Oy.
Engineer: "One TSA Rulebook" - Uh, sorta. You'd be surprised. Yes, the TSA strives to do things the same way everywhere, but there is a lot of the overall operation that is left to the airlines and local airport management. Consequently there are variations.
ISCS: double Oy. FOPA??? Wha??? As for the "soft-side" vs. "hard-side" debate, there isn't an issue. No one requires hard-sided luggage for firearms. No one. Yes, you are indeed taking a chance simply tossing your locked plastic or metal box in the ol' suitcase loose. I bought one of those little gun safe boxes that came with a cable. I loop it around the metal frame for the telescoping handle inside the bag so it won't go anywhere. (As a former airport cop, I can also tell you that theft from bags is very much opportunity-based. Making a theft more difficult is more than enough to deter a thief.) At any rate, nothing in the rules precludes soft-side luggage. A "locked container" is just that: a box, metal or plastic, that is lockable either with a built-in lock or a padlock, meant for the storage of a firearm. Frankly, I don't know how you got away with that whole hard-sided suitcase thing, but anything's possible.
rob 5819: The rules don't get that much into the nitty-gritty. A lock is a lock. Now, I've never personally seen a TSA lock used on a gun case. Those locks tend to be very small and there are folks who can break one off bare-handed. So I'd never use one and I expect most gun owners would agree. But they don't "usually" get into a person's choice of lock, so I guess if one of those cheap things is what you want...
I don't want to get into too many specifics, but I think it's common knowledge that every airport is secured differently because they're all different physically. Not every rule or regulation fits everywhere. Not every rule is needed everywhere. Not every airline treats firearms transport exactly the same as another. And as I said above, the airlines and the airport are responsible for a good-sized chunk of what goes on, with the blessing of TSA. Thus, it's not only possible but very likely that other than a couple hard-and-fast rules: 1. always declare the firearm at the ticket counter, and 2. don't take anything firearm-related into screening, your experience will be different from place to place. So be nice to the friendly TSA man and sit back, relax, and enjoy your flight, which is already in progress........
