Posted on 04/20/2017 3:25:45 PM PDT by ifinnegan
Federal officials have admitted that procedures were violated at Los Angeles International Airport when an off-duty police officer boarded a flight to Taiwan with a handgun in her carry-on bag.
Santa Monica Officer Noell Grant was barred from leaving Taiwan on April 13, after she entered the country with the gun that was missed by airport security at LAX, authorities said.
The Transportation Security Administration “has determined standard procedures were not followed and a police officer did in fact pass through the checkpoint with a firearm,” TSA Public Affairs Manager Nico Melendez said in a statement Wednesday.
This still image from a YouTube video posted on the Santa Monica Police Department’s website shows Officer Noell Grant. (Image courtesy YouTube) When asked if anyone would be disciplined, he said, “we’ll hold those responsible appropriately accountable.”
The Santa Monica Police Department was notified last week that Grant had been detained at an airport in Taiwan during a layover to Thailand, Santa Monica police confirmed Wednesday. Grant was on vacation with family at the time, said Lt. Saul Rodriguez, the department’s public information officer.
“We know that she left out of here – out of LAX – arrived in Taiwan, at which point she notified officials in Taiwan that she inadvertently left a weapon in her bag, being the gun that was found,” Rodriguez said.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
How does TSA at LAX miss a gun and bullets in a woman's purse?
It isn’t the TSA’s responsibility to keep you from violating foreign laws. With the right paperwork, cops can carry through security.
She’ll probably get out of it better than if she’d been going to Mexico.
Yes. TSA is responsible.
Good point about Mexico. I know what you’re referring to.
So the fact the TSA missed a gun is not her problem?
She still broke the law and is in a world of bleep regardless of what the TSA did or didn’t do.
Affirmative action?
I think she’d be in trouble here if the TSA had done it’s job.
It is her fault for bringing a gun and bullets in her purse.
There’ve been reports on these things where people forget they have a gun in their bag. Every time, to my knowledge, TSA finds it.
The news account shows a picture of a Ruger LCP. A delightfully easy weapon to conceal. But it is so light and easy to conceal that you can forget you have it!
For those of us traveling overseas, it pays to completely empty out the luggage, clothing, anything with a pocket, to make sure you don’t have contraband of some sort. Foreign governments can be less than understanding.
She is screwed.
C.W.
I’ve read some horror stories that involved gunpowder residue.
I’d just buy a brand new bag.
That’s why my choice for concealed carry is the S&W500, stainless, with an 8” barrel. While it falls a little short in concealability, it’s almost unmatched for stopping power, and you never forget you have it on.
Because the TSA is NOT a security agency, despite what their shiny tin badges say. The TSA is the largest governmental make-work program since the Works Projects Administration in the 1930s. The hard-core unemployable are given badges and pensions and are turned out to do everything BUT their jobs.
Tom Daschle said, “You don’t professionalize until you federalize.” And you can see over and over again exactly how much the federal government is capable of professionalism. Is this maddening, infuriating, driving you to violence? Yes.
Is it surprising? Not on all of our lives.
The gunpower residue thing has happened to me. I got severely groped, and after some delay was sent on my way. I was groped enough to think I deserved a steak dinner, or a least a few drinks. But no.
C.W.
But yet they pull some five year old kids’ plastic sword he got as a gift from Disneyland.
This brings to light several issues that were bound to happen.
1) TSA, like all government departments, is inept.
2) Government workers break laws by accident and get off. While if we do the same thing, the punishment is worse (its the old rule, “everybody is equal but some are more equal than others”).
3) I hope she would have remembered the gun in her purse if the plane was hijacked.
4) Taiwan has higher quality standards than we have.
Did she go through the full TSA inspection or did she badge her way through at LAX?
I know in this country, if I landed with a piece in, say, New York City, I’d immediately rent a car, drive very legally through New Jersey on I-80, and then find a gun dealer in Pennsylvania to send my piece back to a gun dealer at home.
I would NEVER, EVER, tell law enforcement about it, as there are simply too many stories with bad endings.
Now in Taiwan, changing airplanes for another international flight, she might get re-screened in that situation, so things get more interesting there. If I did have possession of the piece in Taiwan it would be a tough call - in all cases, I have to get through Immigration and Customs, so they’re going to get a good look at me (being scared Shiiteless). Another option might be to stash the piece in no-man’s land, perhaps in a bathroom and hope to get out of the country (ideally back in the US) before it’s found, since the serial number will trace it. If not possible, then turn it in.
... but the TSA did find 5 tubes of toothpaste over 4 oz, 3 hair gels over the size limit, an electric toothbrush, and a package of Tic-Tacs.
TSA grabbed over 3000 guns last year. (Frankly, travel would be safer if they allowed guns and banned alcohol).
She should have flown through Dallas (most for a city - 249)or Atlanta (most for a single airport - 198) - they do a good job of finding guns there. Upstate NY, on the other hand, seems to do a mighty poor job (Rochester - 0, Syracuse and Albany, 2 each).
How was the residue transferred to your bag/pockets? Fired shells, unfired, fired weapon or just being at the range?
Does laundering clean ok?
Not that I have to worry about powder residue, I have artificial knees and get groped every time I leave Texas.
They don’t want safety, they want control. To put it another way, Safety is not their goal. Control is their goal.
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