The Tennessee State House saw the critical lesson of the Virginia Tech tragedy and took immediate action. Let's hope the State Senate follows suite and the Governor will quickly sign this into law.
The Neal Knox Report
By Neal Knox (updated 05/08 by Jeff Knox)
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 10, 2004) – Flying with a firearm in your checked baggage is more complicated than it used to be, but it’s usually not the nightmare some think.
The important thing to remember is that making a mistake involving a firearm in an airport can result in serious consequences – and it doesn’t have to be you that makes the mistake.
There are plenty of people working for airlines and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) who, whether through fear, malice or simple ignorance, can make traveling with a gun harder than it should be. If one of them makes a “mistake” it could be you that pays the price.
Simply notifying a ticket agent that there is an unloaded firearm in your bag – as you are required by law to do – can result in pandemonium. I recall a case several years ago where a man declared a legal shotgun at Washington National Airport and found himself surrounded by a SWAT team. Not a comfortable position.