So I'm transporting via Jet Blue...

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willbrink

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I have transported a handgun on planes dozens of times on probably every major airline. Went from Boston to FL and back to Boston. FL -> Boston was the usual, no issues. However, for the first time ever, the agent while checking in the gun for my FL -> Boston flight asked me for my CCW license. I asked if that was some new policy. She responded "no, but I am Columbian."

Errr what? I assumed she was trying to let me know her disapproval via the Columbia reference as the country has very high rates of crime or something to that effect. As I didn't have time to get into a pissing match with her, and didn't care if she wanted to see my non res CCW, I let her see it. I'm not sure what she cold have done if I either said no, or told her I didn't have one, but it was an interesting experience.

Gotta love people inserting their personal opinions into your travel. Could have asked for a manager and made a deal out of it, but she clearly had no intention of stopping me and I had a flight to catch!
 
CCW licenses are government permission slips. Government agents get to see them. This is not a fine distinction.

The agent stepped far out of bounds. Me, It'd be a polite "No." Then, supervisor time if she pressed the matter.
 
This was not the ATS agent who asked, this was a Jet Blue employee, so she really has no authority.
 
That is ridiculous, you don't need a CCW to transport a firearm. I would have politely said no.
 
Guys, guys, guys...

DO NOT BE THE BAD GUY. Do not be adversarial. Don't get offended. Don't get pissed off. Smile. Educate.

You are our ambassadors.

When we have contact with someone and the subject is one of our boomsticks, we want to person to go home at the end of the day feeling good about it, instead of muttering about "that damn gun nut." Because when voting time comes around...

Be nice.
 
Colombia is a country. Columbia is a city in South Carolina, a university in NY, a college in Illinois...
 
File a complaint with the airline Will. Airlines may implement whatever (TSA compliant) weapons transport procedures they wish but interjecting personal prejudice isn't likely a part of it.

Unless you speak up no one will know this person's behavior needs to be addressed.
 
What happens if you land in Massachusetts with a handgun and no Massachusetts LTC?
 
Also, did she say "CCW" or did she say "permit" or "license?"

She probably had NO IDEA what she was supposed to do, and likely thought that you needed some official slip of something to possess the boomstick.

GUYS. We are ambassadors. Smile. Be nice. Educate. Do you want to be remembered as "that nice guy who checked the fancy gun" or "that ******* with the gun who tried to get me fired?"
 
Bogie - I think you're missing the point of most of the replies here - nobody in this thread has yet suggested that rudeness or uncivil behavior is necessary to fix the situation. Saying no, or asking for a supervisor is not out of line. Ranting and raving and throwing a fit, sure. But asking for a higher-up, or flat refusing to show any credentials that are none of the clerk's business is hardly reason to go warning people to be good ambassadors.

That said, I totally agree with you. We all should make an effort to educate those who don't know how things work. But sometimes, you can't be an educator. Time constraints, an already hectic day of traveling, or similar things sometimes get in the way of providing a proper lesson, especially when it's not the best time or place (like a long like at an airport check-in) to do so.
 
Gentlemen if you are unaware Ma residents MUST have a LTC or FID
to possess a firearm still I don't think she had the right to ask. In Ma
I believe the only a LEO has the right to ask to see your permit.
 
As I didn't have time to get into a pissing match with her, and didn't care if she wanted to see my non res CCW, I let her see it.
Click to expand...

I will go out of my way to make time to getting into a pissing match with these people.

Preferably with their supervisor present.
 
I, too, am a Columbian ... ha ha ha

What the hell is that supposed to mean (what the ticket agent said, that is)? Why does it matter? Typical lack of logic and reasoning from the general public!
 
I will go out of my way to make time to getting into a pissing match with these people.
Click to expand...

Sigh. And she, and her supervisor, will more than likely make time to vote against anything that benefits "those gun nuts."

