A 2016 headshaking story

   


     OK so for many of us 2016 has not ended well (and we still have 6 weeks to go) but some recent stories in the Columbia Patch have caught my attention in a way that leaves me shaking my head.  If you haven't heard in the past 7 days three people have been arrested at our airport, BWI, for trying to board a plane with a loaded handgun.   Think about that.  With the history of the TSA I wonder how many other loaded handguns have gotten through the screenings?  Each of the people arrested claimed to not realize that they had a loaded handgun in their carry on bag.  Two things come to mind.  One you are lying because you really, really thought you could get away with carrying a loaded handgun onto a plane or two you carry your loaded handgun everywhere and don't even think about when you may have to remove it.  I carry a pocket knife everyday as it is a useful tool with a knife, a screwdriver and a fingernail clipper.  With the metal detectors in a number of places when I get dressed in morning I think about the need to not carry it some days.  If I do this with my small, multi-functional pocket knife I have concerns about some of our fellow citizens so obvious to their carrying a loaded weapon around that they forget they have it going through airport security.
    For those of you who didn't read the Patch on the story here it is:

"For the third time in five days, a passenger with a loaded handgun was arrested at the security checkpoint at Baltimore Washington International Airport, federal authorities say. Men from Baltimore County and Delaware were arrested in separate incidents previously.

In the most recent case, a woman from Smyrna, Delaware, was charged after Transportation Security Administration officers detected a gun inside her large handbag as she entered a checkpoint. Police confiscated a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and arrested the woman on state weapons charges. The gun was loaded with six bullets, including one in the chamber.

According to the TSA, the woman said she had just cleaned out her handbag, but did not notice that the gun was hidden inside when she headed to the airport and she did not know she was carrying the weapon. She was ticketed to fly to Columbus, Ohio.

On Thursday, Nov. 10, police arrested a Gwynn Oak, Maryland, man who was carrying a loaded .38 caliber handgun loaded with five bullets when TSA officers caught him with the weapon at one of the airport checkpoints. The man told officers he did not know that he had a gun in his carry-on bag and said the weapon did not belong to him. He was ticketed to fly to Las Vegas.

In the second incident, police arrested a Millsboro, Delaware, man on Sunday, Nov. 13. He was carrying a loaded .22 caliber handgun loaded with six rounds when TSA officers stopped him. The man, who had a ticket to fly to Toronto, Canada, told authorities he forgot that he had a gun with him."

P.S.

     My own belief is that the arrested people thought they could really get through security.

P.S. 1

    This story also made remember my experience playing golf this year with a cousin of mine.  As we were looking for one of my errant golf balls we saw another golfer hitting a ball near where  mine had landed.  During the discussion of what to do to golfers who mistakenly hit your golf ball my cousin jokingly said "Don't worry I have my handgun in my golf bag."  I thought he was joking but no he really did had a handgun in his golf bag!  He has multiple handguns and usually carries one with him wherever he goes.  Now when I see him again (not very often) I will ask him if he would ever try to get though airport security with one of his handguns.