If you've flown with handguns lately you know most of the drill. Sounds like you are primarily concerned with theft. As in, "Dude! Look! There's a gun case on that carousel! Let's get it!" The protocol should be that a large, recognizable gun case goes to the luggage office and not onto the carousel. I'd try to make sure that's the case. Poke the people when you check in to make sure.

Back in the day when I was a young police officer, I would occasionally take my off-duty gun with me when I traveled on business (my off-duty sidejob was government relations consulting).

Off-duty gun had to be in a checked HARD-SIDED piece of luggage, and had to be inspected by the ticketing agent before being checked to make sure it was unloaded. Bag was then red-tagged.

Always thought that the red tag was a screaming signal to STEAL THIS BAG

Yes, I've flown with handguns in my checked luggage and I'm pretty well versed in what you can do and can't do, how to pack the guns, how to check them in, etc. Shipping it via fedex/ups/etc is out of the question since I'm flying in for a class and don't have time to go pick up the rifle, plus having NFA items complicates the process, not to mention I don't have a trusted friend to ship the firearms to. I was just wondering if anyone has had issues flying relating to theft with a long gun case. I've seen long gun cases come out with the rest of the luggage before in Alaska and heard of having to pick them up from the office or other location from others.

I plan on heading straight to the baggage area to wait for my case to come out when I land. I'm often surprised that no one checks claim tags for bags here in the US like in other areas of the world to prevent theft.

Happens all the time in HSV.

Which is why they stopped doing it, AFAIK Every time someone checks a long gun here, the airline folks put the red firearm declaration tag into the case before locking it up.

How about putting the long gun case inside a bag/container designed to hold skis? Of course, someone with sticky fingers may think they’ve just latched onto a nice pair of Rosingnols.

EDIT: here's a link to some

I've traveled with my firearms for over 5 years now, and I know the drill pretty well, so here are a few tips I've picked up.

Know the federal regulations. The TSA's website is a good source.

A locked hard sided case is required to transport firearms. No ifs, ands, or buts on that.

Some airlines will not transport firearms, while some will not transport the maximum number you are allowed to. Check the airlines baggage info on their website to make sure your carrier will accept them.

If your weapon is an auto loader, remove the magazine and use a cable lock to enable the screener to quickly verify the weapon is not loaded, and is not currently operable. This is not required, but it helps.

Every airport is different. I have never traveled to one where my rifle case did not come out at the carousel with the other bags. This is why I'm damn sure I get to the belt and position myself to grab the case ASAP before it passes anyone else.

Speaking of misadvice.. no offense:

Perhaps they aren't supposed to come out of the luggage carousel, but both times I've checked a long gun case (shotgun inside), the bags came right out along side the rest of them. So indeed I think it is good advice to be at the carousel, right where the bags pop out, before they start coming out.

They always come out on the carousel. I almost always travel with a handgun and since its a violation of federal law to label the luggage and container as containing a firearm... there shouldbe no way to tell what case has the firearm.

I guess it's an airport/airline thing. Any firearm that comes through BNA, specifically long guns, is moved directly from the baggage handler through the oversized door to the airline agent. The airline agent is supposed to confirm ID/ownership before handing the case over. At least that's what I have always seen with Southwest (dominant air carrier here).

I rarely see this with handguns because they are packed in the hard case inside the checked luggage.

I'd thought that all firearms transported by airlines were locked up with oversized/special baggage on arrival. Obviously, I was mistaken, at least with regard to the word "all".

In all my travels I have never had my firearm cases sent to the luggage office. And they include a Pelican 1700 for the M-4, a 1720 case for the shotgun and a large Pelican (1620 I think) for the handguns--I leave them in their individual cases for transport to/from the hotel but pack them and the ammo (in seperate Micro Cases) for transport.

The large box with the handguns could easily be mistaken for a camera case or some such thing even with the jumbo padlocks. But the rifle and shotgun cases are plenty obvious.

Correct...But. There's no standard on where the hard side needs to be. So, one can leave the pistol in its own hard case and place it in a soft sided bag OR have the pistol in a soft sided carrying case (rug) which is then placed in a hard sided suitcase. I've had airline agents confirm that their policies allow either situation--as long as the cases are locked.

At my location there is a gentleman who builds .50 cal rifles for certain military units who ships these rifles through the airlines to overseas locations all the time. You certainly jumped through some hoops in order to get your authorization to purchase suppressors, so you should also know that you can ship weapons from a licensed dealer in your area to a licensed dealer to the area you are going to. Long guns can be disassembled and shipped in a less obvious hard sided lockable case.

Later rules required that the red tag go inside the bag for just that reason. But then some airlines started to put FFFF on the tracking tag, and we're back to STEAL THIS BAG.

It's not all that hard to be able to own a supressor (at least in my state). I could ship the firearms to a dealer but since I have a short barrel rifle and supressor's it needs to be a class 3 dealer, of to which there are a far less number of them than the standard dealers. I'm trying to verify if long gun cases come out with the rest of the baggage or if I have to go to the office to pick them up.

If Atlanta is your final destination, I'm sure that there is a Class 3 dealer in that town. You really need to call the airline station manager at the start point and final destination to verfy what they do.