Shopping in US, taking it home to Norway.

Well I know any thing over I believe it's 8 inches is a no go in carry on, and they have flipped out over lose ammo, empty magazines, a harmonica that they thought was a empty mag, o and a bullet key chain (key ring was through the casing) so if it's legal for you to ship it back I would avoid the airport.
but if it's going in checked luggage like under the plane all that it should be good (if it's legal to bring that sort of thing into your country in the first place)

If the items are controlled under ITAR, you'll need an export license if they are found.

mbogo

mbogo said:

If the items are controlled under ITAR, you'll need an export license if they are found.

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Not really. Gun parts worth less than $100 (total) can be exported freely without any kind of paperwork, with the exception of frames, barrels, bolts and slides. Non-tactical scopes regardless of value aren't regulated, night vision and thermal scopes are. Items like gunstocks are a gray area; generally they aren't considered as actual gun parts, just "sporting goods".

I've done a number of trips to the US, bought numerous scopes and lots of parts I've exported in my check-in luggage. I've always kept the receipts and attached copies of them to boxes containing firearm-related items, to prove that the total stays under $100. My luggage has been opened almost every time, not once has anything been confiscated and I've never been called back from the gate to explain anything.

When traveling to US and buying items that have anything to do with guns, I have only one piece of advice: MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU STAY LEGAL.

The under $100 exemption rule is only for licensed US exporters. The exporter still has to report the sale thru official channels, there is simply less end-user certificate paperwork. Since the OP is not a licensed US exporter, that exemption is not applicable.

Simple rule of thumb - don't hand-carry ITAR-controlled items over US borders as export.

Looking at similar products on Brownells gives a hint on where the ITAR/non-ITAR dividing line is for products. Holsters, targets, most reloading tooling are fine. (Automated production reloading machines can be a problem).

We discuss this on Canadian forums all the time for the newbies...

rodregier said:

The under $100 exemption rule is only for licensed US exporters.

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Oops. Only scopes and accessories on the next trip, then. The chances of TSA paying any attention to triggers and similar small parts is very slim, but still...

Something seems wrong with having to worry about getting out of the US with something that can be bought off the shelf by anyone (using the examples the OP gave)

Oleson said:

The objects in question are:
Maybe a folding stock for the Mini 14. (The old school one)
Maybe a chassis for my Mossberg MVP.
Maybe a cheap scope/red dot.
Maybe some magazines.

Nothing that's under any regulation here in Norway.

It's not a trip for these few items of course, but if I happen to come across them...

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I don't know what you mean by "chassis"... If you mean the receiver, I'd be really careful.

Various optics are on the ITAR list a lot more than I would have guessed considering how readily available they are.


I agree with the guy above that said to look at Brownells to get an idea.

It's not a perfect process, but the way I think about firearm components is something along these lines:

Visualize a complete firearm w/o any bundled add-ons. If any of the components you want to replace constitute a portion of that complete firearm, they are probably ITAR controlled.

Add-on scope rails or mount rings are not ITAR-controlled.

Here is Brownells general and their ITAR explanation section:

http://www.brownells.com/

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/general/International_Sales.aspx

An interesting detail I came across several years ago when my son was into airsoft toy guns, is that some parts that are completely interchangeable with, sometimes even identical to, gun parts don't seem to be regulated in any way. This is open to interpretation, of course, but I even found a company that sold genuine Magpul stocks for airsoft toys and they would ship them overseas. I've come across a similar policy with a number of riflestock companies; the stocks may be suitable for firearms but as aftermarket items they're not spare parts or found in factory-made guns.

I know, it can be very confusing, but somehow I feel like ATF has been given a lot of room for interpretation and I'm not sure how things would turn out if they wanted to make a case in court.

Simple. Call the airline you will be using and ask them................................... get the FACTS.

Relying on the ignoance of airline personell/customs to export firearms related/ITAR parts without an export license is not a sound idea.

Will they notice an AR FCG in your checked bag mixed in with laptop chargers and such? Probably not.
But if they do, you'll be in a world of hurt.

The issue seems to be what can the O.P. bring into Norway, not what he is taking out of the United States.

How does U.S. Customs check luggage leaving the country? Obviously they can not open and check the contents of every passenger's bags. They probably mostly use sniffing devices for bombs and drugs.

Norway Customs would seem to be the biggest problem since they will check everything coming in. What items does Norway require you to pay a duty on? I would start with customs in your country and proceed accordingly.

BSA1 said:

How does U.S. Customs check luggage leaving the country?

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TSA do, but don't seem to care about much else than the obvious. A friend of mine who works at airport baggage security mentioned that the volume is so huge virtually anything non-explosive, non-narcotic will easily pass through and the best way to make sure it will is to pack it in your toiletry bag. They're usually full of scissors, nail files, swiss army knives, razors, tweezers and other oddly shaped metal items hence overlooked completely. Another alternative is to just mail everything to yourself, USPS rarely checks anything and back in the day when it was still legal, I used to mail myself lots of gun parts on every trip.

I'm definitely not recommending this; it's illegal and could potentially land you in a world of trouble.

I really hate it that finnish antis in police have had Finland (one of the most stable and peaceful countries in the world, like Norway) included in the same US State Department list of countries as Somalia and Afghanistan, which means that I can't even get a trigger spring for my Colt Woodsman from Brownells. That has lead to a number of other solutions, of course, but that's not something we're going to discuss here.

Keep in mind that someone discovered violating US Export regulations can be subject to such penalties as fines, imprisonment and being barred from further entry into the US.

No small thing.

My understanding is that the lead agency for US export enforcement is US Border Patrol, which is subordinate to Homeland Security.

tsa and us customs.border patrol mainly deals with incoming
http://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/overview

I would start here;

http://norway.usembassy.gov/

We had a gal here a few years back busted for sending a bunch of new thermal scopes over to pals in Russia. ITAR violations aside, it was an extremely suspicious amount of money moving around, and I believe trafficking, espionage, and laundering charges were eventually brought.

All sorts of random stuff falls under ITARs ever expanding reach (like every other .gov tool) so be careful.

TCB

Well, I've gone on several overseas hunting trips with high end tactical scopes and there has NEVER been any question about my taking scopes out of the country. Actually there has never been any issue with taking guns out of the country other than declaring them to the airline and TSA. The only time serial numbers have been checked by U. S. Customs has been on the return and then only those on the firearms.

So, yes it would have been illegal for me to take some items out of the U.S.A. and purposely leave them in a foreign country but it's highly unlikely that anyone would ever find out if I did.