Originally Posted by
The Chow
Besides, does the ticket counter have the ability to do a background check for those who are declaring their firearms?
Nope the ticket counter doesn't. For anyone who has never checked a firearm it is relatively a non-event. You go to the counter say, I need to declare a firearm. They give you a little tag that you sign and put in the case you then lock it. One time, Terminal 3 PHX, they sent me over to one of those bag xray machines for checked luggage. I was told to wait until it went through. The bag went through 3 times and never set off any "bells and whistles." They then asked me to open the case it was in to verify it was unloaded. Normally it just gets sent down the belt. The key is that it has to be in a locked case and you have to have the combination or key with you.