May I RANT for a moment.......

[Steve_G]

I don’t do a lot of posting here, as others usually say it better than I, but this has got my blood boiling!! This is a little long, sorry…needing to rant.

“You are under arrest, are you going to come with me peacefully or will I be handcuffing you?”

That’s the words I heard an Airport Police Officer give a person in the security line at MSP on Tuesday. The person had a carry-on bag and laptop case. They had their shoes off and as everything went through the X-Ray, the operator stopped moving and requested a supervisor. I saw the passengers face go pale, after realizing that their stuff wasn’t coming out of the X-Ray.

The supervisor looked at the screen and asked the person if there was anything they would like to say. The person then said “That is exactly what you think it is, sorry!” I last saw them walking in stocking feet through the airport, police officer with his hand on their arm and headed towards the airport police offices. Several other officers cleared the weapon and took everything else that belonged to the person and proceeded to follow them solemnly. The line then began to move again and I walked away.

I did a little looking and this has been repeated 6 times here at MSP since Jan 1, on pace to exceed the 23 found here last year. The numbers of weapons found at checkpoint nationwide reached a record last year, over 2600, 13 years or so AFTER we were told not to bring a gun on a flight anymore, REALLY!

What does this person now face, well……this is how I understand it,

First, they probably missed their flight and all the money for it went up in smoke. That is not always the case (if you were early enough etc.) but they were arrested, and issued a summons to appear in court, and then generally released, IF this was a mistake or first offense. They now are in URGENT need of a lawyer, and a lot of cash. The Smith and Wesson 9mm (my guess) is now impounded pending outcome of the court case, and they may never get it back. They will probably get a $7,000 to $10,000 fine and a suspended sentence for this offense and will lose a permit to carry, if they had one, and now have a criminal record. If this has happened before, there may be jail time and a possibility of being on a list to be screened more thoroughly from now on should they need to fly. They may even lose the job if they were flying for business and were carrying a firearm! Nothing positive has happened to them!

I am deeply saddened for this person, and the 2600 others that may have made the mistake of not looking for unwanted items in their luggage before trying to pass through security. A simple 45 second check could have saved them a world of hurt! The TSA does not pull roughly 100 pounds of knives and forbidden items A MONTH (just from MSP) at the airport because they have nothing better to do. The TSA has an informative website at http://www.tsa.gov, an Instagram page at https://Instagram.com/tsa, a weekly blog post showing odd items and numbers of weapons per week at http://blog.tsa.gov, and will even answer Twitter @AskTSA. There is no reason to keep giving the government a gun to either sell or destroy.

Why does this still need to happen!! Really!! We all know that our guns/knives are not allowed at the airport (past security) and are you really that rich that giving up all of your firearms is alright with you! If that’s the case, PM me, I will hold onto them and care for them like they are my own and save you the meeting with your lawyer!

If we could just not give the government another firearm to destroy, I would remain a happy person.

RANT off, thank you for listening.

[Holland&Holland]

Rant back.

Really? The TSA has nothing better to do?

Seems to me what they have on the docket is taking grandma's shampoo away. Cause she is so dangerous. Give me an effing break. Your rant should be the fact that the person was arrested to begin with. Or the fact that somehow possession of a gun makes one a criminal.

TSA please.

[Squib Joe]

When I fly, I empty out every little pocket in my carry-on. Then I shake it. Then I check every pocket again. Then I lay out what I'm taking and pack it one item at a time. Then I don't touch it until I leave.
How does this even happen once or twice a year let alone thousands of times a year?

[my1stpistol]

Yeah. I have no clue how you forget there is a gun in the bag you plan to bring on an airplane.

Sent from my BNTV400 using Tapatalk

[wasfuzz]

Again I am at a loss for words, its their own damn fault. Sounds like the person owned up to it at least. This is the real world, not like you forget to put money in the parking meter! You just committed a felony, be a responsible gun owner. Do you feel sorry for idots who park in a fire lane then bitch when they get a ticket?

[FJ540]

Again I am at a loss for words, its their own damn fault. Sounds like the person owned up to it at least. This is the real world, not like you forget to put money in the parking meter! You just committed a felony, be a responsible gun owner. Do you feel sorry for idots who park in a fire lane then bitch when they get a ticket?

Is it a just law, that a free man cannot carry his side arm where he chooses? The airlines have no control over the objects which are allowed or not on their airplanes. Ya'll harp about how signs aren't enforceable at the MOA (there were no signs when I was there a couple weeks ago btw), but somehow "shall not be infringed" isn't in play when it comes to the TSA's control over our freedom to travel by air?

I don't think trying to board a plane with something you're otherwise fully legally allowed to carry should be a crime at all. It should be like the trespass law for carrying anywhere else - $25 bucks and being walked out if you refuse to leave. Oops is right! I've almost walked into the VAMC carrying more than once. Some of us have more important things on our minds than what federal agency has arbitrarily voided our rights based on our present geographic location.

