Airport screeners find 75 guns per month

THE WASHINGTON TIMES ^ | November 25, 2004 | Audrey Hudson

[neverdem]

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The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

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Airport screeners find 75 guns per month

By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published November 25, 2004

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Traveling for the holidays? Have everything you need? Razor? Toothbrush? Handgun? Ammunition?

    Homeland Security officials say that even now, three years after the September 11 terrorist attacks prompted new security measures at airports, passengers continue to show up at the terminals carrying guns and bullets.

    Airport screeners find 2,000 bullets and 75 guns per month on passengers or in carry-on bags, said Mark Hatfield, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). At 450 airports across the country, an average of two guns per day are discovered.

    "The numbers are going up," Mr. Hatfield said.

    Nearly every case is accidental -- hunters forget to take ammo out of coat pockets and sportsmen forget to take guns out of bags after target practice or a trip to the skeet range, he said.

    A 79-year-old woman was arrested Tuesday at Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Florida after a single-shot Colt Derringer and seven bullets were found in her tote bag.

    The woman said she had placed the gun in a hollowed-out book in the bag months ago and had forgotten about it. She faces a penalty of up to five years in prison.

    "That underscores the importance of the need to screen everyone," TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said. "This continues to be a significant problem at checkpoints across the country."

    The National Rifle Association (NRA) is teaming up with the TSA on a public service campaign to remind its members to include guns and bullets in last-minute...

[El Gato]

It is another thing entirely if the gunfight involved 10 people or more, no?

Different, but not so very much. On a large aircraft that 15" outlet valve, which can close, would be about equivalent to 1111 .45 caliber bullet holes. More if the bullets are smaller caliber.

[Poohbah]

Could happen, although not so terribly likely. It could happen that an air Marshall would shoot the wrong person as well. AFAIK, that hasn't happened yet either. Is that worse than letting the terrorists crash the aircraft into a building and killing thousands?

I submit that allowing persons carrying firearms in the passenger cabin will make it easier for the terrorists to take control of the aircraft.

[El Gato]

At the VERY best, you would have DOZENS of aircraft landing every week with cabins full of corpses.

Sure just like Florida, Texas and other states become "Gunshine States" with dozens of "road rage" deaths as shootouts occurred after fender benders and CHL holders being cut off in traffic. Didn't happen. Not that that fact prevents the gun grabbers from bringing it up every time another state is trying to pass a CHL law.

[El Gato]

Aloha Airlines Flight(727, I think)

It , Flight 243, was a 737-200.

[Barnacle]

Guns on an airplane are a very bad idea, regardless of who is holding them.

I'm pretty sure that Air Marshalls have safety slugs. They disintegrate on impact.

Besides, if you've ever been through heavy turbulence, you know those air frames are built tough. IMHO, simple air flowing out of the plane from a bullet hole isn't going to do a thing.

[Barnacle]

Stewardess, about that gin and tonic I ordered... Forget the tonic.

[El Gato]

I'm glad sopmeone else here recognizes the inherent disaster involved in a gunfight situation ON BOARD AN AIRCRAFT WITH TERRORISTS. Outdrawing and hitting a terrorist with a gun out.

Almost anything is better than letting the terrorists take the aircraft.

Still, if an airline could assure me that the pilots were armed, and they, not the federal government, judged that they did not want passengers armed, I could live with that. As it is, passengers, cabin crews and most flight crews are not armed, and the chances of a Sky Marshall being on the flight when the terrorists take over with their plexiglass knives are slim to none. At that point you have to hope the pilots can get the aircraft on the ground, and the commandos get to the aircaft before the terrorists get to you. Or if one is more concerned about those on the ground, the terrorists run out of hostages to kill before the pilots give in to the carnage going on behind them.

[HawaiianGecko]

ping

[HawaiianGecko]

If a bullet were to penetrate a pressurized airplane, the passengers would not be sucked out the windows from "explosive decompression." That is a persistent urban myth originating with the 1964 movie, Goldfinger, starring Sean Connery as James Bond.

Airplanes already have holes. Air is constantly pumped into... and out of... the plane. (Otherwise, the passengers would suffocate.) It is not a closed system. The size of the hole (the "outflow valve") depends on the size of the plane, but it is a big hole. Outflow valves are over a square foot on the 737, up to two square feet on the 757, and so on. You can lose three windows and still keep the cabin pressurized. A 9mm/.357 caliber bullet makes a hole with an area of 1/10th of a square inch. (Area = pi R squared.) The effect of a bullet hole on cabin pressure is not enough to be measurable.

Explosive decompression only occurs with huge holes. In 1986, a bomb blew a 20-square-foot hole in a TWA 727 over Athens, and 4 passengers were killed. In 1988, an 18-foot section of the roof came off an Aloha Airlines 737 mid-flight, and one flight attendant was killed. (Both planes landed safely.)

If the Goldfinger Syndrome were true, the Airline Pilots Association would not have voted to arm pilots, and the FAA would not be talking about armed sky marshals.

It's a myth, OK? It was just a movie.

[Shryke]

Please note that I am aware of this. Someone else suggested explosive decompression. My point centered around dozens of bullets wrecking the plane's ability to fly through various means (electrical, hydraulic, etc.).

[HawaiianGecko]

I know, I just included the names of people that were involved in the conversation.