Anything I need to know? Under ten capacity, a Commander and an old Astra.

A buddy drove out last year and brought them with him. He had to leave in a hurry due to a family emergency (luckily he drove a rental) and flew back. He didn't want to hassle with flying with the guns since he only had a carry on for speed. Shipped his stuff but not the guns since that's a no-no.

He flying back in this week and wants to fly home with them in checked baggage. Are there any weird California gun laws that would affect this? He has some sort of California gun license that you guys are supposed to have but I don't know exactly what it is.

I have flown with guns around the country and never had an issue, but not into California. The airlines all have their rules which are simple but we haven't found anything about him flying with them into California.

I'd appreciate any insight you guys may have.

TIA

He's going to get arrested by DOJ agents as he steps off of the plane.  



Kidding.  There's no problem flying them in.  Literally no different than flying into most States.  We don't have gun licenses, BTW, except for most NFA weapons, .50 BMGs, AWs, and for carry.  

I'm not sure what the rules would have been on shipping his guns to himself.  Might have been OK.  I know stuff I send to 'smiths, even out of State, get shipped right back to my home.  I'm not sure you need an FFL to ship to yourself unless you want to use USPS (those without FFLs can't use it to ship handguns).  Obviously it's neither here nor there, at this point.

I've had my guns put on the carousel with the rest of the baggage as well as taken to the place where you claim lost or valuable baggage on different flights.  The latter seems to be more common these days (might actually be what they're supposed to do across the board, and they were just wrong to put my guns on the carousel on those other occasions; I've only had my guns taken to the baggage claim office twice, ever, both the most recent times I've flown with guns).  Whichever it is, he literally just gets his stuff and leaves (airlines require ID for the latter).  Obviously you follow the normal rules for checking firearms.

Thank you @bigstick61

That's kind of what I figured. I thought all guns that were going to be shipped had to go to an FFL. You can ship to them and they can ship back, but no point to point. I figure it's better if they're in his control as much as possible.

Thank you again.

Follow the airline and FAA rules for the flight(s).

Follow each State's laws when you are outside the airports.

I flew in and out of San Francisco a couple of months ago.  No problem with a pistol in my checked bag.  Just make sure he gives himself extra time to check in since he has to wait in line to check in at the counter and not use the kiosks.  He needs to put it Unloaded!, in a locked case and place the locked case in his suitcase.  Ammo in factory boxes. He needs to declare the pistols and ammo at the check in counter.

That's not necessarily the case.  I had to make a last minute flight home a couple of weeks ago on a trip where I had driven out and was going to be driving back, and had pistols, and only had magazines for ammo storage.  Some mags were loaded and put in mag pouches in my suitcase.  Others were loaded and put upside down in vertical slots in the foam of my pistol case.  I luckily had an empty mag in which I put a snap cap and the extra rounds that were being carried in the chamber.  I had no problems with the TSA or the airline.  The more lenient airlines and TSA are mainly concerned about your ammo being or becoming loose.  Not an issue the way I had it.  The previous time I flew, my ammo was on chargers in a cloth bandolier in the rifle case.  Also no problem (although only TSA inspected, and not the airline).

Interestingly, this most recent time, neither the TSA nor the airline opened up or had me open up the case to demonstrate that the pistols were unloaded.  They just took my word for it.  Last time the TSA checked.  Previously, only the airline checked.

I think the china flu made the airline limit counter monkey exposure to your dirty laundry.  Last two flights I was on they didn't check.  I had a key lock on my gun case and TSA didn't check.

They did put a huge zip tie around my soft bag, which could easily be slid off.  Both times I had to get my bag at the bag office. Knowing it is going there, up front, will save you some time, it was probably the first bag off the plane.

Sometimes the bag is just xrayed to see if the gun is loaded/unloaded.  They don’t have to open it.

I did have some ammo in the mags with the mags in cases.  I have heard that some airlines will not let you fly like that so to avoid any hassles I suggested in factory boxes.  I carry a factory box with enough empty space to hold all the ammo in the mags just in case.

Was that Delta?  Delta did that to me last year.  Jet Blue did not and the bags came off with all the other bags.