[yukonjasper]

I agree that "accidentally " bringing a gun or knife through security is pretty stupid. What possible reason would you have for doing that? Indefensable unless you are a Liberatarian ideolog who doesn't want any law that isn't in the Constitution or th bill of rights. Stupid should hurt.

[FJ540]

I agree that "accidentally " bringing a gun or knife through security is pretty stupid. What possible reason would you have for doing that? Indefensable unless you are a Liberatarian ideolog who doesn't want any law that isn't in the Constitution or th bill of rights. Stupid should hurt.

Um, isn't the bill of rights there to limit government's ability to make stupid laws that shouldn't exist?

[MJY65]

I agree that "accidentally " bringing a gun or knife through security is pretty stupid. What possible reason would you have for doing that?

It's beyond stupid. If someone is so careless that they aren't going to check their bag, maybe they need to invest in separate range bags and carry on bags. Nylon just isn't that expensive these days.

[yukonjasper]

The problem is that stubbornly asserting an opinion that is in conflict with the current law is not only a waste of everyone's time, it borders on delusional. You are not dealing in reality. Coming to the aid, even if it is only rhetorically, to someone who is not smart enough to stow his pistol in any place in the universe that is not accompanying him onto an airplane, based on a nonexistent (based on current laws) absolute right is just silly. Your idea world doesn't exist .

[Seismic Sam]

Is it a just law, that a free man cannot carry his side arm where he chooses? The airlines have no control over the objects which are allowed or not on their airplanes. Ya'll harp about how signs aren't enforceable at the MOA (there were no signs when I was there a couple weeks ago btw), but somehow "shall not be infringed" isn't in play when it comes to the TSA's control over our freedom to travel by air?

I don't think trying to board a plane with something you're otherwise fully legally allowed to carry should be a crime at all. It should be like the trespass law for carrying anywhere else - $25 bucks and being walked out if you refuse to leave. Oops is right! I've almost walked into the VAMC carrying more than once. Some of us have more important things on our minds than what federal agency has arbitrarily voided our rights based on our present geographic location.

Nice speech, but it flies in the face of common sense and public safety. You can shoot up a bus or a car on the green line, but in neither case will the bus or the green line car fall from 30,000 feet and kill everybody (In addition, Green line cars are mostly empty anyway!!) Plus do you really want that right when it would also apply to some drunk ******* on a plane who starts grabbing the stewardess' ass and then starts firing when people try to subdue him?? How about a fully naturalized Somali citizen from Skinnyapolis who decides that jihad is the right way after all?? Sorry, but not every (or even a MAJORITY) of gun owning citizens is a good shot and has a cool head under a tense situation.

As far as I'm concerned, my right to live through the flight trumps your right to carry a gun on a plane.

[yukonjasper]

WHAT HE SAID.

[Seismic Sam]

And on a similar note to Squib Joe, I went to Oakdale years ago and aired out my DE50, and then went home and packed for a flight. My gun briefcase and travel briefcase are different, so that was no problem, but I wore the same leather flight coat to the airport that I had been shooting in. Got scanned, it beeped, tried again, it beeped but the TSA officer let me through after watching me go through every pocket, and off I went. Once in the airport I reached into the pocket of my flight jacket, and my blood ran ice cold. There, in the very back, was a fired 50AE casing. GULP!! Found some junk in my briefcase I didn't need, threw the case away with the junk, and went on my merry way. Don't know if I could have been arrested for a spent shell casing, but for a 50 cal case I am sure some people would have wanted to talk to me for a while.

[Sorcerer]

To the OP, could you have witnessed a test of the TSA and law enforcement? That they actually PASSED?

[xd ED]

Is it a just law, that a free man cannot carry his side arm where he chooses? The airlines have no control over the objects which are allowed or not on their airplanes. Ya'll harp about how signs aren't enforceable at the MOA (there were no signs when I was there a couple weeks ago btw), but somehow "shall not be infringed" isn't in play when it comes to the TSA's control over our freedom to travel by air?

I don't think trying to board a plane with something you're otherwise fully legally allowed to carry should be a crime at all. It should be like the trespass law for carrying anywhere else - $25 bucks and being walked out if you refuse to leave. Oops is right! I've almost walked into the VAMC carrying more than once. Some of us have more important things on our minds than what federal agency has arbitrarily voided our rights based on our present geographic location.

Nice speech, but it flies in the face of common sense and public safety. You can shoot up a bus or a car on the green line, but in neither case will the bus or the green line car fall from 30,000 feet and kill everybody (In addition, Green line cars are mostly empty anyway!!) Plus do you really want that right when it would also apply to some drunk ******* on a plane who starts grabbing the stewardess' ass and then starts firing when people try to subdue him?? How about a fully naturalized Somali citizen from Skinnyapolis who decides that jihad is the right way after all?? Sorry, but not every (or even a MAJORITY) of gun owning citizens is a good shot and has a cool head under a tense situation.

As far as I'm concerned, my right to live through the flight trumps your right to carry a gun on a plane.

flies in the face of common sense and public safety

common sense...now where have I heard that term before...?

The simple truth is fj's post points out the slippery slope many have slid down.