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Though state and local regulations may permit you to carry a firearm, many airlines have strict rules about carrying a gun in your checked bags (and some airlines do not permit at all). Therefore, you should always check with your navel agent or the airline for its rules. Firearms carried in checked bags must be unloaded, packed in a locked, hard-sided gun case and declared to the airline which you check in. You may also pack small-arm ammunition in the same gun case (as long as it is not loaded in the gun) or in a fiber wood, or metal box designed to carry bullets. Guns and ammunition are not permitted in your carry-on bags.

If you are packing sharp items in your checked bags, such as hunting knives or arrows, they must be properly wrapped and sheathed no avoid injuring TSA screeners inspecting your luggage. Federal rules also prohibit many hazardous items such as explosives, fireworks, guns, fuel, and dangerous chemicals in your checked luggage. Though it surprises many average travelers, it is not uncommon for off-duty police officers and private detectives who carry handguns each workday to forget that they have left a spare sidearm gun in their briefcase or suitcase. Also, some heavy smokers who use old-fashioned Zippo-style lighters may have a spare can of lighter fluid in their shaving kit. Families with children traveling over holiday periods may have packed bottle rockets purchased at home in order to save money when they arrive at their destination.

Before the security upgrades resulting from the September 11 attacks, airport guards would typically confiscate the hazardous item or allow the traveler to take it back to his or her car for storage. These days, however, the discovery of guns, fuel, and other hazards in luggage at an airport checkpoint will almost surely result in major delays, an extremely thorough personal search of the traveler involved, and even arrest and the filing of criminal charges. Federal security agents at airports have no lee-my to overlook the traveler’s honest mistake or allow the per-son to take the contraband back to his or her car.

If you deal with hazardous items around your home or at your workplace, it will pay to do a quick double-check inspection of your lug-gage, purse, briefcase, coat or clothing pockets, and any other places in which these items might be mistakenly stored. On both domestic and flights, your carry-on bags are also protected under the liability if they are damaged, lost, or stolen ($2,5 per passenger on domestic trips, $9.07 per pound for international flights). For example, if you discover upon landing that someone has stolen your cell phone or laptop computer from your bag in the overhead bin, you can submit your claim at the airport to recover your loss. Be prepared to submit receipts or other forms of proof documenting the value of these items.

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