Odd occurrence while flying out of Atlanta. I declare my pistol and take it over to the TSA guy for my bag to be screened. There is a guy in front of me in line on his knees digging through his bag, and he politely tells me I can go around him. I give the pistol case to the TSA guy who puts it on the counter and then continues to check another bag. The guy behind me then stands up and says "hey, I am out of locks and cannot ship this gun, you want it? I hate to throw it away" (He was a custom knifemaker with multipe guns and cases and apparently hadn't done the math on how many cases he would need) He hands me a small soft-side case and inside it is a sweet little over/under derringer. I didn't confirm the make as I didn't want to attract attention, but it looked like a Davis or something similar in 45 ACP (could have been .357, definitely that size or bigger) I had to make a split second decison here, but as he was declaring other weapons, I figured he was a good citizen, and I of course wanted that gun. I said "sure", whereupon the TSA guy said "no, you can't do that, go tell your airline the situation." The guy said "Can't I just give it to him, what do you care?" The guy said "no, go tell the airline." (I must say that this TSA guy just oozed irritation with his job. He was stoic, never smiled, and was basically an unpleasant guy the entire time I interacted with him) I looked at the knifemaker and said "hey, I'm sorry bud, but you know how it is, don't screw with the government, they'll just squash you." He took his gun back and walked away towards his airline.
I have no idea what the legality of that exchange would have been, but I thought it was an odd occurrence I would share with the group. Would have loved to score that free gun though....
I have no idea what the legality of that exchange would have been, but I thought it was an odd occurrence I would share with the group. Would have loved to score that free gun though....