Posted on 10/21/2012 3:14:36 AM PDT by marktwain
There are two interesting numbers that can be put together here.
1) Apparently, past security checks have indicated that TSA fail to detect knives and guns about 70 percent of the time.
2) Also this year "Nationwide, more than 1,100 firearms have been discovered at TSA checkpoints from January through September."
If you put those two numbers together, you get the implication that more than 3,422 firearms improperly made it on to flights in the US this year (=1,110 * (70/30) * (4/3)). That seems like a lot of guns on planes, yet how many problems arose from all these guns? It looks to me like there were zero problems. Obviously, a lot of these people don't know that they have a gun with them when they are flying, so it provides only limited information on how safe it is for people to knowingly fly with guns on planes.
I started thinking about this issue because of this story in the Detroit News:
Anthony Adams, formerly a Detroit deputy major and school board president, was arrested Thursday afternoon at Detroit Metro Airport after a loaded gun was found in his carry-on bag at a security checkpoint.Michael Conway, a spokesman for the airport, confirmed Adams was arrested and his .40 caliber handgun confiscated Thursday around 5 p.m. as he was going through McNamara Terminal airport security.
"He was very apologetic. He said he forgot it was in the bag. He and his wife were rushing to get on the plane," said Conway. Adams served as deputy mayor under Kwame Kilpatrick and is among the defense witnesses in the bid-rigging trial of Bobby Ferguson. Adams served as the president of the school board for Detroit Public Schools until his resignation last year.
Conway said police took Adams for questioning and determined the gun was registered to him and he had a permit to carry it. They released him. He missed his flight but was able to fly later, he said. . . .
Yes, this fellow is a liberal. He has the same Constitutional right to bear arms as Conservatives do.
I know it can happen, but I doubt that so many actually “forget”. Maybe I’m just anal - I always know when I have a weapon (99% of time) and where it is and whether there’s one in the tube, etc. That said, it is nuts to screw with the good guys while we know that they aren’t competent to stop the bad guys. My wife started to take her gun out of her purse to go shopping because she “wouldn’t need it there”. I told her that the folks that got killed at Fort Hood, at the movie theater and many othe rplaces also thought they wouldn’t need to be armed to defend themselves. She looked at me for a second and I could see the gears moving, then she put it back in her purse and hasn’t left home without it since.
Yes, I see how it could happen. I typically wear a pistol when in the woods on our property and forget about it, go into town, buy something and when I pull my coat back to get the wallet, there it is in plain sight. I corrected that by getting a concealed weapons permit.
But I don’t think that would work for a plane trip.
A friend of mine grabbed his gun bag instead of his carry on travel bag once.
He missed his flight and spent the day talking to men in suits and sunglasses. He ended up with just a stern warning though.
It is that 1% that trip people up. Nearly all CCW holders are concientious, prudent, and responsible people. But, when you have 8 million of them, The few hundred that are caught at airports with firearms are the tiny percentage that got caught up in a unusual set of circumstances and events.
What about knives?
FrogDad and I were at our retirement property where we had our 5th wheel parked. We were cleaning up to go home. His 4” Buck knife was laying on the table, I threw it into the side pocket of my purse and we traveled home.
The next day, I went to the airport to travel for work, went through all of the security checks and went to the East coast. I dumped out my purse on the bed when I arrived at the hotel to find something. Out falls that 4” Buck knife.
I still shudder to think what would have happened if they’d found it at security. AND shudder to think that they didn’t.
The 1% is when I have to go into an establishment that it is illegal to take a weapon into - then it is locked in the car.
Carrying carries a full duty to be in control of your firearm at all times. Control starts with knowing where it is at all times. This is easier when it is on your person. When not on your person, it must be secured.
If government gives its own Secret Service [1] or TSA agents a non-criminal pass when they leave their firearms in an airplane lavatory during a commercial flight, they must also give licensed civilians a pass when they are similarly negligent.
Based on my own experiences, I believe it very easy to forget you have a firearm in your possessions.
While I have never done so at an airport, several times I have realized I was in a criminal enterprise zone (all hospitals) and had to make a hasty departure to my car.
I never accidently fly with a gun...it’s part of my survival kit, as well as a flare gun. How I DO love General Aviation!
Get rid of TSA.
Let CCW’s carry on aircraft.
Problem solved.......
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