Fly with gun, be a pariah.

[ForeverPA]

Never seen zip ties that long. Besides, what are they gonna do? Eventually they have to let you open the bag. They can follow you home I suppose.

[gghbi]

They're not even particularly strong zip ties. I ripped them off with a swift tug.

In other words, pointless and will save no lives. Merely an illusion to appease sheep.

Doesn't that describe most of TSA security?

[Justin///M]

Doesn't that describe most of TSA security?

Hahaha, excellent point.

[Nate7667]

That's crazy. Been a few years for me flying with guns, prob 3. I've never had that kind of treatment. Rifles, shotguns, machine guns, cans, cans attached to guns. All in hard lockable gun cases so you gave a pretty good idea what's in it.

Heck Baton Rouge didn't even have a separate counter like Pitt. Lady at the baggage check asked me to open the case right at the counter before i locked it to insert the Declared Firearm card, gave me a wow with a smile at the pig rig and asked me to lock it up and I was my way.

Rapid City SD did run multiple swabs tests around my prarie dog rifle for some reason. That's about the worst I can come up with.

[forby]

Zip ties come in surprising long lengths. They are typically very heavy duty and don't rip open with your bare hands.

After 911, I flew with my family in November. I carried two of those big ones partially zipped into a big loop with about six inches passed thru the lock end. It was my anti-terrorist weapon. I figured I would get it over a hijackers head and just pull the handle and walk away to the next threat. It won't come off and you can "set it and forget it".

[Berncly]

Up until that idiot got his gun out of checked baggage and shot someone, I never had an issue flying with a gun..., not even a smarmy attitude from the airline check in folks.
Now they treat you like a criminal. When I checked in the other day at Pittsburgh Airport, the counter gal got a bit shitty about it when I declared that I was checking a firearm. She says, loudly and with a smarmy attitude, "You're going to have to open that up and prove it's unloaded! We're going to zip tie your bag shut and when you get to phoenix, you'll have to go to our office there to get your back and you may be escorted out by police!" This drew the attention of the big crowd around me.
Thankfully, the TSA agent was still pretty chill.
I got to Phoenix and sure enough, I had to go to their office and just outside, 2 police officers we standing. Other than some long eye contact from one, they didn't interact with me at all, so kudos to them. Here's how the bag was delivered;
I highly doubt that the unaware general public would notice anything strange with the bag, but to the observant, the black zip ties plus the DO NOT PLACE ON CAROUSEL tags would draw attention to the fact that this bag had something special in it. Before, it was innocuous and no one would be the wiser. Now, they treat you like a leper.
When checking in at Phoenix, now they escort you to a little room away from everyone, creating a scene as you're led away from the baggage counter.

I don't disagree with the premise of your post, obviously there are all kinds of problematic issues with what you described.
But look at it from her perspective.

She's scared.
All she knows is a guy shot up an airport after pulling his firearm from luggage, and the procedure she was instructed to follow after the event.
The loud voice was probably a combination of fear, and letting her coworkers and security know that she is dealing with a firearm.

The zip-ties and police on standby, are to give them a clear point of engagement if things go sideways.
They were instructed to prevent unauthorized access to the case (no carousel), and to detain anyone who removes the zip-ties before leaving the airport.

Is it a knee jerk reaction?
Sure, but all things being equal, it is probably less onerous than some other possibilities.
And as for marking your bag and the risk of theft, individual property protection always loses out to (misguided) protection of the masses.

I do not think it is beyond the realm of possibility to eventually restrict transportation of ammunition with a firearm in airline luggage.
Or even to restrict transportation of a firearm in airline luggage entirely, and to mandate all transportation via FFL shipping.

I do not agree with the procedure you experienced, or with any of the possible methodologies I listed.
Nor do I think they will make anyone safer.
But given the cultivated climate of fear with regard to firearms, and the inevitability of future Islamist terrorist attacks, more ineffective restrictive procedures would not surprise me.

[FJW]

Alot of it is just posturing to make libs think that they agree with their anti gun sentiment...becaucse one angry liberal with a voice in the media can ruin your business.

[God's Country]

Yeah screw flying. Unless some emergency crept up, I don't see myself ever flying anywhere again.

[ExFlyinguy]

Yeah screw flying. Unless some emergency crept up, I don't see myself ever flying anywhere again.

That makes 2 of us

[ROCK-IT3]

I recently flew from Allentown to Fort Lauderdale (the very airport where the shooting incident took place). The only issue I had was on the return flight from FLL, the woman at the check-in counter charged me for the bag being 18 pounds overweight. Other than that, there was nothing different from any other time I have flown with a firearm.