Advice needed re: air travel with a "contaminated" range bag

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rpenmanparker

rpenmanparker

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I am flying to Las Vegas on Sunday for 4-day handgun self-defense course at Front Sight. I will have my gun locked in a small gun safe in turn locked into my suitcase as United Airlines specifies. I will have all other paraphernalia inside the locked suitcase. But I want to have my medium sized range bag with me to carry all my stuff back and forth from the hotel to the school. I was thinking of using the range bag as my carry on bag on the plane with my computer, other electronics, spare glasses, etc. all the stuff I usually carry in a briefcase when I fly. Then I would swap all that stuff out for the gun stuff when I get to Las Vegas.

But the range bag is contaminated with gunpowder residue from carrying my guns and ammo, right? And as a range bag it might attract unwanted attention and concern from the security staff and other passengers. Will all that be a problem at security in the airport? Does anyone have any experience with this situation? If I take a different carry-on will it still end up contaminated just by my handling it every day back at the hotel after shooting all day? And what about my contaminated clothes along with the dirty gun in the suitcase. Supposing they have dogs check my luggage. Will an alarm go off because of the contamination?

Any help from those experience with travelling with guns and for shooting will be appreciated. If none of this is an issue, I will be happy to hear it.
 
Don't do it. If they detect the powder your day will get much longer and more inconvenient. Maybe buy a cheap bag when you land to carry your stuff that you don't mind throwing away after the class. But that's just me. Checking the bag with the gun is easy. If you try to carry on a bag that has powder residue on it you are in for a real pita.
 
I have a light duty backpack I can take in the suitcase and just use my regular briefcase on the plane. Obviously the shouldn't be sniffing the suitcase if they know it has a gun in it.
 
I've had airports take a swab to my carry on's to the handles, zippers and outside to detect foreign substances. Like @Robert said I would take a different carry bag to avoid the hassle.
 
You aren't telling me what a I want to hear, but it is good advice. I will take it to heart.
 
rpenmanparker said:
You aren't telling me what a I want to hear, but it is good advice. I will take it to heart.
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I agree what they said sucks. But it’s the reality of the world we live in.

Your only other choice is to check with TSA and see if you can get someone that knows the law. Last I checked shooting, reloading, etc isn’t illegal. So you SHOULDN'T be denied your flight.

Now there’s a difference between should and what will happen.

Personally, I wouldn’t bring a bag that I know has gunpowder residue on it. But if I had time I might contact TSA to know the facts
 
When I air travel with firearms I carry them in a suitcase sized Pelican case. Everything goes in there except what I carry on. The case and contents are inspected, tagged and locked in front of the TSA guy when I check in. In the unlikely event the case needs to be further inspected, they have to call to have me un-lock the case and open it while I am present. The case is locked with padlocks that only I have the key for. Cash, valuables, my wife's jewelry are all in there safe from tampering while it is not in my possession. Why would they swab it knowing it contains firearms and ammunition?
 
I frequently fly with my range bag. Not only that, but the last time I flew London to Atlanta and then to Tampa, I had a range bag with a lot of residues in it and my shoes had range dust and assorted metal fragments embedded in the soles.
I travel alone and frequently get picked for extra security checks. I advised them before they swabbed the range bag that it was definitely contaminated with gunpowder residues and all sorts of cleaning oils and shooting related debris. They didn't even bat an eyelid.
That bag has never been a concern or flagged any of the detection systems at the airport.
Shoes also: no problem at all.

If you think about how many people fly with camera bags, range bags, clothing and suitcases that have been in contact with gunshot residues, it can't be something they are actively looking for with these swabs. If it was, I would have run into trouble by now!

I take my range bag and I tell them up front it is contaminated. They swab it and it goes through.
Same with magazines, cartridge cases and any other item that may draw attention. I defuse that from the beginning by calling the TSA agent over to inspect my luggage before I check it in.
I've never had a problem with items I have declared up front.
I would be interested to hear from anyone on THR who has had a problem with clothing or kit contaminated with gunshot residues, being detected at the airport.
 
RETG said:
I would not recommend it unless you appreciate full cavity searches. Great time to purchase a new bag.
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Right, but I have to come back home too. I will use a bag I can pack in the suitcase with the gun.
 
In a major airport I don’t see TSA agents near the luggage check in desks. How do you get one to come over?
 
I asked one of the airline staff manning the queue ropes to get me the TSA guy on one occasion.
Last time I was lucky and saw one hanging around an information counter, well outside the check-in queue.
 
