Flying with CCW - My recent experience

Flew out of a Northern California airport recently and wanted to share my experience. I flew with Southwest Airlines and overall, their portion of the ordeal wasn't bad.My carry pistol is a Shield 9 with extra magazine. I have a small Pelican hardcase with cutouts for the pistol, extra magazine, 25 round ammunition box. It is padlocked with 2 American locks and a chain loop to my hardcase suitcase. I emptied the magazines and placed all the rounds in the OEM box to play it as safe as possible.I went in and said to the Southwest agent, "I have an unloaded firearm to declared which is in a hard case and locked inside of my suitcase". He went ahead and gave me the slip to fill out my information and informed me that they do not need TSA to check the firearm on the spot (he said this is a recent change) and that he needed a verbal 'yes, the firearm is unloaded'. I told him it was unloaded and he taped the slip onto the Pelican case. I thought it was weird that TSA didn't inspect it at the time because of how I read they are to pull you aside into a separate area to inspect the weapon. I didn't second guess them since it seemed to go smoothly. They said, if any flags are raised, I will get a call over the intercom... which I did.This is where it starts to get interesting. I am already at my gate and hear my name over the intercom and to report to the ticketing counter where I originally checked in my bag. Great. I leave the gate immediately and get to the ticketing counter and was told by a SW agent that TSA needs my key for the Pelican case because it doesn't have a TSA approved lock on it (duh, it's not supposed to. They acted as if it should). The SW agent then walked me to a TSA person who then demanded my key because of the whole non-TSA lock on the firearm. I told them that per TSA regulations, the firearm is not supposed to use a TSA lock and that I cannot give them my key.I brought along with me a copy of TSA's regulation which was printed out a day before flying. I also pasted it below:When traveling, comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international governments.Declare each firearm each time you present it for transport as checked baggage. Ask your airline about limitations or fees that may apply.Firearms must be unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container and transported as checked baggage only. Only the passenger should retain the key or combination to the lock.Firearm parts, including magazines, clips, bolts and firing pins, are prohibited in carry-on baggage, but may be transported in checked baggage.Replica firearms, including firearm replicas that are toys, may be transported in checked baggage only.Rifle scopes are permitted in carry-on and checked baggage.Continuing on with the story. To give you a better sense of where my luggage is, it is somewhere behind security doors and they refuse to bring it out. They keep requesting that I hand the key to them, but this didn't feel comfortable to me. They finally requested that a local law enforcement officer come to the scene. When he arrived, he also told me that the lock should be a TSA lock (gah). I told him the regulations and said I would be more comfortable handing the keys to the LEO to which they said is another option they can work with. He actually said that a LEO is now required to be present when TSA inspects the firearm, and he said this changed recently due to the FLL shooting.The LEO and TSA agent then go back to the secure area and retrieve my Pelican case. They asked again if it was unloaded, to which I said of course. They had me stand back and asked which way the muzzle is currently facing. I told them, that it is currently facing our direction, but they didn't mind since I told them it was unloaded. I still moved aside since I am no where comfortable looking at the wrong end of a gun. Btw, this is all happening in an unsecured location at the ticketing area where any person could see my pistol. Also, at this point, they had 4 TSA agents, 2 LEO, and the original SW agent all standing around.After they verified the contents of the case, and checked to make sure the pistol is unloaded, they put everything back and took it back to the rest of my luggage in the secure area. I was then told to use a TSA lock next time (I won't until regulations say I should). Overall, I felt like a criminal and the whole ordeal took about 30 minutes. I got to the airport a lot earlier than my flight in case something like this were to happen.Has anyone else flown recently after the FLL shooting? Was your experience like mine? I'm glad I was able to get my gun safely on board and didn't miss my flight, but wished it could have gone more smoothly. via /r/CCW http://ift.tt/2kv9WDS