A Clever Way to Lock Your Luggage

With flying rules in heavy flux, more and more of us are having to put expensive electronics like laptops and cameras in our checked luggage. Assuming you can pad the stuff properly, there's an even bigger problem lurking, one that's been with us since the dawn of air travel: Good old-fashioned theft.

The problem is compounded because, thanks to those same TSA rules, you can't lock your luggage any more. As many bags go through X-ray machines before being loaded onto a plane, it's a simple matter for someone to quickly rifle through a bag that looks like it contains a fancy camera... or just snag the suitcase entirely.

Well here's a truly inventive solution that lets you both lock your bag and virtually ensure that it will never get "lost." The answer? Check a firearm in your bag. No, you don't need a 12 gauge, a simple starter pistol (which can't even fire real bullets and which is legal to carry without a permit) will do. Whenever a firearm is checked, you are required to lock your luggage, and your case is "extra-tracked" (for obvious reasons). You could probably do the same thing with any gun replica.

Security genius Bruce Schneier has cobbled together all the details from his own experiences and others. Altogether it's one of the most ingenious solutions for securing your gear that I've ever heard—maybe not perfect for everyday travels but a great solution when you've got serious valuables that you can't carry onboard.

Anyone else out there got any great ideas for making sure that $1,000 camera doesn't wander off from the belly of the plane?