Handgun shipping dilemma

[cpoth]

I have searched all over the place and tried to post this in general discussion but did not have access.

I am a Pennsylvania resident.

I am a student in Florida.

I would like to ship a handgun to myself or somehow transport it to my address in Florida.

I am flying back to Florida after a pistol class on Saturday. The UPS customer center will be closed by the time the class ends and I will fly out before it opens again Monday.

I am flying back to FL from Newark (don't ask, fiancé booked flights won't happen again).

How can I legally transport this back to myself?

Thanks for any and all help.

[JW5219]

Get in touch with the airline that you are flying with. Before you do, go to the AR General Discussion forum and read the sticky by Jason Falla- Airline tips for the Tatical Traveller. Plenty of good info there.
Good luck!

[RichDC2]

Try Fedex to yourself or drop it off at a local ffl after class and have him ship it.

[6933]

Fly with it.

[ST911]

Fly with it. Recommend that you review the dozen or so threads on flying with firearms for best practices in doing so.

[crh428]

You can fly with it or you can ship it to yourself. Shipping to yourself involves no change in ownership and therefore does not require an FFL.

I would fly with it, personally. A $25 checked baggage fee is cheaper than UPS/FEDEX overnight.

[Urban_Redneck]

As it sounds as if you are running a tight schedule, I would find a way to ship it or see if you can borrow a gun for the class.

New Jersey prohibits the manufacture, transport, shipment, sale, or disposal of any large capacity ammunition magazine, unless the magazine is intended to be used for authorized military or law enforcement purposes. N.J. Rev. Stat § 2C:39-9h. New Jersey law defines "large capacity ammunition magazine" as a box, drum, tube or other container which is capable of holding more than 15 rounds of ammunition to be fed continuously and directly into a semi-automatic firearm. Section 2C:39-1y.

The Peoples Republic of NJ is not America.

YMMV

[crh428]

I missed the part about Newark when I first read and replied to your post.

Ship the gun to yourself. You don't need the help of an FFL to do this.

Don't go into NJ with a gun.

[cpoth]

Thanks guys I'll report what I decide to do and let you know how it goes.

[Hdog83]

If you do decide to fly with the handgun from Newark, I would STRONGLY recommend that you ship the magazines to yourself...they don't have to go express/air (they can even go USPS), and you therefore don't need to send them through a customer center....

As to whether or not to fly with it, can you "lawfully possess AND carry" [emphasis mine] the handgun at both your origin and destination, per the actual language in the FOPA statute? I'm not a NJ expert, but across the river(s) at LGA and JFK airports in NY, FOPA has in the past been (intentionally) misinterpreted narrowly, such that the "origin" of your journey would not be counted as PA, but rather as your visit to the ticket counter in NY...which equals criminal possession of a weapon under NY Penal Law. Be very, very careful here....

[Don Robison]

Either fly with it or check with where you are taking the class to see if gun rental is available. I occasionally have had a few students from NYC come down for classes that didn't want to fly with guns so I rented them guns for the class. It makes their life easy and I don't mind doing it.

[Ed L.]

I would not fly with it out of Newark.

Google Gregg Revell arrest.

This was a famous case of someone was arrested trying to fly out of Newark with a handgun: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/18/traveling-mans-gun-arrest-appealed-supreme-court/

[djegators]

Did you talk to whoever is running your pistol class? Perhaps they can help.

[cpoth]

will update shortly

[arbninftry]

Highly recommend you look at these websites. NJ gun laws, I would not take a handgun in to NJ without looking at their laws first.

http://www.handgunlaw.us/states/newjersey.pdf

and

http://www.njsp.org/info/pdf/firearms/njac-title13-ch54.pdf

then google Gregg Revell as ED L. posted. It will make you want to avoid NJ like a STD.

[John Fritz]

Please do not take a handgun into New Jersey with you. Just FedEx it to yourself. If something happens while you're in Jersey it will become an incredible mess quite quickly. Do not think for one minute that anyone who challenges you about your pistol will exercise any common sense or fair treatment towards you.

[arbninftry]

..... it will become an incredible mess quite quickly. Do not think for one minute that anyone who challenges you about your pistol will exercise any common sense or fair treatment towards you.

Very well Said! JUST DONT DO IT

[Ed L.]

Not to bag on NJ, it's a lovely state and I have a lot of friends there.

However the gun laws seem to have the worst combination of restrictiveness and confusion.

The way that the laws are written, unless you have a very hard to get state carry permit, you can only transport guns to and from your residence and a shooting range, hunting field, gunstore, gunsmith, gunshow, etc.

There is no provision for bringing the gun to the airport, as it is not one of the recognized places you can transport a gun to or from. If you have a NJ firearm's owner ID, or whatever the official name of it is, you can probably get away with it.

If you don't have a NJ firearm ID or are not from NJ, you are playing Russian Roulette if you check it into the airport, depending on the individual interpretation of the Port Authority Officers who are on duty at the time.

[cpoth]

Thanks for the replies. I ended up shipping it UPS to myself. If anyone is interested in how the process went, they would not let me ship it complete even being unloaded and with no accompanying ammo. I had to remove the slide (what the attendent called the barrel), place that in a separate box and ship the frame and slide separately. I happened to have another G17 barrel so that needed to go with the slide assembly.

Ultimately it worked out and I received it here in FL. The whole process seems to be in line with UPS policy.

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/ship/packaging/guidelines/firearms.html

Thanks for the replies and advice, if anyone has questions about how it went please feel free to contact me.

[Urban_Redneck]

Glad to hear it all worked out. How was the class?

Jim

[duece71]

Glad to hear it worked out. I was going to say the same as everyone else, do not take a handgun to NJ (or NY for that matter). I overheard a conversation in a LGS about a woman who decided to fly with her checked handgun FROM Nyc back to Ohio. (She drove a car to NYC to drop it off for a relative and decided to carry while traveling). When she went to check her bags and mention the firearm in the checked luggage, the ticket agent called the cops on her. This woman was behind bars for 2 days in NY and got her high end 1911 confiscated by the cops. She had a headache of a legal mess to deal with as well. Probably her fault for not doing any research.

[cpoth]

Jim,

Thanks, the class was a great experience, got to put a lot of rounds through my new G17. I learned a lot, I posted a thread describing it briefly.

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=105362

Duece,

Thanks, I am always really cautious in dealing with any of the states nearby being from eastern PA. It's kind of like sitting on the airplane between a couple loud, obnoxious, whiny, farting, drooling assholes w/ NJ and NY and their interpretation of "shall not be infringed":rolleyes:

-Chris