Rifles at school . . . how about guns on planes? The PanAm gate agent didn't want to let me get on a flight to Casablanca in 1971, carrying what was obviously a long gun in a soft case. (It was a shotgun.) Even though I had a diplomatic passport. Had checked with PanAm in advance, and they said the crew would take it and hold it in the cockpit. Thought I was stymied until the crew came along. Stopped the captain, asked him if they'd hold it for me in the cockpit. No problem.

There were a couple wrinkles in Morocco. They'd just had an attempted coup about 2 months previously. Lots of guys strolling around with submachineguns. Got escorted to the chief customs officer's office. It was a pump, which he'd never seen before. Pretty soon, I had about half the cops in the airport watching me demonstrate how it worked. Then I had to show my American firearms registration certificate. Thought fast on that one. Showed the customs guy the US customs declaration form. He didn't speak English. All he was looking for was an official form with a number on it.

Last edited by L. Brown; 07/19/17 10:14 AM.