Changes To Shipping Your Firearm To/From Gunsite
Shipping companies have now succumbed to the political correctness and pressure from the Democrats as to gun control. Since Congress is following the will of the constituents and will not pass gun control legislation, they are attempting to negatively influence the shooting industry in other ways. UPS and FedEx no longer follow the ATF regulation allowing a person to ship their legally owned firearm to themselves. The two major shippers now require you to take your firearm to an FFL, pay them to enter it in their bound book and ship it overnight or 2nd day air to another FFL. You must then pay the receiving FFL for access to your lawfully owned firearm. If you are forced to ship your firearm to yourself at Gunsite (or another state FFL other than your residence), Gunsite can only allow you to have your lawfully owned firearm while on Gunsite property. That is, you are now considered an out-of-state resident, and we cannot transfer (4473) your gun to you. You may possess your lawfully owned firearm on our property, but you must return it to our Pro Shop at end of training day to follow Federal regulation regardless of the reciprocity of firearm carry laws. We will store it for you overnight and you can retrieve it every morning before training starts.
USPS will only allow you to ship a rifle or shotgun.
Apparently, UPS and FedEx are assuming responsibility for your safety since their internal regulations are requiring this change and disallowing you to possess your legally owned and carried pistol. The UPS letter tries to make it sound as if they are complying with Federal Regulations. This is not true as is not a Federal Regulation.
This change in their internal rules now costs you (the customer) more money for shipping and handling to and from and prohibits you from possession of your legally owned pistol and ability to legally carry it in that jurisdiction.
They also now require us to ship guns in one account, firearms accessories in another separate account (Defined by them as anything other than optics) and other merchandise in a third account. Again, this costs us more time and trouble, and this gets passed on to the consumer. Think about it: You purchase a nice set of stocks for your pistol and a Gunsite shirt. They must either be shipped separately, or the shirt shipped in the firearms accessory account.
How To Fly With Your Firearm
Flying with a firearm is not that challenging and won’t cost you the excessive overnight or 2nd day air fees from the shippers. Simply put your unloaded firearms and unloaded magazines in a locked hard case inside your locked luggage. Declare the firearm at the counter. They will ask to see the gun and verify with you it is unloaded. A tag is put inside your suitcase noting same. The case and the suitcase are then relocked. (I do not recommend TSA locks on the gun case.) Dependent upon the airport, the suitcase and you will go to TSA. They will open the suitcase and may ask to open the gun case. (They do not have to have you present during the search.) Once it is found to be acceptable, the suitcase goes to the airline baggage handlers. The suitcase will usually arrive in the baggage office (Not the carousel) at your final destination. I go an extra step and drill a hole in the side of my locking gun case and run a cable through it and padlock the gun(s) to the cable and the other end of the cable padlocked to a strut in the suitcase. It just makes it more secure. Friends also have put GPS trackers (Apple device) in their gun case as an additional safety measure. Unless your suitcase exceeds 50#, there is not an extra fee, just some extra time. (Please verify with the TSA and the respective Airline website for current rules.)
We continue to fight this with the shippers and wish we could find another, but USP and FedEx are the big dogs on the block. UPS and FedEx and your members of Congress need to hear from you, the customer, as to your displeasure to their succumbing to pressures that ask them to require more than what Federal Regulations require.
We hope this explanation helps you understand the draconian changes that have been forced upon Gunsite, the shooting industry and the honest, American consumer. For information on the changes from USPS, visit 432 Mailability | Postal Explorer (usps.com)
With Respect,
Ken Campbell
Sheriff Ken Campbell (Ret.)
Chief Executive Officer
Gunsite Academy, Inc.
