Over the years, a number of people have been stopped at airport security checkpoints for carrying weapons — guns, knives, box cutters, the occasional M-622 Avalanche — that the passenger claimed they had accidentally stowed in their carry-on bag. But who is responsible once that traveler gets through the checkpoint?

That’s the question surrounding a Texas woman who says she had no idea she still had a handgun in her bag until she was taken off a plane and arrested. Her lawyers say the TSA agents at the security checkpoint should have spotted the firearm, but were in the middle of a shift change and didn’t notice it.

“It was really and truly an honest mistake on her part,” her lawyer tells CBS Dallas. “Right before she went through the security, she remembers that TSA was changing shifts, it appeared… The person who sits and looks at the computer monitor had left and then another gentlemen came and sat in that seat and he was adjusting the computer monitor.”

He claims the passenger, also a lawyer, had been working late the night before and had forgotten to take the gun out of her bag. It wasn’t until after she’d boarded the plane and the TSA suddenly requested that all female passengers de-board that she realized what was going on.

The lawyer says he’s hoping a Grand Jury will see that this was not an attempt by his client to carry a weapon onto a plane, but just an honest mistake.

Attorney: Woman With Gun At DFW Passed Through During Shift Change [CBSlocal.com]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.