airsoft guns on airplane?

USNFilms

USNFilms

hey guys, as most of you may know, I do a lot of filming with airsoft gun props. Well, in two weeks I'm going on vacation down to the outer banks, NC. I've been there last year and there are a lot of places to film awesome movies so I'm planning on doing one at an old fort there, and I want to bring some airsoft guns on the plane.

I did some research regarding bringing airsoft guns on the plane, but I couldn't find any official documents (ex: from TSA) regarding bringing "airsoft guns" on the plane. all the documents I found (Like this one) were only for firearms, and airsoft guns are not regarded as firearms.

Does anyone have any experience in this matter? Would it be ok for me simply to put some airsoft guns in a suitcase and then have that be Checked Baggage (baggage that I won't have access to during the flight)?

My dad is a fedex pilot who used to fly for delta, and he doesn't know the answer for this either. I'll probably just end up calling... but i hate calling people so if u guys have advice please share
 
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I'd declare it at the ticket counter like you would a firearm. It's legal to travel with an actual gun, it's gotta be ok for a bb gun.

If you don't declare it and you get one of the "random" bag checks that seems to happen to EVERY bag they may see it and throw some flags, not realizing it's a plastic replica. This is especially true if it's a metal gun or you blacked out the orange tip (which is common for movies). The metal gun shows up on xrays, the lack of an orange tip makes it more of a real gun.

Again, never taken one but this is what I would do. And like you said, checked not carry on. Though if you did try carry on we'd all get to see you on the news ;).
 
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Check with the TSA and the airline. You will have to call them, so call the airline first and call the TSA as a last resort if the airline has no answers.

Bring them as checked baggage and declare what they are, you might go one further and bring them in sealed original packaging if possible.

And make sure that ALL of the "This is a Toy" markings like orange tips or wildly colored/transparent plastics are intact. I would heavily advise AGAINST bringing them pre-modified for your shoot. The TSA does not have a track record of hiring the best and the brightest; in the face of a realistic looking weapon, cries of "But it's a toy" are likely to fall on deaf ears.

It is also possible that by virtue of being high fps air rifles, they might be considered firearms in an airplane despite the plastic projectile.

But don't do anything without finding out exactly what the rules are and following them to a T.










edit:

WOOT! 1K'th post! :P
 
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A friend of ours travels with his airsoft gun regularly. Your best bet is to get a locking gun case (he uses a Pelican case, but that might be out of your budget) and check it with regular baggage. He's got a PTW, so it's about as realistic as you can get. You might consider putting a note inside the case that states that it's an airsoft gun, not a real gun, but it doesn't really matter as long as it's in a checked bag.

ETA: I think he puts the orange tip back on it for traveling, and then takes it off when he gets where he's going.

As an aside, I've heard that any time you're checking something valuable, put it in a gun case. Airlines are very, very careful to keep track of gun cases, even if they don't have guns in them. So video equipment, etc., gets taken care of a lot better if it's in a gun case.
 
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