A man carrying a loaded gun passed through the security checkpoint at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport without incident this past Sunday, apparently because the gun wasn’t floating in a shampoo bottle or hidden in a shoe. He then remembered he was carrying it and brought it back to the TSA authorities, who promptly charged him with “possessing or transporting a firearm into an air carrier terminal where prohibited, a misdemeanor, and released him.”
The screener who didn’t notice the gun has been removed from security duty while the TSA investigates, and they insist this was an isolated incident:
We know this is not a systemic problem in that our testing indicates TSOs [Transportation Security Officers] have a very high success rate at finding firearms. Given the high degree of reliability that our TSOs can find even carefully concealed firearms, we are evaluating every aspect of this incident.
“Loaded gun slips through airport security” [CNN]
(Photo: Getty)
More From Consumerist
-
TSA: Police Arrested 3 People Trying To Take Guns Through Atlanta Airport In 2 Hours
-
You Can’t Bring A Loaded Gun In Your Carry-On Even If You’re An NFL Player
-
Police Arrest Man At JFK Airport Because Trying To Smuggle 26 Stun Guns Is Frowned Upon
-
Man Politely Apologizes, Promptly Leaves 'Bourne Legacy' After Accidentally Shooting Himself In The Butt
-
Teen Bragging Online About Pulling Off Bank Robbery Must’ve Thought No One Watches YouTube
@bdslack: OH MY FUCKING GOD, you should be the one taking one in the forehead. but I don’t mean a bullet, I mean a fat money shot.
Alright, so a guy gets through airport security. Is honest enough to bring it back, yet still gets charged? Also, not that I’m FOR the TSA authorities – but judging based on how this is an isolated incident, does it really need to be reported on so highly? The story gives the reader an illusion of “this happens all the time”. Luckily, I still think the TSA is a waste of money.
I have a permit to carry concealed and mine is everywhere. It is like having my watch or wallet on me, just a natural thing. I don’t think he snuck it past, probably just forgot. I also don’t think it is illegal to carry in an airport in a non secure zone. In this case, the charge was a bit much. I hope the local DA throws it out.
Pretty soon we will be issued a special suit to fly in and be allowed to carry nothing. They will have shops when you get off the plane to sell you everything you need at a reasonable 100% mark-up.
The idiot goons at the TSA should be the ones who are going to jail… not the guy who pointed out what incompetent idiots the TSA goons really are.
Hating to draw comparisons with the fascist dictators around the world that they support, I can only be glad that the Bush Administration, the TSA and Homeland Security are too incompetent to successfully overthrow the Constitution… at least for the time being.
@rhombopteryx:
Didn’t Consumerist post an article about how TSA had a surprise check where they asked random “real” people to carry contraband and see if they would detect it and they scored incredibly poor? I vaguely recall some of the comments.. or did I just combine a few articles leaving only the parts I liked to create my own super article?
@IphtashuFitz: … and years before the establishment of the TSA, right?
@magic8ball: Your mom carries a (presumably loaded) gun with her *TO CHURCH*?! What level of paranoia induces that kind of behavior? Is she afraid her fellow congregants are going to rob her?
Im sure none of you ever make a mistake at work either.
@ripple: Oh, do I ever! Why, just last week, I used “compliment” when I meant “complement”, and a plane got hijacked! Boy, I thought I’d never live that down!
Seriously, I hate obtuse dipshit comments like this. The point isn’t that some TSA wage slave made a mistake. Of course he does, because he’s an ill-trained wage slave. THAT is the point – it’s not that an error was made, but that there’s a systemic problem.
They actually charged him??? What assh@les! The guy didn’t commit a crime. Was there any brain-eating zombies around TSA in this airport?
this is bullshit; yet another eg of TSA’s ineptitude. they had some nerve to arrest/charge him with any crime. what pathetic assholes. I hate TSA, I hate the dickweeds that think TSA enhances our security, I hate the complacency we all feel regarding this on multiple levels. Bull Effing Shit.