Sheesh - there's a big difference between malicious intent (such as Ossifer Bubba deciding to confiscate your gun because he doesn't think that people should be allowed to carry), and an unknowledgeable clerk who thinks that you need some sort of permit.

You can catch a lot more votes with nice...
 
Quote:
I will go out of my way to make time to getting into a pissing match with these people.
Sigh. And she, and her supervisor, will more than likely make time to vote against anything that benefits "those gun nuts."

Sheesh - there's a big difference between malicious intent (such as Ossifer Bubba deciding to confiscate your gun because he doesn't think that people should be allowed to carry), and an unknowledgeable clerk who thinks that you need some sort of permit.

You can catch a lot more votes with nice...
__________________
Click to expand...

So by your argument we get people to accept guns by being door mats and letting them walk all over our rights?

If a situation like this is not challenged we abdicate our rights by default. I personally would have simply asked to see her supervisor and have the supervisor explain the airline's policy to both her and me, and not gotten into a "pissing match". If I had to move more quickly to get to my plane, I would have done as the original poster did, and then registered a formal letter of complaint about employees not being trained concerning transporting firearms after I reached my destination.

Your position seems to be more in line with lay down and do what everyone tells you so that you don't make ripples. That's really getting close to "just do what the criminal tells you and everything will be fine" for my taste.

Being an ass to a low level functionary isn't going to solve any problems. The more confrontational you are the more likely they will respond the same way. However, tucking your tail and doing as your told in such situations allows the situation to become policy, and then it becomes even harder to change it.

In this situation the "unknowledgeable clerk" needs to be educated before she starts training new employees and her policy becomes airline policy by default.
 
Any chance she was just looking out for travelers unfamiliar with Massachusetts gun laws?
 
No.

Be nice. Be polite. Be a GENTLEMAN and an ambassador of the gun culture. Is that all that hard?

This ain't a competition or a nascar race. It's just part of moving through a bureaucracy. If you make someone YOUR enemy via a confrontational attitude, you also make them MY enemy, and I really don't appreciate that.
 
Any chance she was just looking out for travelers unfamiliar with Massachusetts gun laws?
Click to expand...

That may be and that is well and good, but it isn't her job to look out for travelers unfamiliar with the laws of another state. He job is to check the baggage, not play lawyer or firearms police. If the airline policy allows you to transport your firearms, then her job is to do what she is paid to do and check the weapons, not harass the patrons. I can't help but think what I said the last time I had to call a supervisor over at an airline check-in counter, I told him that, "I am profit, your employee is overhead, Delta is just over there!"

(That incident had to do with getting them to make arrangements either for me to escort my blind friend to his plane, or get one of their employees to do it. Seems they were working short handed and just wanted to let the guy walk to the boarding platform on his own. The supervisor saw my point and gave me a boarding pass that allowed me to take my friend right onto the plane, and the employees got set straight about handicapped access.)
 
bogie

Arguing with you is like arguing with anyone who wasn't reasoned into his argument, he can't be reasoned out of it.

When I pay for a service I expect to get that service. When flying you are paying for service, and that service starts at the check-in. It is your right to seek good service and not have to deal with uneducated employees who make up the rules as they go along.

You have repeatedly stated that people are being confrontational simply because they have said they will seek to get what they are paying for. Shouting, getting abusive, and generally being a jerk are not acceptable in such a situation: insisting on getting the service you are paying for, and not having your basic civil rights infringed upon is acceptable.

I'm sorry that you seem to see that as being confrontational and causing you to look bad.
 
I see people suggesting stuff like "file a complaint" and I think that someone suggested that one ask that she get fired... And then there's the "pissing match." Yeah, that's the way to win friends and influence people, all right...

Why make things HARDER than they need to be? One can generally educate with a smile a LOT faster than one can "get in a pissing match" which may end up involving a lot more than just the poor girl's supervisor.

And what is wrong with behaving as a gentleman? Then again, I'm not from the area between Boston and Washington, and I was brought up to treat the hired help with grace and dignity.
 
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