Turks and Caicos Islands, luggage and bullets

In My Humble Opinion
61

I travel internationally a lot. You bet your ass that I religiously check each country i’m going to - even if it’s just a layover - for what they consider contraband. With particular attention to prescription medication, especially if traveling to southeast asia or the middle east, and even if the med is legal in the country I carry official prescriptions and official documentation from my physician.

I do not shoot but I would never let any bag or container that came near guns or ammo anywhere near my luggage.

I also have dedicated luggage that is ONLY ever used for international travel. Nothing else. And it is emptied completely after every trip.

May sound extreme but I don’t ever want to end up in a Qatari or Singaporian or Peruvian prison.

If you break the law in a foreign country they WILL throw your ass in jail and they do not care that you are an American and do not care what rights you may enjoy when you’re back home. And the options for the embassy to get you out might be pretty limited.

62

Since you don’t want to read the multiple reasons that have already been posted, just what is it you want to hear? What answer are you looking for?

63

I just wanna know, Why?

I have read newspapers many years. I read 3 everyday, I’m able.
I don’t do click on the computer news.
I watch CNN and my local weather report.

This is about why is it newsworthy now and not the 10 million times it’s happened before?

64

What is it about the reasons that we have given you that are lacking?

65

I don’t know.
It all just seems odd to me.

Y’all have given very informative answers and cites.
And I believe them all for the most part.

It’s probably just my morbid curiosity. And nothing else.

Thanks for your cromulent responses.

66

Yes I remember when cannabis meant prison.

I don’t know how the interstate cannabis protocols have evolved over the years as I will partake in the legal recreational states but leave it all behind on my way home.

Last time I was in Colorado I left several “gummies” as well as a tip for the hospitality staff.

Was not about to risk a kerfuffle at the airport.

67

A comedian said he used to go in the woods with friends to furtively smoke marijuana, now he hits his vape walking through Target.

68

It’s insane how rapidly the cannabis landscape has evolved.

I still would not travel anywhere with it in my luggage and certainly would never carry any live ammunition or firearms.

I think Turks and Caicos is simply trying to cut down crime as their main source of revenue is tourism. People who travel should be extra cautious when packing lest the long arm of law descend.

69

I’m comfortable taking my vape pen from one legal state to another. I would never bring flower.

70

So when you come visit, I’ll not expect a bouquet. I guess. :bouquet: :neutral_face:

(Yes, I know what flower is)

71

Social media might play a role too; more people post of their legal troubles on Twitter or Instagram or whatever and “news” websites pick up stories that they maybe wouldn’t have heard about before.

Some of it is probably what news sources you consume. Canadian media has, for as long as I remember, had news stories every few months about the numbers of Americans turned away at the border trying to bring in a gun and allegedly asserting their “second amendment” rights. I doubt this “story” gets much airplay on CNN or Fox or local new stations in Alabama.

There might be events like this happening relatively routinely, from all kinds of places, but when the news picked up one story from Turks and Caicos, the second one is more “interesting” because it’s the same place.

72

TBH this sounds like fairly typical media cycle to me:

  • Bad thing X happens, and for some reason (it’s a very bad instance of X, the victim is very photogenic and media friendly, it’s a slow news day, etc.) it makes the front pages
  • Bad thing X happens again, because actually X happens fairly often
  • Because the original case is was just on the front pages, this new case also makes the front pages
  • Repeat a few times. Now it looks like you have a sudden shocking outbreak of X. Rates of X are exploding! Something must be done about X!
  • Actually the rate of X has not increased at all. X is happening as often as it always has, it’s just on the front pages.
  • Eventually the media moves on to bad thing Y, everyone forgets about it.

Not that this is definitely what’s happening here, but it would not surprise me.

73

It’s been discussed on the Dope several times over the last year. You’ve just missed it.

74

They actually had those stories on the news around here a couple of months ago, and the general gist was that these clowns had basically gone on vacation with a single stray round in their luggage somewhere, and then got caught with it on the way out, and were then imprisoned and facing a really lengthy (12 year?) prison sentence.

Which does seem a little bit unreasonable for a first time offender, who’s clearly NOT a drug dealer, arms dealer, or any sort of other criminal whatsoever.

I think the reason it made the news in the first place was a combination of the potential draconian sentence, the fact that it was on the way out, not the way in, and that they were basically imprisoned until trial which as we all know, tends to derail people’s lives.

75

I’m curious why Beck saw so many news articles she didn’t think she had to cite any of them, and i have seen none and wondered what the hell the thread was about.

But i know how it happened. If you aren’t meticulous about cleaning out your bag, stuff gets hidden in the cracks. I once flew to DC, and two days later, when i was rummaging through my backpack, i found a large sheathed kitchen knife that had been in the bag for the months, since I’d taken it to the office to cut a birthday cake, and then forgotten about.

  1. yup, i inadvertantly snuggled that through TSA.
  2. it was pretty large. I’m not sure why i hadn’t noticed it in 3 months, but i guess it was under other stuff. And i totally missed it.
  3. bullets are small. If you ever carry loose ammo, i imagine it gets into all sorts of interstices.
76

I’ve been seeing these reports for a few months.

I have no cites, except it was on just about every news I looked at. When they were arrested. When they had court. About 3 weeks ago they showed a man flying home. His words to some reporter “I’m glad to be home” That’s all.

Then a few days ago CNN reported 3 more people were arrested. Same charge. Same country.

I found it curious. That’s all.

77

In thinking about why these particular cases are getting significant coverage in the news:

In journalism, there’s a term: “‘man bites dog’ story.” What that means is that journalists and news outlets don’t give much (if any) coverage of mundane, everyday, expected news stories – dogs bite men all the time, and those stories don’t make the news. But, if a man bites a dog – well, that’d different, and unexpected, and readers/viewers will want to know more.

I think that’s what’s going on here. Americans apparently run afoul of having guns or ammo in their baggage all the time, both while traveling domestically in the U.S., and when traveling abroad. In most cases, and most countries, they probably get away with a fine, having their firearms impounded, and maybe being instructed to not ever return to that country. Those stories are common enough that they’ve become “dog bites man” stories, in essence.

But, in this case, you have Americans who are being charged with a crime, outside the U.S., where the statutory punishment for the crime (12 years or more in prison) seems, to most American eyes, to be completely out of proportion with the level of the crime (a couple of bullets in one’s luggage).

Add to that the fact that any news story related to gun rights, and what may be viewed by some as overzealous prosecution of gun laws, is going to be extremely likely to be something that will draw attention, and readership, and online “clicks,” which is what drives the news outlets to decide what gets big coverage, and what doesn’t. In this case, “man gives dog a tiny nibble, and is looking at a dozen years in a filthy foreign prison.”

78

There’s a joke in there somewhere.

79

Lol. Typed with swype. Who knows what i intended to say?

80

There is one thing, when you travel by air with firearms they “clearly, without mistake say do not carry ammo ever” . The gun must be in an airline approved case, unloaded, no ammo in the case."
My husband has traveled with long guns.

Handguns are prohibited. AIUI, without exception.

(I just looked, apparently you can carry ammo in it’s original packaging, declared)