Guns Confiscated at the Airport Increasing

[mikeb302000]

The New York Times

In fact, the T.S.A. says the number of guns found at airport security checkpoints has been steadily rising for the last couple of years. Through Friday, 1,105 guns have been found this year, a pace that is higher than last year’s. In 2011, the total was 1,320, up from 1,123 in 2010, the agency says.

Security experts attribute the increase to two factors: a rise in gun sales and the sharp growth of so-called right-to-carry laws across the country that significantly relax regulations on carrying guns in many areas of public life, from colleges to hospitals.

Invariably, according to the T.S.A., travelers at airports with guns in their carry-on bags say they simply forgot they had them. “It’s almost always inadvertent rather than intentional,” said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the agency.

Like other professionals in security, law enforcement and firearms safety, Mr. Castelveter was baffled by how anyone could forget that they were carrying a gun. “I’m a Vietnam vet, and when I went through training I was taught that my gun was my best friend — and God forbid you should ever lose sight of that fact. I would never, ever not know that I have a gun in my bag.”

The usefulness of One Strike You're Out cannot be overestimated. The same people who "forget" they have a gun in their possession when the arrive at the airport are the same ones who are capable of forgetting there's a round in the chamber when they clean their gun or forget to store the gun properly when its not on their person.

These people are dangerous and should be disarmed.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Cross posted at Mikeb302000

[msongs]

1. 2A does NOT prohibit guns on airplanes. sounds like a clear rights violation eh? nt

[Eleanors38]

7. You are right! However, guns are not allowed carry-on.nt

[friendly_iconoclast]

2. Of course the usefulness of "One Strike You're Out" can be overestimated...

...as for some reason your 'important public safety ideas' aren't actually important enough to appear on a site that doesn't line your pockets.

Put it here, or take your cheap blog pimping elsewhere.

[ileus]

3. You can't talk to the king like that.

[Remmah2]

4. Don't mess with the king!

[img][/img]

[mikeb302000]

14. I have no advertising on my blog. I make no money on it. n.t.

[rrneck]

5. The least you could do

is Google your own spam fodder.

[Eleanors38]

6. Correction to NYT story: Right-to-carry laws are not "so-called"...

They are on the books and constitutionally valid. The NYT needs to inculcate this.

[Atypical Liberal]

8. Why are you so out to punish people who have harmed no one?

If these people have harmed no one, why get all upset about it?

These people should not have to disarm when getting on airplanes anyway.

[mikeb302000]

15. It's not punishment to require

that gun owners be responsible.

Why would you resist such an idea? Do you think it's OK to be irresponsible with guns?

[Atypical Liberal]

19. They WERE required to be responsible.

No one has claimed that firearm owners should not be responsible, and these people were required to be responsible.

The punishment is your proposal that they should lose their right to keep and bear arms over a triviality that harmed no one.

[petronius]

9. There are several active DU threads on this topic, both in the gungeon as

well as a long thread in LBN about this particular article, in which I commented thusly...

(By the way, your link does not go directly to the NYT.)

[oneshooter]

11. He knows that it dosen't. How else can he pimp his sorry ass blog.

[mikeb302000]

16. The NYT link does not go to my blog. n.t.

[glacierbay]

10. What's dangerous about them Mike?

The fact that they may have forgotten that it's in their luggage Mike? Were they planning to shoot up the airport/aircraft Mike? Sometimes shit happens and people forget, Mike. These people are not dangerous until proven by a preponderance of evidence that they are dangerous.

[mikeb302000]

17. What's dangerous about them is this.

They are indistinguishable from people who have bad intent. Unless we take this "mistake" more seriously, then the true criminal hijacker can easily say, "Oh, my, I forgot it was there."

Gun responsibility should be a requirement not an option.

[gejohnston]

18. a true criminal hijacker would not be

that stupid to have a weapon so easily found.

[spin]

12. First before we throw an honest but forgetful person in jail ...

because he had his head up his ass and left his legal firearm in his carry on bag, perhaps we ought to use your "One Strike You're Out" rule against those who have a violent criminal record who are caught carrying an ILLEGAL firearm on the street.

[GreenStormCloud]

13. I forgot about my pocket knife and my medic alert necklace today. What punishment do you advise?

Today I accompanied my wife to court. There was an old citation from 2007 that she thought had been resolved, until she got a letter from Dallas court on Thursday. We parked downtown and I took my gun out of my pocket and locked it in the car. I forgot that I had a small pocket knife (two inch blade, lock back) in my other pocket. When they held out the tray to put keys and stuff in to go through the metal dectector I pulled my keys out and then remembered my pocket knife. Not wanting to hike back to the car and delay her I decided to turn the knife over to them. The lady attendant politely informed me that I would not be able to get it back as it would be conficated and destroyed. I said that I understood but didn't have time to go back to my car. I surrendered the knife.

Then the metal dectector beeped. Oops. Belt buckle. Beeped again. Stepped to the side for the hand scanner. My metal necklace with the medic alert tag and the nitro-pill holder. OK, now clear to go.

So I forgot about some things that I always have on me? Does that make me a person of evil intent?

[4th law of robotics]

21. No more guns for you

That is an additional punishment Mike would tack on to all crimes, even things that aren't really crimes but he feels ought to be. Oh and even if you're acquitted in a court of law.

[4th law of robotics]

20. How many have died at airports due to this steady increase in guns?

And stop whoring your blog.

Pay for ad space like anyone else.

[Common Sense Party]

22. The ONLY important question here is:

What happens to these confiscated guns, and can I buy them from the TSA for cheap?