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Comment by jeff_marshall | Hacker News Reader

Be careful with this advice - If the TSA considers an item a firearm, local law enforcement may as well. If you are traveling to a place where firearms are restricted, you could end up facing penalties for possesion that don't discrimenate between "starter pistol" and "real pistol"

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Yeah, I seem to recall a few stories of people getting in trouble traveling through states where this is an issue(I think the state in question was New York) via a connecting flight.

It happens in New Jersey too. What typically happens is there is an unexpected layover (say, due to weather), so the victims take possession of their luggage (with firearm) without malicious intent when they go to a hotel, and get arrested the following morning when checking in. In that situation, the proper (only?) course of action is to refuse to take possession of your checked luggage.

While traveling through a state, one is supposed to be protected by FOPA [0]. An uncharitable (technically correct but against the spirit) reading of the law is used by New Jersey and New York to harass gun owners, as in this case and in other more egregious cases.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_Owners_Protection_Act

Is a gun that has been permanently made inoperatible considered a firearm in NJ and NY? Could you travel with something that looked like a gun by X-ray, but in fact was harmless?

I can't speak to the ultimate legality of your idea, but I would guess that one would be arrested and it would be up to your lawyer to demonstrate that you were acting within the bounds of the law (if you were).

To your first question, I think it's fair to say that both NJ and NYC (and because of NYC, NY to a lesser extent) are generally perceived as being hostile towards firearms and general weapons ownership. If I were to predict states that restricted possession of an inoperable or antique firearm, NJ and NY would be at the top of my list, in that order.

To your second question, the appearance of the object has no bearing on it's legal status as a firearm (laws prohibiting look-alike objects notwithstanding). A pistol frame or lower receiver, incapable of being anything but a paperweight without all the other parts, is a firearm for legal purposes and would get one busted in the same manner as if it were a completely operational firearm.

Weapons laws are nuanced, pedantic, and frustrating. Frequently, they make no rational sense.

The cop is going to err on the side of public safety and arrest you. And let someone else sort out whether it was a real gun or not.

Traveling with unloaded firearms through states is federally protected.

A few years ago, Greg Revell had a layover in New Jersey and bad weather caused his flight to be delayed. He stayed in a hotel, and New Jersey wound up arresting him and confiscating his firearm which was illegal in the state.

He argued that he was still traveling; New Jersey said he wasn't. He took it to court and won.

tl;dr Traveling through a state with a firearm is legal, but law enforcement can (apparently) still harress you even if you are obeying the law.

Legal in principle, yes. And yet, this person got arrested and harassed, and had to go to court to prove his point, where he was at non-zero risk of being convicted and sent to prison depending upon a reading of the law. Needless to say, his day, and his trip, were ruined.

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