Story highlights Laws allow checking guns, ammunition in proper containers

Shooting could ignite debate about the limits of traveling with firearms

(CNN) The shooting Friday at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport may test the bounds of something that is entirely legal and commonplace in the United States: Flying with a gun and ammunition.

The incident highlights the peculiarities and seeming contradictions of local, state and federal gun laws inside the nation's airports: It is legal for a passenger to travel with a firearm and ammunition in checked baggage, but inside baggage claim or at a ticketing counter, that person might otherwise be breaking the law if the weapon is out in the open or carried on their person.

Five people were shot dead and eight wounded in a baggage claim area at Florida's third-largest airport, and law enforcement sources tell CNN the suspect had legally brought the firearm and ammunition in his checked baggage while flying from Anchorage to Fort Lauderdale. When he reached his destination, the suspect went to baggage claim, got his baggage, took out the gun and began firing, sources told CNN.

Airport officials say that Friday's incident could ignite a debate about the limits of traveling with firearms, as the shooting revealed a security vulnerability in transportation security policies, but also the near-impossibility of securing areas where the public is free to come and go.

Transportation Security Administration rules permit unloaded firearms and ammunition to be transported as checked baggage. The unloaded firearms, ammunition and other firearm parts such as magazines must be declared at check-in and packed in a locked and hardened case.

Read More