Does the same rationale apply to Brittney Griner?
There were other factors in play in Griner’s case; her political usefulness and a sentence much longer than typical for her offense. There is similarity, though, both carried something into a foreign country that’s prohibited by local law.
I’d say a penalty of some sort was also valid in the case of Griner. She has herself admitted as much.
The part that went beyond the pale was a sentence far out of line with the norm. Perhaps naively, we expect/hope the rule of law is applied even-handedly and dispassionately. That clearly did not happen in Griner’s case, and she was given a disproportionately harsh sentence. In the case of Turks and Caicos, the reverse has happened (somewhat to our discredit) - the Americans that have so far been caught have been given much lighter sentences than the minimums.
If Turks & Caicos treat all offenders from all nations the same way, then it’s much less of an issue in my book. It’s not exactly a secret that nearly every other country treats possession of ammunition and firearms very differently than the US and as visitors to other countries, it is our responsibility to be aware of that. But we are given special treatment anyway, which I have mixed feelings over.
And the US itself would not look all that kindly to foreign nationals bringing undeclared firearms or ammunition into the country, either, so there’s that.
Just watch the show Border Security to watch many cases of Americans bringing thier guns with them across the border into Canada. Most of them are suitably embarrassed, but it’s fun watching some of them “demanding their 2nd amendment rights” before they are put into a holding cell awaiting deportation.
I was on a domestic flight, with both checked and carry-on luggage. I was an idiot and had my paring knife in the carry-on bag rather than the checked bag. (I like to buy and cut up fruit to eat in the hotel room.) It was found at the TSA checkpoint and confiscated. (They offered me the option of going back to the car with it, but as I was on my way home, this would not have worked.)
My biggest worry was that this mistake would jeopardize my TSA PreCheck status but it didn’t. (I’ve heard that those caught with firearms in carry-on bags can lose this status.)
I’ve had to mail my Boy Scout knife back to me three times from the airport when I had forgotten it was in my luggage. Fortunately I got it back every time.
Weirder was the time they found a deburring tool in my luggage and insisted on confiscating it.
This, in case you’re not familiar with it, is a deburring tool. It has a round ball on the end and could in no way be used as a cutting implement or weapon
But even better was the time they confiscated my 2 ml container of cyanoacrylate super glue, still in its bubble pack and unopened. They said it was an “irritant”. You’d have to seriously work at it to make this an offensive weapon.
With that, you can really stick it to The Man.
I just had a knife confiscated at the Madrid train station. It was a nominally serrated, blunt round-tipped picnic set knife, pretty much a table knife, but it was longer than they allow. Haven ridden many Spanish trains with this knife (including through this very station the day before), scissors, and pocket knives, I was pretty surprised.
Note that you can delete the /? and everything after that and the URL will still resolve properly. Most of that crap is for tracking purposes.
I watched a documentary about whales once and after watching footage of them enthusiastically drowning baby seals, I am now convinced Orcas are the baddest motherfuckers in the ocean.
A couple weeks after 9/11, I was getting on a plane at Jackson, WY, and the guy ahead of me had a pair of surgical forceps confiscated.
They couldn’t have done much harm, but everyone was a bit paranoid at that time.
Adding to the paranoia was the fact that Jackson was VP Dick Cheney’s “undisclosed location” (he owned a house there). Air Force Two was out on the far side of the ramp, and they had created an ad hoc barrier between the parking lot and the airport building with a long line of heavy equipment like earth movers, bull dozers, etc.
I didn’t fly for a few months after 9/11, but yes, everyone was really on edge. Long security lines and virtually no one complained.
They look like they could stab someone and do as much if not more damage than the shallow box cutters used to hijack the 9/11 airplanes. Not at all paranoid, in fact the idea that something like that is harmless is what led to those hijackings being successful.
I remember commenting around that time that I was worried what would happen if trained martial artists hijacked an airplane with their bare hands. I was only sort of joking.
Nope, those things are not sharp at all. You could inflict damage by poking somebody in the eye, but I’m not sure they could even penetrate skin. You could pinch someone that would inflict a bit of pain, much like a small vice-grip.
I know this because I still have a pair of these. Never used them for their intended purpose, however.
Yeah, I think you could more easily stab someone with a pencil or a pen than those forceps. AFAIK they never confiscated pencils and pens.
I didn’t look closely enough at the tip. They are blunt so agreed, they wouldn’t be much of a threat.
I do recall them confiscating any and everything shortly after 9/11. Tweezers and nailclippers come to mind in particular as items that were disallowed. I imagine pens and pencils might have been but can’t say for certain. That was an extreme reaction as they were trying to deal with the aftermath of the hijackings.
They’ve become more reasonable now. I will point out that a “tactical pen”, despite being a fully-functional pen, is not allowed through a TSA checkpoint and forbidden as a carry-on. They are fine with it in luggage.
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/tactical-pen
What is a ‘tactical pen’?
I carry a stainless steel Parker Jotter in my backpack. Would that be a ‘tactical pen’, even though metal pens have just been pens for a century?
They’re very popular. And yes, you can write with them, they are actually pens.
No, and I looked up whether or not the TSA has a problem with carrying metal pens (even fountain pens) on flights and apparently not. There was a discussion on a pen enthusiast discussion forum. (Pen enthusiast discussion forums are also apparently a thing.)
It’s like a regular pen, but looks bad ass, has less functionality than, and not as useful as, a regular pen, and costs more.
Same with anything with “tactical” in its marketing.
I had a friend get into fountain pens and it’s almost cult-like how they get into it. They aren’t hurting anybody (except maybe their pocketbooks) but it’s fascinating how deeply we can get involved with just about any esoteric subject.
I’ve even heard there are multiple successful podcasts about pens.
Far be it from me to shit on what obscure and mundane things people are into. Especially here, LOL. I post on the SDMB for fucks’ sake.