Well, that's just idiotic. You can check unloaded handguns easily, I guess they just didn't want to pay a checked baggage fee.

and i had my nail clippers confiscated!

THIS IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH AIRLINE "SECURITY"

There's always a gaping hole in their system. Be it an airline employee, baggage handler, under trained tsa rent a cop, etc.

If we as consumers have to be relegated to all these restrictions and security screening I cannot for the life of me see why the employees aren't as well.

Yes they were caught, but only because of another passenger. Had nobody noticed the employee was successful in getting a gun past all the supposed security.

I do wonder what this genius thought was going to happen when they landed though...

Point is, if this guy can sneak a gun on board a flight what's to stop a terrorist from getting a mole on a few airlines and have them pass through a bomb or guns?

So do we think the airline employee had to be a friend or relative of the traveler? I can't imagine them just saying "Sure, I'll stick this right on for you" for a random passerby.

Not that's likely to keep his/her job, of course.

An unloaded handgun is about the same as a hammer.

@giantnegro: Or wave it around in a hijacking? Obviously that's unlikely to be the case. We'll find out it's just some idiot. After all, he is the owner of a handgun. ;) ;)

@lawnmowerdeth: It's scarier when someone's aiming it around the cabin screaming at people. There's a reason that even if a weapon is empty, it's the same charges of assault with a deadly weapon. At least in Canada that holds true.

unless@lawnmowerdeth: unless someone smuggles in bullets.

But when you're hijacking a plane, i'm sure the passengers aren't going to check and see if your gun is loaded.

@lawnmowerdeth: Except that you can point it at people and they will surrender. No one wants to see it fired to be sure when you're in a pressurized environment.

They're being questioned? Funny, I thought taking a loaded handgun onto a plane was a felony. Isn't it also a felony to get around airport security?

On the bright side, each and every bottle of water was successfully confiscated on that flight.

Kinda insane that this can happen. I agree that an unloaded gun isn't really dangerous. But there could have very well been ammunition inside that bag.

What I want to know is this: How did that passenger (that alerted authorities) know it wasn't screened?

@Mackinstyle:

Also- bullets would be VERY easy to smuggle- so it may be unloaded, until his accomplice hooks up w/him-- you think a terrorist who could smuggle a gun on a plane couldn't smuggle ammo???

@lawnmowerdeth: "An unloaded handgun is about the same as a hammer."

Really? I own a 9mm automatic.

Want to bet your life that you will know whether it's unloaded or not when I point it in your direction with the clip in place and the hammer back?

I wish there were some details in this article. Where exactly in the airport did this happen?

That's what I never understood about the boxcutters-- rush the assholes- you'll get cut but doubtful you'd die.

@UnicornMaster: Cartridges. Bullets are what come out of the barrel, cartridges go into the chamber.

I have ATF clearance to travel with explosives and even I get nervous when I need to take small samples to various testing facilities.

@floraposte: Well it's that or the traveler is really a super secret spy in the Office of Secret Intelligence.

Seriously though, I want to see that happen in a movie. Spy guy is sneaking past security and a regular Joe is all, "Hey, what's he doing!?!?"

@JGKojak: I don't know what the point of smuggling bullets onto an airplane would be, but getting cartridges on would be problematic. They will set off a metal detector and are quite distinctive in shape when viewed with an X-ray machine.

@lawnmowerdeth: Other articles note that there was ammo in the bag.

@HiPwr: This all happened this morning. There will be more details later.

@Trai_Dep: and no bottle of sunscreen, shower gel or toothpaste over 3 ounces was allowed

@JGKojak: You facing a guy with a box cutter is one thing. You facing a guy who has the box cutter blade pressed against the jugular vein of someone else... totally different.

Need more passenger trains.

That is all.

@lawnmowerdeth: I don't think a hammer would be allowed on the plane either.

@Trai_Dep: And a woman was forced to drink a gulp of a baby bottle of her own breastmilk to prove it was really breastmilk.

Airline security is basically kabuki theatre that is done to make it look like the problem has been solved.

@OMG! It's King Psyz: Because, seriously, it wouldn't be that hard to do the same thing with a different employee and ammunition.

Then you'd have a loaded gun aboard the plane.

@HIV 2 Elway: I know what that feels like.

When I fly on commercial flights, even on uniform, I have to notify the airline that I am carrying my weapon since I most certainly will not surrender it to civilians. If I'm off duty, I am sometimes wary of how I have to check in my weapon.
(The only reason I carry my weapon while off duty is when I'm being deployed to and embassy / consulate detail)

@HiPwr: Seems it would be about as problematic as getting the gun on the plane would've been. Hence, the workaround by using an airline employee to bypass security.

You have obviously never seen the hammer fight from Old Boy.

@lawnmowerdeth: Unless, of course, you can pass the ammo to someone else, and reunite them on the other side of security. THen it's a loaded gun.

@Rectilinear Propagation: I can see it too. Disgruntled regular Joe who's been in line to get through security for 2 hours without his shoes saves the day.

@Trai_Dep: And dastardly toothpaste. Never know what kind of havoc you could wreak with more than an ounce of toothpaste.

Taking It Seriously is by far my favorite tag on Consumerist.

@giantnegro:
Or have their gun stolen by the TSA employees who screen checked luggage. Everyone knows not to check valuables like laptops; a good handgun costs as much as a laptop. I'd find a different way to get my gun to its destination.

@floraposte: Keep their job? Both of them should get the maximum charge for carrying a hand gun on a plane and any addition charges that are possible.

@mmmsoap: Bingo.

@OMG! It's King Psyz: Actually Southwest is making it easier to get that mole on board since they are now allowing small pets to be brought on for $75. [consumerist.com]

@techstar25:
A MOLE FULL OF DYNAMITE!

@JGKojak: Pre 9-11, airline terrorism was thought to not to have a suicide component. As you know one of the planes had a circumstance where those boxcutter bandits were rushed, and it resulted in a plane crashing into a field. Now a days, this obviously would not be tolerated.

@Trai_Dep:
and everyone with boots or orthapedic shoes had them taken off and inspected

@I Love New Jersey:
DING DING DING

You win the no prize

@NitrousO:

I think they debunked that on Mythbusters. IIRC you could shoot several holes in the plane without massive depressurization.

@labeled: Yes, if you are bypassing security altogether, you could smuggle a claymore mine & three kilos of cocaine onto the plane. JGKojak's assertion that it is "VERY easy" to smuggle rounds onto a commercial plane to me implies that one could get it on without taking the measures of employing a airline insider.

@Cant_stop_the_rock: Checked handguns are required to be severly secured. If you want to make sure your stuff gets there without being molested, and, you know, actually gets there, check a handgun in your bag. A simple starter pistol would work fine and only costs under $50. Learned about this from one of the most travelled individuals I know.

@Cant_stop_the_rock: Ya you should be able to ship to a local gun store in the area you are going.

@HiPwr: Maybe someone carrying ammo could pass it to a friend with the airline to get it around security.

But, nah, that'd never happen.

@zigziggityzoo: the gun isn't dangerous it's the implication it holds. If someone has a gun on a plane, its hard to know if its loaded or not.