Attempting to carry through airport check points

[doug86]

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. "
TSA Finds 4 Guns In Luggage At Midway Airport In March << CBS Chicago

I can only think if a few reasons.
a) they are actually ignorant of the rules.
b) they think the rules don't apply to them because they have a permit
c) they forgot they had their gun with them.
d) they are trying to sneak the gun on the plane.

am I missing something?

None of those are very good excuses. Do you think this behavior should result in confiscation of the gun? Loss of carry permit? Or, simply being denied access to the airplane?

 

[phantomcycle]

I'm sure if they where not allowed to board the plane they would remember to not to carry a weapon on a aircraft
And if they are stupid enuff to say I have a concealed carry permit then take that away from them too

Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk

 

[M1A]

You can answer a, b, c, & d, with STUPID. Not ignorant, but STUPID.

 

[zzzippper]

I think they're so comfortable and used to carrying that they forget. I once flew from Kuwait to Jordan with a large folding combat knife in my pocket. I considered trying to continue with it but I saw I would have to go through Jordanian security and they looked like they were serious. I went to the crapper and threw it away. I really liked that knife.

 

[Watchdog]

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

IDD? (Intelligence Deficit Disorder)

I think they're so comfortable and used to carrying that they forget.

The majority of firearms caught at TSA checkpoints are in passengers' carry-on luggage...briefcases and stuff. Sometimes in purses.

 

[DWalt]

Every time I read of such events, it seems the excuse given is always "I forgot my gun was in my luggage, briefcase, etc." I really don't believe that.

Back in the days long before 9/11 and TSA, I frequently carried a gun aboard commercial aircraft in my carry-on. I guess no one worried much about passengers carrying guns until the hijacking epidemic of the 1970s. And there were no carry-on baggage or body searches.

 

[brjr51]

When my son graduated 8th grade about 15 years ago, I bought him a real nice Leatherman and had it engraved. Took it on a camping trip and then a couple of days later flew out to visit Grandma. Yep, had it in his backpack and forgot about it. This was in the early days of TSA and he swears the low life,(if you saw the TSA at Chicago Midway around '02-'03 you'd agree), stuck it in his pocket.

 

[DWalt]

At least in Texas, knives confiscated at airports are turned over to the state, and they are sold in bulk by the state as surplus property. Maybe that is also true in other states. No idea what is done with other types of weapons seized by TSA at airports.

 

[chaparrito]

Call me a scaredy-cat but I don't think I want to be around people who are so comfortable carrying that they "forget" they have a loaded weapon on their person.

 

[Beemerguy53]

When my son graduated 8th grade about 15 years ago, I bought him a real nice Leatherman and had it engraved. Took it on a camping trip and then a couple of days later flew out to visit Grandma. Yep, had it in his backpack and forgot about it. This was in the early days of TSA and he swears the low life,(if you saw the TSA at Chicago Midway around '02-'03 you'd agree), stuck it in his pocket.

I go through airport security fairly often. Before the TSA was created, checkpoint screening was contracted to private companies at the various airports. To say they had -- ahem -- loose hiring standards would be an understatement. Low-lifes and thugs were the least of their problems; some of those screeners were convicted criminals!

When TSA was created, and there was an instant need for thousands of security screeners, TSA hired the people who were already doing the job...pending background checks. As the background checks came back, the low-lifes were fired. And over the years, TSA's hiring standards have clearly improved...the Transportation Security Officers I see at airports today are far different than what I saw back in '02 or '03. Heck, some of them even smile!

 

[Beemerguy53]

At least in Texas, knives confiscated at airports are turned over to the state, and they are sold in bulk by the state as surplus property. Maybe that is also true in other states. No idea what is done with other types of weapons seized by TSA at airports.

Just to clarify: TSA does NOT "confiscate" or "seize" knives and the like. They tell you your knife can't go into the sterile area, and they give you your options. You can check the bag with the knife in it; you can take the knife out to your car; you can give the knife to someone outside the checkpoint; you can mail it back to yourself at some airports; or you can surrender it to the government. The decision what to do with it is yours; it just can't go past the checkpoint. (Don't ask me how I learned this lesson! )

 

[okiegtrider]

I have a friend, a cop's wife, got arrested for category c at a TSA checkpoint. I know her, I believe she forgot. Nice lady, but fully capable of doing something this silly.

