Airport Swab Questions

[Mother Gothel]

Question Preface: My question is LEGIT! PLEASE PLEASE do not turn this into something political or off-topic. I am looking for a legit answer for travel purposes only. I do not care about people's personal views. We are all entitled to our OPINIONS; it doesn't mean we are all right/wrong.


My family travels quite often to go to Disney or other vacation spots. Without fail, one of us get pulled on each leg of our flight by security to have our hands checked for explosive detection.

My family has taken up an interest in target practice. We have a SA rifle, 22 and 12-gauge shotgun as well as a 9mm, 40 and 45. My reason for naming those is so that you know what kind of ammo we touch.

My question is, will using ammo cause issues with TSA and them THINKING (falsely) that we have touched and made explosives even though it was target practice or hunting.

 

[Disnydad]

Yep.

 

[Mother Gothel]

Yep.

So does this mean we cannot fly anymore unless we want to be subjected to cavity searches and labeled as terrorists?

Again, I am being legit in my asking. I am not trying to incite any arguments or opinions about TSA or gun use....just wondering how this should/could be handled.
I am concerned about how my kids may feel about the situation.

 

[bumbershoot]

It's an interesting question. I did some googling, and while discussions on various boards and the TSA blog were a bit hyper back in 2010, the most recent things I saw seem to say that yes you might test positive but them you explain and it will be ok. I would jut make sure you have a little extra time, just in case.

I have relatives who have recently taken up target shooting and one travels a lot, and they haven't complained about not being able to fly because of it.

 

[Mother Gothel]

It's an interesting question. I did some googling, and while discussions on various boards and the TSA blog were a bit hyper back in 2010, the most recent things I saw seem to say that yes you might test positive but them you explain and it will be ok. I would jut make sure you have a little extra time, just in case.

I have relatives who have recently taken up target shooting and one travels a lot, and they haven't complained about not being able to fly because of it.

That is good to know. I did find some articles and message boards about it and the responses were split as to how the tests were affected and how TSA handled it. They were a few years old, though. I know technology and processes change quite often.

 

[Disnydad]

So does this mean we cannot fly anymore unless we want to be subjected to cavity searches and labeled as terrorists?

Again, I am being legit in my asking. I am not trying to incite any arguments or opinions about TSA or gun use....just wondering how this should/could be handled.
I am concerned about how my kids may feel about the situation.

If you test positive they'll look inside your bags and may do pat downs or more. Depends.

 

[bumbershoot]

I am concerned about how my kids may feel about the situation.

Well, I imagine this will result in you having serious talks with your kids. I don't know if they shoot, too, but since you are engaging in an activity that does result in such material being on your skin, clothing, and maybe even bags (one of the posts I saw was about a son wanting to use his dad's gun bag as his carryon), that CAN have repercussions. If the kids are shooting, too, maybe this will go into their "should I continue this activity or not" decision-making processes. Or it's just something you need to talk to them about about your OWN decision-making process.

I'm sure there are umpteen-gazillion Americans who take part in shooting AND who fly (not at the same time, of course, yikes), and I've never heard that people who own guns aren't allowed to fly, or are filling up the jails for suspected terrorism.

It's just like everything else with flying. Stay calm, give yourself plenty of time, and once the bag is in their hands don't try to touch it. They really don't like that. (I have an mp3 player that doesn't look like an ipod, and it has given a few TSA people absolute fits...the first time, I tried to reach into the bag to pull it out to show it to them, and I found out quickly that that's not a good move, LOL. Just use words, stay calm.)

As you may have found out while googling, there are many, MANY things that can cause a positive swab test, and TSA is fully aware of it. There are MANY explanations for a positive result.

 

[HubbDave]

My brother in law owns a gun shop and is an avid shooter. Flys all the time. No big deal

 

[MET270]

As long as you aren't wearing the same clothes that you were shooting in and you have showered/washed your hands and such, you shouldn't have any problems. I would strongly recommend keeping your range bag separate from any luggage though.

 

[CPT Tripss]

If you have residue on you, you will get, at the least the full body search. It is more "personal" than a pat down by a law enforcement officer. Sometimes the Airport Security Screener will swab his/her gloves after the rub down . . . because you don't know what they have handled with their gloves, it's advisable to ask them to put new gloves clean from the box before they rub your body through you clothes.

 

[Lewisc]

So does this mean we cannot fly anymore unless we want to be subjected to cavity searches and labeled as terrorists?

Again, I am being legit in my asking. I am not trying to incite any arguments or opinions about TSA or gun use....just wondering how this should/could be handled.
I am concerned about how my kids may feel about the situation.

Posters gave you good, common sense, advice. Change your clothing. Wash. Don't use your gun/ammo bag as your carryon bag.

You're not trying to incite arguments or opinions about TSA? Why the comment about being labeled a terrorist? Cavity search? In what world aren't those comments intended to incite arguments? Neither comment is accurate.

You may get selected for additional screening. A pat down. Maybe an "enhanced" pat down. A PP called it a "personal" pat down. Even he doesn't categorize it as a cavity search.

Plenty of people are selected for additional screening for a variety of reasons. They are not called terrorists.

 

[goofy4tink]

And we're done guys!