This is one “oops” I can relate to, after my TSA experience in Phoenix. Apparently there’s about 902 firearms found at security checkpoints each year. Although I was a lot more careful with the guns themselves, I can easily see how someone in a rush can forget a pistol in a tote bag until it runs through the system. It’s one big problem with off-body carry, and one reason I don’t often practice it.
6 thoughts on “Apparently Lots of Guns Get Found by TSA”
Comments are closed.
The article is shockingly slanted; it’s quite legal to “bring guns to an airport,” you just have to follow the (stupid, annoying) rules. But reading it, one gets the impression that any gun, in any manner, is a total no-no. Ain’t so; ordinary citizens fly with guns all the time — in checked luggage, in a locked container, but it happens.
It’s legal in most states to flat out carry in the airport. In Alaska I can open carry up and down the concourse as long as I don’t pass through the checkpoint.
Obviously I probably wouldn’t OC (drama), but if I check a gun on the way home, I’m holstering up in the bathroom right at baggage claim.
One big complaint I have about my summer carry rig is I often have no place to put a reload. One thought I had was I could tuck a few reloads into my commuter bag. But the thought that I might someday forget about them and bring them someplace I shouldn’t is far too high.
That’s because beyond the checkpoint for ticketed passengers is a “sensitive place,” while outside that checkpoint is not. Makes sense to me.
I should note that while TSA finds lots of guns at check points (certainly many of them, if not most are carried there accidentally), note that they DON’T find some, just by chance or because they are less effective than they might be.
I’ve read about situations where airplane passengers realize to their horror that they have loaded magazines, or sometimes pistols, in their carry-on bags. Some of these realizations are made when the plane is in the air.
Screeners just flat-out miss things, sometimes, making sensitive places designations less-than-perfect.
This is the main reason I keep my gun stuff and range bags very separate from my travel bags.