@dodonnell: I’m all for tasers
Especially new model that you can play mp3. If a person fells insecure, they should carry a taser, not a gun. Less letal paranoia.
@aaron8301:
Honestly, I knew not one – but two people who were on the 9/11 flights, and have two brothers in active duty in Iraq. Think about that for more than two seconds. Has it been that long that we have all forgotten what happened?
So much so that some self centered asshole who is too busy thinking about himself walks straight through a security check point with a loaded sidearm and people are bitching that he got a stupid ticket? Everybody likes to bitch and joke about the TSA, but can you imagine what it was like for the people and their families on 9/11?
I personally think all of the TSA employees should carry automatics just the same as in other countries.
They should be paid at least six figures, and anyone that “forgets” that he just breached security with a sidearm should spend at least six months behind bars and be fined 100,000.00.
In fact I think that they should make the fine a “bonus” to the TSA employee that finds the weapon. They can either choose the cash or the chance to nail one home in the offender’s thigh. You know that the TSA employees are “about up to here” putting up with the general populations bullshit by now.
At least they’re not taking it very seriously.
@dodonnell: She had a reeeeeally bad experience with an ex-husband. After that she just started carrying everywhere she went. I don’t think she seriously expects anyone to try to kill her at church (or the grocery store, etc.); like I said, it’s just part of her routine: leave house = take gun.
@bdslack:
Nobody would deny that 9/11 was a tragedy, but I fail to see the logic in using the attacks as excuses for completely disregarding our Constitutional rights or any rights as citizens in a modern, developed nation. I can only hope you were exagerating in much of what you said.
If you would like to live in a police state, by all means do so; I, however, would not like to see people punished for what likely amounts to simple mistakes. Bear in mind that the hijackings on 9/11 were done with items such as box-cutters, which were allowed through security.
@BlakeO:
Let’s get something straight – your right to bear arms is not extended to public planes and airports. It’s pretty well pointed out by the big signs, the medal detectors and the x-ray equipment. You know when I think of modern, and developed, my thoughts immediately stray to “handguns”.
Let’s also reward the smokers that walk into gas refineries puffing away, and the parachuter that glides directly into a boxing ring on fight night. There’s nothing that makes me feel safer in an airport than the asshole with a loaded weapon hiding behind free speech and his Constitutional rights.
It’s OK in our society for the casino bosses to take you out back and beat you within an inch of your life for counting cards, but walk through an airport with a weapon? Give him a reward for showing us all that he is an “American”!
In fact I think that they should make the fine a “bonus” to the TSA employee that finds the weapon
What makes you think they won’t PLANT a gun on people, bust them, and collect the bonus? I personally think TSA should be disbanded and Chertoff and Hawley deported to some third world communist country.
@bdslack:
I’m a “gun control for everyone or no one” advocate.
If you take the second clause of the second amendment as “The right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” then, coupled with the 9th and 14th amendments, any law, federal or state, abridging that right is immediately and fully unconstitutional. That includes any law prohibiting you from carrying that firearm into a government building.
The government holds absolutely no (constitutionally granted) power to restrict or delimit rights expressly granted in the constitution.
It SHOULD be the reading of the 9th amendment that the government holds no power to delimit any rights not expressly covered by the granted powers of government as enumerated in the constitution, in addition to the inability to restrict or delimit any of the rights expressly enumerated in the constitution.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The government, including the SCOTUS, has taken the 9th amendment as a blank space meaning nothing at all; despite the expressly stated intent of the amendment as laid out by the Founders, the SCOTUS has taken to the opinion that the 9th amendment expressly prohibits the government restriction of rights unless the government has restricted those rights.
Which makes all kinds of logical (and semantic) sense.
@brokeincollege:
Here’s my plan for all government employees….
Pay them all 10X what they get now.
