Going to move my son to the LA area in July and fly back home. Was planning on driving across the country with a pistol (unloaded in a locked case in CA) but worried that I would be arrested at LAX with it in my checked luggage similar to the Boston, MA incident I read about. Any advice besides not going to CA?

The obvious question is, what good is an unloaded pistol in a locked case in your trunk going to do for you? If you carrying it for protection at night in motels, why not solve the problem and carry a Cal legal short barreled rifle, such as a 336 in .30-30 or an 1895 in .45-70. I'd rather have either one on them if I was defending in almost all cases. Then you can either leave the rifle with your son, or bring it home as checked baggage with no legal concerns.

You misunderstood - I can assure you my pistol will be locked and loaded and on my person cross country at all times. According to the CA DOJ, when I cross the state line into Commiefornia (like Illinois) it must be unloaded in the trunk. As I have no lever actions - only assault rifles, that is not a possibility.
I just don't want to be accused of having contraband when I check it at LAX.

Got it. My OPINION, which is just short of a wild ass guess in this case, is that it MIGHT create problems. I'd call the Cal. Anti-firearm (whatever it's called) Div. of state gov. and ask. If you're not willing to do that, I'd just go without. I mean, driving an interstate from Ar to Ca is not exactly like standing on a street corner in Detroit. No, it's not 100% safe, but your chances of dying in a car wreck are significantly higher than your chances of needing that pistol IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by just say moe:
Going to move my son to the LA area in July and fly back home. Was planning on driving across the country with a pistol (unloaded in a locked case in CA) but worried that I would be arrested at LAX with it in my checked luggage similar to the Boston, MA incident I read about. Any advice besides not going to CA?

Here are your two options to not have problems at LAX:
1st) make arrangements beforehand to have your handgun shipped from an FFL in California back to an FFL in your hometown. Or,
2nd) have your son drive you to Las Vegas for your flight home.

I am not 100% sure on this so I would call the ATF and confirm but I believe you can legally ship the the gun to yourself before leaving. If CA itself has law against that you could ship from NV.

I believe 460 is correct. Go to www.atf.gov then use the search function. Type in "shipping firearms". It says you can ship out of state to yourself in care of another person, so the converse should be true.

Since it is a handgun, the USPS won't take it. You will need to send it via Fed Ex. I don't think you have to tell Fed Ex its a handgun. You should probably print off the ATF regs before going to Fed EX in case you get an anti gunner.

Good Luck.

No mags that hold more than 10 rds in Ca.
Put in a locked box.
Check it in at ticket counter.
Or ask them on calguns.com