Something smells once again...
If he got through, why did he “alert” officials???
Prospective Darwin candidate....not likely.
"Testing response" for groups seeking our destruction...very likely.
Another “idiot” making a point. Or someone alerting the feds that it can be done? I, for one, don’t believe that anyone wanting to do such, can’t pull it off.
If he got through, why did he “alert” officials???
Because he probably realized a misdemeanor in VA was better than a federal felony by taking the gun on board an aircraft, which was his next stop.
There's actually a LOT of people who would do - and have done - such a thing. They're obeying the law while exercising their rights, realize they made a mistake and were not caught, and in a fit of uprightness do exactly what they have been told to do: contact the "authorities", fess up, and hand it over. They just don't realize that there's a next step they have _not_ been told about, and it involves LEOs not being their friends after all.
He’d probably forgotten he had it with him, and realized it after he’d passed through the checkpoint. He did the smart thing by reporting himself promptly, before he got caught with it. It’s a lot easier come forward and explain that you forgot you had it and realized it after security missed it, than to get caught with it and then try to convince the authorities that you hadn’t realized you had it with you.