Flying With Guns: Things are much different today

Editorial: Guns discovered at airport checkpoints on the rise | The Herald-Dispatch:
(Apr. 18, 2014 @ 12:00 AM)

 Some readers may have been surprised to read that a loaded .32-caliber handgun was confiscated from a woman's carry-on luggage at Tri-State Airport in Ceredo this week. Passenger screening for commercial air travel has been in place since the 1970s, and with the increased airport security since 9/11, Transportation Security Administration officers search through bags for pocket knives or anything remotely resembling a weapon. 
How do you miss that memo? 
But believe it or not, the number of guns detected at checkpoints across the nation is on the rise, the TSA reports. The agency's officers found 1,813 firearms in carry-on bags in 2013, up 16.5 percent from the year before. More than 80 percent were loaded.

We've talked about this before.

Frankly, I can't understand how you can 'forget' that you have a gun in your baggage.  No more can I understand how that isn't the most important thing.


SWMBO and I traveled (to New York!) via air with checked guns, when I went to the A.W.A.R.E. charity match at Watervliet, in Albany County.  I was very careful to make sure that I was "aware" of the airline regulations for traveling with firearms.  When I informed the clerk at the check-in counter that I was required to demonstrate that the race gun was unloaded, and then unlocked the carrying case so that I could show her that the magazine was absent and the chamber clear ... she didn't even want to look.  But that was 13 years ago, so perhaps things have changed?

That was before 911.  Of course things have changed.

When we flew to Texas for the annual Shirley Skinner 'Make-A-Wish' charity match in 2003,  we were careful to NOT impose our determination to "do right" upon the clerical staff.  They really, really didn't care as much as we did.

Things have changed, even more, since then.  I blame it on Obama.

The Liberals have lately been all up in arms (excuse the expression) about the fact that air travelers who are found to have weapons are not being prosecuted in several jurisdictions.  We have talked about this before, and everyone knows that your luggage and your person will be searched, checked and inspected before the airlines will allow you to board.  Even more than the idea that you will 'forget' that you are in possession of an undeclared firearm is that you would try to sneak one on-board.  That just ain't gonna happen!

So rather than an honest mistake, the Liberals think that you should be arrested, your possessions (at least the firearm) be confiscated, and you will do hard time.

PROFILING:

Let's talk about the way the Israelis do it.    They profile people who they think are likely (according to their parameters) to sneak weapons on-board.  They're probably uncomfortable with the "We Haf Vays to Make You Talk" comparison with the Gestapo.  But it's effective.

The TSA, on the other hand, don't intend to be compared to either the Israelis or the Gestapo:  they profile EVERYBODY, they search EVERYBODY, and they don't miss much.

So when the question arises as to whether an armed passenger should be arrested, detained, belongings confiscated ... it's a decision which varies from state to state.

Smuggler's Blues:

Some states just send you home:  "Take your gun and get the hell out of here.  Come back when you're not packin' ".


Other states let you board but (as in this case) they DO confiscate your contraband.



And yes, there are states (NY, NJ?) who will bust you, take your stuff, and prosecute.

Which solution is the best?  I'm thinking that profiling is Not Entirely A Bad Thing.  An honest mistake?  Well, hell, anybody who walks onto an airplane with a weapon on his/her person or in the baggage is subject to a lot of suspicion.  Yes, I DO think your illicit property should be confiscated!


If you're so stupid that you lose track of the fact that you're 'carrying', one way or the other -- you probably don't deserve incarceration.  But there should be some "thump on the side of the head" penalty which will make sure you don't repeat your mistake.

I'm glad you're accepting responsible for your own defense, but ---

"Responsible Gun Ownership" means that you never EVER forget you are armed.  If that doesn't make an everlasting indelible impression on you, you don't deserve to keep your "stuff".