Posted on 02/20/2015 10:37:36 AM PST by marktwain
As the graphic from TSA shows, they interdicted over 2,200 firearms, mostly loaded, from travelers' carry-on bags, holsters, pockets and a few other places and items last year. No doubt most of the interdicted firearms were those inadvertently brought into the security checkpoint by someone who otherwise could legally carry the firearm. The top ten airports are all in places with lots of permit holders. Three in Texas, three in Florida, one each in Arizona, Georgia, Tennessee, and Colorado. The Crime Prevention Research Center shows that there were 11.1 million concealed carry permits in the United States in July of 2014. As the number of permits is growing rapidly, we can reasonably assume an average of 11 million permits for the year. There are about 310 million people in the United States, so 3.5 percent of the population has a permit. TSA says that they check 1.8 million people a day, and that they found an average of six firearms a day. That is one improperly stowed firearm for every 300,000 people. Of those 300,000 people about 10,500 have concealed carry permits. That does not count the five constitutional carry states where no permit is required to legally carry a concealed weapon.
You see where this leads. About 1 out of every 10,000 concealed carry permit holders forgets that they had a firearm with them when they hit the security checkpoint. I know that you are conscientious. I know that I am conscientious... but are you conscientious 10,000 times in a row? Are you sure that after you checked the backpack that you were taking as a carry on, and that someone did not slip a pistol back into it afterward? It happened to me once with someone who was helping me pack up after teaching a concealed carry class. Have you ever used your carry-on as a range bag? Maybe you intended to leave your gear in a lockbox in the vehicle, but at the last minute, under considerable stress to make the flight, somebody asked for your help, or someone near and dear distracted you at a critical moment. It happens. At least 2,000 times a year.
Wait... as they said on the old TV commercials.. there's more! According to
people who are commenting on the TSA blog, the TSA's own tests says that they only find about 3 out of 10 forbidden items. From tsa.gov comments:
Anonymous said...It happened to me. Unlike many on the Internet, I know that I am not perfect. On a business trip to Denver, a number of years ago, I discovered, to my surprise, a full box of 50 .22 cartridges in my carry-on, after we were airborne. The cartridges stayed in Denver. Then, it was an annoyance. Today, with .22 more difficult to procure, a tragedy.
"How do you know what the guns, grenades etc that was caught was not intended to be an act of terrorism?"
TSA has a failure rate of ~70%. That means considerably more flew than were caught. Ergo, if anyone were targeting commercial aviation, then an act of terrorism would have occurred by now. The fact that one hasn't proves the point.
I think it’s insanity that we can’t carry our firearms just about anywhere we go. About the only place I think a check-in would necessary would be inside a courtroom.
When I was in high school, a classmate was shooting at a gun range with his dad over the weekend. He forgot that the gun and cartridges were in his backpack when he went to school Monday morning. He immediately realized and went straight to the front office to turn them in to the principal.
He was expelled and never able to graduate with us.
Groundhogs are fun. About that same age I had a Ruger 223 modeled like an M-16 with, get this, a 10x scope! The GH's never stood a chance. We got $3 a pelt. Not sure what happened to that rifle. I think my Dad lent it out to one of his friends, or traded it. By the time I noticed it was gone, I was already in college and $3 a pelt just wasn't appealing. There were other pelts that suddendly caught my attention.
I don’t consider myself dressed for the day util I have a weapon on my hip. I can’t conceive not realizing I have it when going places it isn’t allowed. Airports and military installations are absolute no way to forget I am carrying places.
Things sure have changed, and not much for the better.
Could you just imagine if a Country’s Citizens actually had the God Given right to “Keep and Bear Arms” protected by their own government from being infringed upon, NO terrorist in their right mind would EVER try to attack a country like that with EVERY LAST CITIZEN ARMED! It would be certain death.
I was watching an old episode of Adam-12, and they brought out a wand to screen passengers only on a specific flight, and only because they knew there was an armed and dangerous man trying to make a getaway.
It was sad to see all those people freely entering and exiting the airport, and being secure in their persons, free to go anywhere in the concourse they wanted to go - even on a flight until there was probable cause to wand. Sad to me anyway, to see all the freedoms we have lost.
I had a Winchester 255 (I think it was) lever action, with a 3-6 scope. Not a cowboy type rifle, a bit more modern. Sold it (foolishly) when I was in college, as I didn’t use it much by then. But the folks who bought it no doubt taught their two boys to shoot, so all is good.
One time, I almost shot a mouse at about 75 yards. Was shooting at a patch of dirt on a hill across a field. There was a dark spot I aimed at. Turned out to be a mouse hole! Shot a couple times, dirt would fly then a puff of dust. WTF? Third time I shot, I saw a mouse take off. He was trying to kick out the dirt I stirred up. True story.
My brother decimated the ground hogs and I never did get one.
I heard it happened to Ted Nugent’s wife Shemane a while back at DFW.
In all honesty, as a CCW holder, I’d find it pretty hard to forget about that.
We would take the supported prone position and I rigged up a tripod because of the 10x scope (the field stray was just too great in a young kids arms without the tripod). Then I'd whistle smartly. Sooner or later a GH would get up on its haunches to identify the whistle, then ((( pop ))).
My Dad taught me that; he could really whistle without fingers in his mouth. He always called GH's "whistlepigs".
Better question. How many terrorists have the TSA caught?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.