Gregg Revell met all the requirements and took all the precautions needed to legally own and carry his gun. It wasn’t until a trip from his home State of Utah to Pennsylvania that he realized he wasn’t aware of the technicalities of travelling over state lines with a firearm. His trip started out fine; he properly declared his possession of an unloaded firearm, had it properly locked up and signed the orange firearm declaration tag. Although he was booked on a connecting flight to Allentown, Pennsylvania, his first flight was delayed, which resulted in him missing the plane to Allentown. The airline chose to send the passengers on a bus instead of booking them on the next flight the following day at 8pm, but at the last minute Revell discovered his baggage was not on the bus with him and he felt the need to locate his baggage, specifically his firearm to ensure it was secure.

After he located his bags, he had missed the bus to Allentown so he settled for the flight on the following evening. Innocently, he boarded a shuttle bus to spend the night at a nearby hotel, with his baggage, and returned the next day to take his connecting flight.

As soon as he took possession of his firearm in New Jersey, he was unknowingly breaking the law.

New Jersey doesn’t recognize permits from other states and doesn’t allow for the possession of the hollow-point ammunition the Revell was carrying. Although the charges against Revell were eventually dropped, he incurred an arrest, 4 days in jail and time in court. Not even planning to stop in New Jersey, he hadn’t checked on the details of their gun laws and he had thought that he would be under the FOPA regulations since he was still on his initial trip and had not opened the cases. It can be difficult straightening out the tangled web of rights and laws that span the United States.