Attempting to carry through airport check points

[Wise_A]

Why are so many people attempting to carry their guns on airplanes?

"The number of guns found at checkpoints continues to rise nationwide. TSA found more than 2,600 firearms in 2015 and almost 3,400 in 2016. "

Well...

If 632 million people board domestic flights in the US annually, that's 1.7m per day.

So 3400 people out of 632m annually, or 9.3 out of 1.7 million daily, get caught with a firearm boarding a plane in this country.

11.1m people had a CCW permit in 2016. This is up from 4m in 2015. So the number of CCW holders nearly tripled, while the number of guns found in airport checkpoints increased by about a third.

Mebbe we're not so stupid or irresponsible or dangerous after all.

 

[Cyrano]

The best way to do that is to start each and every trip you take with totally empty bags. Take everything out, and put anything you can't take in your carryon bag into your checked bag. Over the years, I've gotten into the habit of doing that, and I never hear the dreaded words "bag check" as my bag comes out of the x-ray...

I've had a 'bag check' twice. Once I had one of those fancy corkscrews that has two arms on either side of the handpiece that you screw down into the cork. The x-ray operator had evidently never seen one so they had to pull it out of my bag and take a look.

The other time I made the mistake of taking one of the LL Bean windup flashlights. In the x-ray, it had a crank, wires and something that could have been a bomb but was the battery. They thought they were about to get blown up until they took it out and looked at it. I take a conventional flashlight with me now.

 

[Beemerguy53]

I've had a 'bag check' twice. Once I had one of those fancy corkscrews that has two arms on either side of the handpiece that you screw down into the cork. The x-ray operator had evidently never seen one so they had to pull it out of my bag and take a look.

The other time I made the mistake of taking one of the LL Bean windup flashlights. In the x-ray, it had a crank, wires and something that could have been a bomb but was the battery. They thought they were about to get blown up until they took it out and looked at it. I take a conventional flashlight with me now.

Here's what one Baltimore -- ahem! -- "lady" wore when she went through airport security last year...

http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/woman-wearing-pistol-shaped-stilettos-stopped-at-bwi

 

[raljr1]

Years ago, in the 80's my wife and I were going to meet some friends coming in from out of town. Mrs. was carrying a small semi auto in her purse. Purse went thru the xray, nice police officer came and we spent the next hour and a half in the police station at the airport. We were not flying out, and the Sgt of that station happened to live in our neighborhood. We didn't know him but the cop on duty called him, learned that we weren't trouble. Mrs. got off with a $100 citation and a letter from the FAA. The next week when we took our friends back to the airport, we took a home made pie down to the airport police station as a small thank you for their understanding. Would not want to find ourselves in that situation today.

 

[steelslaver]

A guy I used to work with was a great guy, but not much of a deep thinker or planner. Anyway he and some friends fly up to Alaska and go fishing on a relative's charter boat. Have a great time, except for the seals trying to steal their hooked salmon. Relative hands out a bunch of seal bombs (think M80) that you throw in the water to scare the seals away. Into the jacket pockets they go. Fish and have beers last day, then hurry to airport. Doesn't check his pockets. BINGO, busted with them in his pockets. He is making a mess in his undies. But, hey its Alaska and this exact thing happens there more than you think. Gets let go and later gets a nasty letter from TSA about it and a hard time from us. Many places he would have cuffed and stuffed.

 

[catadjuster]

Good advice

The best way to do that is to start each and every trip you take with totally empty bags. Take everything out, and put anything you can't take in your carryon bag into your checked bag. Over the years, I've gotten into the habit of doing that, and I never hear the dreaded words "bag check" as my bag comes out of the x-ray...

This is very good advice. On a trip several years ago, I did not do this and it led to me being detained in a third world airport security section while they interrogated me about why I had a loaded .41 mag cartridge in my briefcase. This was in a country where there is no civilian ownership of firearms allowed under their (poorly enforced) laws.

Getting out of that fix would be too long a story, but since that time I have always emptied out everything from my bags before packing them.