Same way people forget about pocket knives or other contraband items. Happens all the time at airports all across the country.
What good is your Concealed Carry weapon against the Bad Guys if you forget you even have it?
HD is right on here. It is really not that unusual for firearms to be confiscated by TSA.
From the Denver Post… TSA confiscated nearly 4,000 guns at airport checkpoints in 2017 — and DIA was among the top 10 airports where firearms were found
And it’s not just firearms…
Not everyone forgets, but with maybe ~16 or 17 million CCW permit holders across the country, it’s inevitable that some small % of them will forget and show up at the airport with a gun. I wish they wouldn’t, but it happens, and the usual punishment is fairly minor.
Just like everyone else?
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-bwi-guns-20180128-story.html
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-guns-airport-20171226-story.html
See, now that’s more in line with how I thought this was supposed to happen. You bring a gun to airport and try to get on a plane with it, you get arrested. Do we have any other stories of people just handing the gun over and then being allowed on the flight?
I’d expect harsher treatment in places like Maryland, New Jersey, New York, California, Washington DC, etc.
TSA’s list of fines is a bit interesting. They’d find people $1,960-$3,920 for possession of a silencer, all by itself. It’s just a metal tube.
Here’s what the TSA website says:
That’s a decision for the local police / prosecutors.
In places that really hate guns, they probably choose to arrest & prosecute more. In places that don’t really mind guns, probably less. If they decide not to arrest, I don’t see why you wouldn’t be permitted to board your flight.
semi-personal story: several years ago my brother forgot about a loaded spare magazine he had in his bag. He took it through the TSA checkpoint and got caught. They seized the ammo, but allowed him to mail the magazine back to himself before proceeding to his flight. They said he might get a fine, but it would be determined later. He never heard anything more about it.
No, it’s not just a metal tube.
I thought about adding “with baffles in it” but it seemed overly pedantic. Apparently not.
Some people aren’t familiar with how a silencer works. Or that it’s considered a firearm part by the ATF.
With that many, it is inevitable that some will be negligent enough to do things like forget that they are carrying a gun when they go to the airport.
In addition to the fine that TSA levies on most people, maybe a demonstration of negligence like that should show that more training is needed before being allowed to carry a gun around in public.
Earlier RTfirefly made this suggestion:
I would be rather supportive of the appropriate state agency deciding to suspend permits for a while in those cases. I’m not happy about the negligence shown either.
Fairly recently a Colorado politician also mistakenly brought a gun to the airport. A follow up story from a couple weeks after shows that HD’s interpretation of how gun friendlier states handle this is largely correct.
Gun possession at DIA rarely leads to charges
Beth McCann is Denver District Attorney.
You know, I am sure you are good at keeping track but it’s kind of a more central focus of your life as a gun dealer and (IIRC) a former cop. It’s simply not a realistic expectation for the general population. If you carry a gun around all the time, you are going to forget it somewhere, forget to lock it up when you get home or some other stupid shit. It’s human nature. People forget their babies in their cars, ffs.
And that is why people that carry guns around in public need to demonstrate that they are responsible. Most people are not responsible enough to carry a gun in public.
And we call them terrible, irresponsible parents for doing so, we don’t just shrugs and say, “Eh, what can you do?”
The difference being people can’t just lock up their babies at home, while that’s a totally reasonable thing to do with firearms when you leave the house. And there’s really no reason not to, unless you’re being stalked, or if you unfortunately have business in some, erm, shithole neighborhood.
Like you say, it’s just not a reasonable expectation for the general population that they keep track of their guns if they carry them around all the time. Maybe they just shouldn’t, absent some obvious necessity. Just because you legally can do something, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.
We don’t call them terrible, irresponsible parents if you have any clue about the subject, but yes many people do call them that.
hijack avoidance eta: here’s a long thread we had about it:
I disagree. I think most people are responsible enough to carry a gun in public. Some tiny fraction of gun owners misuse / mishandle their firearms, but it is a tiny fraction. Most adults can handle things like caring for a child, driving a vehicle, or carrying a gun without any major issues. When mistakes / abuses occur, appropriate measures should be taken, but that’s a long ways from “most people are not responsible enough”.
It’s probably not reasonable to expect them, as a group, to be flawless / perfect, but look at the numbers. Last year, something like 16.996 million (out of 17 million) CCW permit holders did NOT carry their gun into a TSA checkpoint. Seems like a pretty reasonable expectation that the vast majority of them won’t do so this year either.