I figure the TSA clerks have got the sensitivity of the sniffers turned down so far they would be doing well to pick up a blockbuster.
Just follow the print regs and goofy airline policy.
 
I have traveled quite a bit back from classes so I probably was contaminated. I checked the clothes and range bag with no problem.
I did have my lap top swabbed in Burlington but they ignored the checked Glock
 
Best option, call your hotel and tell them your mailing yourself a package that you prefer not to fly with. They should be understanding of that. Mail your bag to yourself.

Or if your concerned about waiting so late to do it, TAKE a cheap bag with you. Ain’t a thing near Vegas cheap.
 
The sniffer is going to alert the TSA agents when it goes thru the carry on detector. They may pull you out of line and hold you up until they take everything out of your bag and wipe it down. I ran my bag thru too soon and they freaked out because they thought the person who put it on the belt had left. When they found out it was my bag they became very upset. I honestly didn't know why they were freaking out.

Ah, another pleasant experience dealing with the flying circus.o_O Alert TSA up front and ask them to check it out of line. They don't deal real well with sniffer alarms going off.
 
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Take it if you want and don’t worry. The worst thing that could happen is they decide to swab it. Tell them what it is, they might go through it, or not. 10 minutes of your time....Don’t worry about dogs sniffing, I have a range bag I travel with and the dogs never bother me.
 
I travel over 50% of my year. When I first started I used a backpack that I had used in the past to collect brass and such. Never a problem. You could always keep the bag in your checked luggage. Or wash it in the washer at the hotel. If it is of concern, bring along a throw away bag. Or ship your bag back via UPS or something. You can't prepare enough to eliminate all contaminates. It will find its way to everything you own. Even your clothing could be contaminated. It happens. But its not against any law.
 
rpenmanparker said:
In a major airport I don’t see TSA agents near the luggage check in desks. How do you get one to come over?
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Tell the airline agent you are checking in a firearm. They have their procedures to deal with customers traveling with firearms that include informing local TSA. TSA will awake from their coffee break and gladly take you through their routine procedure, check all your cool gun stuff out and then check you off and go back to their break. Your difficulties will only be with your airline if you have studied the TSA requirements that are readily available on the intertubes.
Make sure you check your airline policies!!!
Some years ago I flew from Denver to Detroit and brought a revolver to hunt deer at a friend's place. The flight from Denver to Detroit was no problem but coming back some ticket agent decided my packaging was unacceptable for the return trip (Big bag; Little gun). I asked for a TSA agent to resolve HER issue and ultimately her underling was sent over to invite me on my way. Annoying. I don't fly unless I have to.
 
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I have had the experience of going through the sniffer routine before boarding a flight to Malaysia. The last thing I did before leaving for the airport was to load a batch of 38 Special for my wife, so my hands were well contaminated. I had no problems.

The sniffers look for drugs as well as explosives.

I do have a friend who sailed through TSA with a Glock in his carry on. He put all his carry-on in a bag that he used for the range, and innocently forgot about the Glock. When he reached his destination, he was mortified.

You probably need a new bag anyway, but I would not expect any trouble using the old one.

Get a short piece of dog chain and a padlock and secure your gun case to the internal structure of the suitcase. It makes stealing your stuff a lot harder.
 
Ten years ago I got "selected" for additional screening for a red eye flight that was almost empty. Since I was the only one selected I got to talk to the TSA agent while she was swabbing my shoes. I told her the shoes were contaminated with GSR and she said that was not a problem What did drive TSA crazy were gardeners that had shoes contaminated with fertilizer! The tests would pick up the nitrates and ring the alarm bells. Burnt powder no problem, spilt powder from handloading might be a problem, but walking through your freshly fertilized lawn will get you some one on many discussion time with TSA.
 
My wife has been swabbed more than once (in the US, possibly also at AMS or LHR) simply because she wears a small insulin pump. Even an innocent, well-understood insulin pump is just one more reason to justify the 'smoke and mirrors' from our bureaucracies to make "the sheep" feel like all of this is done for their safety.

During my 'transportation' career we sometimes watched a small presentation during Annual Recurrent Tng. about chemical residue, and the suspicions about any airport passenger with residue.
After 9/11, you would not want to take the risk, especially not knowing how a random TSA Supervisor might interpret their so-called "regulations".

Is he/she a 'big picture' person using common sense, or more of a Martinet with a little personal power on display?
 
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