By the time they got through the legal stuff that followed, (I think it wound up being some kind of deferred prosecution arrangement), she didn't even want to ask about going back to retrieve the gun.

They just wrote it off and were thankful that she was able to be released in time to catch another flight to her own wedding.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Why are so many people attempting to carry their guns on airplanes?...Do you think this behavior should result in confiscation of the gun? Loss of carry permit? Or, simply being denied access to the airplane?

It depends on what the particular state's laws are, as near as I can tell. I know that here in the Peoples' Republic of Maryland (aka California East), it is against the law to carry a gun without a Maryland carry permit (which are impossible for most folks to get). If you show up at Baltimore-Washington International Airport with a firearm, missing your flight will be the least of your problems. Local news here reports regularly on people who get arrested at BWI for illegally carrying a firearm.

Man arrested at BWI carrying handgun - Capital Gazette

Bowie man arrested at BWI after attempting to carry on handgun - Baltimore Sun

Third gun seized in five days at BWI Airport - Baltimore Sun

 

[Skeet 028]

One day while talking with a cop at a security check point..a fellow came through with one of the little belt buckle guns..went through the metal detector...I told the cop the guy had a gun..and when he confronted the guy..I thought he was gonna faint. Even I believed it was accidental. Cop took the belt buckle gun and after checking the guy..let him go...Then realizing he had created a problem for himselt...handed me the whole mess and told me to get out of there and forget the incident...I went to the engine we drove out to wnere we parked and I left it in my vehicle. And beemerguy is right..Md is a nasty place to play with concealed guns.. I had a gun shop there for more than 27 years and there was no way I could get a license to carry

 

[M1A]

I have a drivers license. Have it all day, every day for fifty+ years. However, I have not forgotten that I have it on me all the time.
If the airport, library, or any place decided not to allow a drivers license, I would know I have one, no matter how accustomed I am to having it.
No sympathy for anyone carrying a weapon in an airport.

 

[GaryS]

Consider also that a year or so ago, the TSA was slapped pretty hard because they were very lax on security screening and 95% of the investigators were able to get through with firearms, knives, and in at least one case, a hand grenade.

After that, the TSA became much more vigilant in their screening.

Which doesn't excuse the people who had the guns and other weapons on them, but also does not indicate that more people were trying to bring guns, just that TSA was catching more of them.

I know one person, who is pretty bright, that used his carry on as his range bag. You can guess how that worked out. Fortunately for him, he was let off with a fine, got his gun back from the county sheriff, and didn't face any local criminal charges.

So, in addition to making sure that you have divested yourself of any weapons, be sure that your carry on doesn't have a "surprise" in it.

 

[catadjuster]

Call me a scaredy-cat but I don't think I want to be around people who are so comfortable carrying that they "forget" they have a loaded weapon on their person.

I don't understand this position at all. Could you clarify it please? I never "forget" that I am carrying, but most all of the time I am not at all conscious of the fact that I am carrying.

 

[Old TexMex]

My opinion is that since the number of concealed carriers has increased quite a bit, a certain amount of those people have no real experience with being armed, and consider their handgun to be a talisman, a magical item which protects them. They are little different from the (rarer by far) police officer who leaves his gun on the toilet in the mens room. They are armed, but not properly trained.

 

[Beemerguy53]

...So, in addition to making sure that you have divested yourself of any weapons, be sure that your carry on doesn't have a "surprise" in it.

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...

 

[sigp220.45]

I was the FBI "Airport Liaison Agent" (ALA) for a couple of medium sized airports as an additional duty for many years after 9/11. The operative phrase at the time was " artful concealment".

If someone hollowed out the sole of a shoe to hide a mini-revolver, they were arrested and charged.

If a person with no criminal history forgot a gun in a bag they were cited into federal court, the gun was seized, and they were allowed to continue on a later flight. This was if the TSA LEO (yes, there are some) bought their story. If not, see option 1 above.

There is a special misdemeanor docket in federal court (sometimes called the duck docket) where all manner of things are resolved - marijuana in a federal park, cutting firewood without a permit, bear bait stand too close to the road, too many ducks, and forgetting you had a gun in your Hello Kitty backpack at the airport. You, of course, have the right to a trial. You can also take nice overworked AUSA's offer of a $2500 civil fine and no criminal record, since it is civil. Believe it or not, the gun is usually returned.