My wife and I drove down to Florida from Wisconsin. I brought my handgun and 500 rnds to do some "shooting" with my son-in-law. He and I enjoy knocking off a few bowling pins when we get together.


We had a blast and shot almost all the ammo before the heat (the temperature, not the law) got to us.

I was dreading the thought of packing the Cougar for our flight back home (we left our car in Florida). Hearing al the warnings and such made me mighty nervous.

Well, I"m happy to report that the anticipated drama never materialized. I packed the unloaded pistol in a plastic (hard sided requirement) case. Put a lock on the case and packed it into my suitcase. I also crammed in all 5 magazines into the locked case. There was no ammo.

At the luggage check-in, I told the agent that I had a handgun packed in the suitcase. She calmly asked for me to open the case and show/prove it was unloaded. I complied as discretely as possible. She had me sign a card stating that the weapon was unloaded. This red card was placed inside the case and I was told to close and lock the case.

I repacked the suitcase with the locked pistol case. The agent escorted me and my luggage to the TSA check area to have the whole package checked in. After a very short wait, the TSA Agent waved us clear and we went on our way.


The whole thing took less than five minutes and was a "piece of cake".

I will not hesitate to travel with my handguns given an opportunity to shoot at my destination. If I have any trouble in the future, I'll be sure to report it here.