Pay the President 10M per year.
Pay the Congressmen 2M a year.
Pay cops 150K a year
This is the top side of the coin, the other side is that accepting bribes, or kickbacks, or any other pork barreling corruption B.S. then they get harsh prison penalties and they must pay back ALL of the money earned while in office. The TSA should be no different.
Same for news reporters (A.K.A. Fox)
@bdslack:
Yes, I agree with what you say. There are of course restrictions on such Constitutional rights as bearing arms…he DID break a law, and I would be foolish to praise him for carrying his gun into the secure area. However, as others have pointed out: Would you rather he be punished for turning the gun in, or the TSA be reprimanded for allowing yet another piece of real contraband (not water, shampoo, etc.) through?
The serious problem here is the ineptitude of the TSA at enforcing restrictions and bans on dangerous items, instead trying to simply appear vigilent and thurough in the public eye (like they haven’t already blown that one).
@bdslack:
Congressmen, senators, the President, SCOTUS appointees, cabinet appointees, and all other elected and appointed officials should be paid minimum wage, and should receive the most basic health care package available. Perhaps then they might focus more on the rights of the people, as they would no longer be fat and wealthy.
The down side is that it would be much easier to bribe them. The up side is that they would be much easier to dispose of.
@RvLeshrac:
I should specify “the federal minimum wage.”
@RvLeshrac:
Well I can respect your viewpoint, but do you really think the founding fathers had any idea when they drafted “The Right to Bear Arms” that it would translate to some knee jerk crazy standing in a Auntie Anne’s pretzel shop in LAX fingering a walter ppk? Honestly when I see a handgun flash under a jacket in the airport my first thoughts are “I sure hope everyone has one of those on them”, just so that we are ALL safe.
The beauty in the US is that we can SAY anything we want (at least not “FIRE” in a crowded movie theater). Wielding a pistol is a right (like driving a car), given to you by the state (hence the little cards) and should be revoked if you pull stupid ass stunts like walking into an airport with it. As someone that works with the brain and neurological disorders, I can tell you this for sure – crazy is crazy. Some people (a much larger portion of society than anyone understands) is simply not fit to carry a weapon of any kind.
Our community has evolved since the country was founded, we are much more complex. When the constitution was first drafted our court systems had not yet been placed, and a public police force was not yet enacted. I think it is perfectly acceptable to OWN firearms. I know people that own thousands of them (and they are CRAZY), but don’t carry them around in public when the public as a whole has determined that we as a society can’t responsibly respect the right.
WTF? The man was honest enough to go back and say ‘here’s my gun!’ Why couldn’t they just say ‘hey buddy, thanks for being honest but we have to keep this and you need to be screened again just in case and then you run along and have a nice flight?’ Why would people be honest if they’re going to get themselves in so much trouble? Don’t punish the good among us…
“What is that, a bowling-ball candle? A hair-drier with a scope? No worries.”
I’ve accidentally made it thru security with a 5″ folding knife … not once, but twice on the same trip. I thought about writing a letter to let them know they’re such idiots, but I really don’t feel like getting charged with something.
Marge: I thought you said the law was powerless.
Chief Wiggum: Powerless to *help* you, not punish you.
And so, once again, law enforcement deals with somebody trying to admit an honest mistake by arresting them. I love AmeЯika.
How about “Thank you for coming back and turning in the firearm, we appreciate your honesty and concern for the safety of the other passengers.
A well-armed passenger cabin is a polite passenger cabin.
@bdslack: OMFG CAUSE AIRPORTS ARE SO DIFFERENT THEN ANY OTHER PLACE WITH PEOPLE IN IT!!!111one
Oh, and the thing about 9/11, the weapons were gathered by the terrorists with LEGIT passports AFTER the security point.
And wtf does Iraq have to do with this? Last I heard, we went into iraq because of WMDS and freedom, not 9/11 terrorists based from Afganistan…
“our testing indicates TSOs [Transportation Security Officers] have a very high success rate at finding firearms.”
