.

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

Option 5.

[Tea Party Terrorist]

Or you could mail it back to yourself.

[ColdSteelTalon]

You can also send it back to yourself via UPS.

[ConorMacNessa]

I haven't flown in a long time, but why did she disclose it when she got to Newark? Wouldn't she need it there more than most places?



Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[TheBattman]

Doesn’t it make you feel safe knowing that the TSA could’t even spot a handgun is a purse?

Why is it again that we even HAVE the RSA, other than to harass women, children, and the elderly?

[Fresh Wind]

2) Try to dispose of the gun, and maybe try to wipe off the serial number prior.

Uh, I don't think you can "wipe off" a serial number.

[Fireone]

I have a slightly different opinion of this predicament...
Grow an f’ing brain! If you’re carrying a gun and you don’t know it, you’re entirely focused on the wrong things in your life.
I’ve carried almost every day, since I was around 20 years old, either on my person, or in a car, lunchbox, etc. Never, not once, did I not know I was in posession of a firearm. That’s careless, irresponsible, and could get you killed.

[Red in Blue PA]

Being a public worker helped her but more than that being a woman helped her.

The outcome would have been different if it were a male business owner.

[Teacher317]

I had shotgun shells tucked in a pocket of my carry-on that I didn’t know about. I went round-trip to El Paso and back before finding them when I was back home, unpacking. LOL

[wrencher]

Goodness, it sure is difficult to move this legal item from place to place. It’s almost like some sort of drug contraband. I guess that’s what happens when you are ruled by the one political party of Ivy League Incumbency and their billions of laws.

Vote “Republican” and see how that changes. /sarc

[BobL]

With some help from others, here’s what I think is the best option for someone in her situation, and doesn’t have immunity being a public servant:

Assuming you figure it out before leaving the airport, rent a car and bury the gun under the spare, or somewhere in the trunk. Then drive (carefully) to a gun-friendly state, and find a licensed firearms dealer there. Have them ship it back home, to a dealer close by. Then simply pick it up when you get home. Getting to a friendly state to get rid of the piece almost assures that you won’t get asked ‘unpleasant’ questions by a scared-to-death dealer (in an unfriendly state), and it also means that you will be driving almost exclusively on highways and will not have to carry the piece, even from the car to a dealer, in an unfriendly area.

What is scary about unfriendly areas is that it is very difficult to know all their laws - they’re designed to trip people up.