Long story short, I am flying from one free state (South Dakota) to another (Alabama). My flight was cancelled and then re-routed through Washington DC.
I have a weapon prohibited in DC but completely legal in the origin and destination - what do I do if I am stuck in DC and have to take possession of my checked bag?
In this case, I only have a butterfly knife, but it could just as well be a pistol.
Andy
Through actual DC, not IAD in Virginia?
Don’t take possession of your bag, make them keep it I think is the general answer.
If you have to get the bag make sure you stay at a hotel in a ‘free’ area, not behind enemy lines.
If it is for a knife, that you don’t have to declare when checking back in?
Loose lips sink ships. It’s nobody’s business what’s in your bag and a knife isn’t a declared item in checked luggage anyway. Take possession of your bag and if you have to overnight, take it to your hotel. Return to the airport the same way.
I fly with pocket knives, multi tools, and other crap in my checked bag and have never had an issue in the US. No matter if I’m at JFK, LAX, DC, anywhere.
If you take possession of your luggage, you will be in possession of a prohibited weapon and thus subject to whatever consequences DC’s laws lay out for such an offence. My guess is you’d probably be charged and jailed if you’re caught with it.
They don’t care that Southwest or whoever stuck you there or that what you have is legal where you came from or where you are going.
If you get cuffed and stuffed for a checked in knife, that’s a pretty good clue that they are watching you for something else…
I don’t know…I can think of lots of scenarios whereby you could have contact with LE and be searched without them already “watching you”.
IMO, contact with LE is the biggest risk to personal safety that a person faces on a day to day basis. In fact, I don’t travel with weapons anymore because having one is more likely to get me shot by the police than save me from a “criminal.”
So, if it were me, and I got stuck in DC with a prohibited weapon in my luggage, I would just not take possession of the bag. The airline can hang on to that shit and just forward it to my destination.
Nobody, and no airline, is paying attention to knives in checked bags. You’re good.
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Except to steal them….
The worry free option would be to just ship the knife insured to AL. Well, mostly worry free.
I think this is the best option. For what its worth, I was re-routed thru DC and they actually held the plane until we all got there from a connecting flight.
I would not worry about a knife, but after the Jan 6 protesters were held for months without a trial, DC is a 3rd world country in my mind.
I don’t normally fly in CONUS except for work, but my Mom is not well.
Andy
DC doesn’t have an airport. It’s either Dulles (IAD) located in Dulles VA, Regan (DCA) Located in Arlington VA, or Baltimore Washington (BWI) located outside of Baltimore.
So to answer your question you don’t have a problem.
Very bad idea…
Ass’n of NJ Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Inc. v.Port Auth. of NY & NJ , No. 12-3621 (3d Cir. 2013)
FOPA does not cover OP’s situation. Someone had something like that happen. They were flying from one location to another that was legal and the flight was diverted to a no-go location. Person landed, took possession of of their luggage (including the firearm), went to the hotel, returned the following morning to check in the firearm in the checked baggage, and was arrested.
Courts ruled that since the person took possession of their luggage and went to a hotel room. They weren’t covered under “Safe passage” provision since the traveler is not just passing through (short stops for food and gasoline).
To be covered under FOPA, it must be provided that the individual is not otherwise prohibited from possession of a firearm, the firearms and ammunition are not readily accessible, that the firearms are unloaded and, in the case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the driver’s compartment, the firearms are located in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console.
Taking possession of luggage containing a firearm and taking it to a hotel room while awaiting for the flight is a no-go under the courts. Especially since FOPA is not an ordinary defense, it is an affirmative defense.
An ordinary defense is something that the prosecution must disprove. For instance, self-defense. If defendant is claiming self-defense, the prosecution must prove that the defendant acted without justification. An affirmative defense is something that the defense must prove by a fair preponderance of the credible evidence.
When someone is arrested for illegal possession of a firearm while traveling through the no-go state. They have to provide the evidence to mount an affirmative defense that they are covered by FOPA. The state must not disprove that the person is not covered by FOPA.
Carry a SASE in your carry-on with enough postage on it to mail home anything forgotten or questionable in your possession. Keeps you from having to surrender to TSA, or in the circumstance OP describes you can just mail it home.
That said, I’d not worry about a knife in checked luggage.
You have declared that you have a firearm when you check your bag, so they know it ‘is’. Say due to a reroute you end up in Chicago. Do you tell them that your baggage has a firearm and that you will not be taking possession of the bag, they are to hold it. Or do you just not tell them when you land in Chicago?
Getting a hotel and having the receipt for the night in Indiana or Wisconsin and coming back with a receipt for the next day would constitute interstate travel. Not that it would stop you from being arrested, but it SHOULD take care of the liability.
Now with Illinois AWB, it gets even more likely that someone will not like your cargo.
Was checking a handgun once and the TSA lady says “Is the gun unloaded?”. I had checked it 5 times, but that makes you pucker- because she said “Because if it is, I’m arresting you and throwing you in jail”.
I’ve flown a lot of times with a lot of guns. Inside Conus I’ve had baggage handlers just hand me my gun case without a clue, no ID, no bagage tag, just “here you go”.
My experiance is that they don’t really care too much.
I stood in line watching some poor sucker in Colorado get his golf clubs get swabbed individually (they will show positive for explosives) while I walk through with a Hard case with an M1A in it.
When I was actively doing this quite often, honestly, never a problem.
It’s not a gun. It’s a butterfly knife. It’s not a declared item at any airport CONUS.
Wheels down, grab your bag, head to the hotel and don’t share info that isn’t anyone’s business. It isn’t Saturday night Mass and confession. Next morning - wake up, head back to the airport, check your bag and fly home.
Don’t get caught up in the paranoia in this thread.
It’s all smooth and easy until that one time that it isn’t.
I wouldn’t want to end up in a DC/Chicago/San Franshithole/Generic Democrat Hellscape City jail because I got pulled over for a traffic violation on the way to the hotel, but you do you.
Chamber flag and/or a zip tie is your friend while flying.