Is that the same testing that indicated how easy it is to slip explosive devices past security? Just wonderin’
Am I missing something obvious here?
Was the metal detector not working?
@spinachdip: Hahahaha, that extremely made my day.
I call shenanigans on the TSA here. I know of several people who have got a gun onto a plane. Fortunately, they’re all people who have legitimate reasons to own a guy (military) and pose no risk to much of anyone. However, it does prove the point that all of the toothpaste they confiscate, and all of the shoes that are removed in airports across the country only serve to make people feel safe – not to actually make things safer.
I’d also like to point out that, simply because I wear a leather trench coat and have a pony tail, I get frisked vigorously, and have the contents of my carry on removed and displayed for all to see every time I attempt to board a plane. I don’t own a gun, and I’ve got no interest in hijacking a plane, however, every time I go to an airport I get selected “randomly” for “special screening’ Meanwhile, other people are bringing guns onto planes all willy nilly while the TSO’s are waving their metal detecting wand all around my groin and anus…. god bless America.
I don’t know who the bigger moron is….the TSA agent who didn’t spot a gun, or the guy who thinks it’s OK to bring a gun to the airport.
@bdslack: You are a prime example of one who deserves neither security nor freedom.
Attitudes changed. Before the fourth flight could be made to hit wherever it was intended to, the mindset allowing it to happen had changed. The TSA had, and now still has, nothing to do with it. Nothing the TSA will find will make you safer. Passengers and pilots not submitting because of box cutters makes us safer. The fourth plane didn’t make it because of that change, and by the next morning, nothing like that could happen again. Passengers and pilots will not allow it. That has made flying safer.
The right to bear arms may not be exactly what it was originally made—but that’s why most of us are OK with some level of gun control. However, the primary purpose is to protect one’s self and family. The police do not do that. You could be dead by the time they get there.
Personally, I’d feel much safer knowing several folks were carrying concealed weapons on a flight than having confidence such people were specifically not carrying them.
@IphtashuFitz: Exactly what I was thinking…
“a very high success rate”? How about finding ALL of them?
Isn’t it legal to carry a gun on a plane so long as it is in a ziploc bag and contains no more than 2oz of liquid?
This should come as no big surprise, last flight I was on out of Vegas, they spent 5 minutes looking through my shampoo, deodorant, Pepto-bismol, ans the other crap I had in my toiletry bag, while my fiance strolled through behind me with, as we discovered once we got home, TWO corkscrews, one with a big knife on it, my 5″ pocketknife, and a can of mace. They were so busy arguing about why my liquids weren’t in a plastic bag, and trying to make me throw them away, and they had no idea. Get real, people, airport security is psychological manipulation, not a coherent plan to keep dangerous items (or people) off airplanes.
@magic8ball: i can totally see your mom at church busting out her .38 “what the fu*k did you say ’bout Jesus?”
I’ve never carried a gun so maybe this is a dumb question but…how does one forget they are carrying a gun? Yeah, I sometimes look in my purse and think, wow, I forgot I put that fork in there the other day, but a gun? I dunno…I think I’d remember if I had gun with me.
And i get a full cavity search because i refuse to discard my prescription toothpaste which is below the 100 grams.
@niteflytes: “I’ve never carried a gun so maybe this is a dumb question but…how does one forget they are carrying a gun?”
Easy, for those of us who carry every day: We get used to it. If I handed you a gun to carry around, you would be a bit freaked out at the thought, I am guessing, and would think about it constantly. However, after you’ve been carrying it every day for a few years, you can easily forget it’s there unless you need it.
A gun is no different than any other object in this respect. I’ve walked through airport security with my belt on and had the thing “ding” at me several times. Why, I just forgot I had a metal object (belt buckle) fastened around my waist. I’m so used to it being there, it’s almost a part of me.