Originally Posted by
sbrower
That is very interesting. I think I am the only one here who can say that I took the deposition of a senior official at ATF in order to prove that a flaregun is *not* defined by them as a firearm (this was probably 1990).
After completing a very tedious 2 hour deposition (I believe he was under instructions to say no more than the bare minimum), once the depo was over he turned all friendly and said "Want to see the vautl?" He took us into the ATF vault where they had a sample of just about every type of firearm (including about 20 types of flare guns).
One can use other non-gun "guns" as well. I've read of people using movie prop guns, airsoft guns, bb guns, and starter pistols. To meet the definition of the FAR, a gun must propel a projectile by means of an explosive charge. A flare gun meets this, but the other examples do not... but they look enough like a gun that it is generally a good idea to declare them as guns if you pack them in a suitcase.
Those other examples aren't guns, and might be ok on a plane, (I haven't bothered to check) but don't try to take them thru a checkpoint, you would only confuse and annoy the TSA employees.
