Posted on 05/11/2008 4:40:50 PM PDT by hole_n_one
LOS ANGELES, May 11 (Reuters) - Dennis Farina, a former policeman who built a Hollywood career playing detectives, was arrested on Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport for carrying a loaded gun on his way to board a plane, police said.
Farina, 64, told police he brought the .22 caliber, semi-automatic pistol with him on a drive from Arizona to Los Angeles and forgot it was in his briefcase when he tried to pass through airport security, police said in a statement.
He was scheduled to take a United Airlines flight to his home in Chicago.
"Farina was very apologetic and cooperative with officers," police said. "However, he had no apparent authority to carry a concealed weapon at the time of his arrest."
The actor was initially booked on one misdemeanor count of carrying a loaded firearm and bail was set at $25,000. The charge was upgraded later to a felony after police confirmed the gun was not registered, and bail was raised to $35,000.
Farina was a Chicago police officer for nearly 20 years before taking up acting in the 1980s. He has starred in movies such as "Get Shorty" and "Sidewalks of New York" and is perhaps best known in the role of New York Detective Joe Fontana on the popular television crime series, "Law & Order."
Got news for Fatboy...that gun is ILLEGAL in Chicago, too, not just on the plane. So much for the 2nd Amendment!
Book’em, Dano.
No more double standards!
Don’t they know that stars are allowed to have guns?
All jokes aside I wonder what effect the pending SC decision will have on cases like this.
No firearm should be illegal! (It was just undocumented!)
He did not make his career playing cops. He made it playing mobsters.
I remember him from “Police Story.” He was cool.
From the article......
Farina was a Chicago police officer for nearly 20 years before taking up acting in the 1980s.
One of my favorites. Caught him first in the best of the Hannibal Lecter movies, Manhunter.
BTW Brian Cox is a far superior Hannibal. Absolutely no blood seen but he scares the caca out of you
He’d have had a better argument if he was caught carrying on his person and said, “you know, I carry one on the set so often that I just plain forgot.”
I saw “Manhunter” but not any of the others. Weak stomach!
So Nice to see a fellow “Manhunter” Fan on this board, you have good taste!
ok sometimes I forget my expensive hair gel is in my purse but a gun? sheesh
The charge was upgraded later to a felony after police confirmed the gun was not registered, and bail was raised to $35,000.
Do you have to register all guns in California?
WOW I just crapped my pants! A whole real loaded gun? Unregistered? Luckily it didn’t shoot someone. Another moment and I bet it would have been a massacre. It is a good thing they arrested him, instead of doing something totally insane by overlooking his blatantly obvious attempt at getting a firearm through the frickin airport scanner (and then engage in mass-murder), with the airport employees placing the gun, unloaded, with the checked baggage.
ping
Our forefathers never intended people to have a RKBA that extended outside their homes. I think I heard there was a lost document that made it clear that when you left your home, you had to have your gun in a locked box on your horse or in your buggy if you intended to travel with a gun.
"Tard" refers to the ping list members and not to the subject of the thread!
List of Ping Lists
Actually, police officers and retired police officers, as of 2004, are exempted by Federal law from all state and local laws concerning possession or concealment of any non-NFA firearm.
People like Farina need to be arrested. It is an important arrest in curbing black on black violence and mexican gang activity?
If you are caught carrying a loaded handgun in CA without a CCW and the handgun is registered to you, its charged as a misdemeanor (for a first offense). If its not registered to you, it is charged as a felony.
also in a series called Crime Story, sort of a Miami Vice type show set in fifties Chicago. Lots of period music, etc. It didn’t last long, but it was an interesting concept.
I was on the same plane as Dennis Farina on a cross Atlantic flight from Paris. They played the movie “Get Shorty” on the screens in the cabin. I wondered if it was a coincidence or if the crew knew he would be on the plane.
It was interesting to sit in the seats next to him in the American Airlines waiting lounge after the flight. That guy has LOTS of charisma.
My hero!
I don't forget where my guns are.
Any of them. It's called being responsible, a first requirement if one is going to be armed, IMHO
SoCal ping
The thing that surprised me most about the story was that he would carry a .22.
[All jokes aside I wonder what effect the pending SC decision will have on cases like this.]
Virtually none. Different issues.
They oughta charge him with FELONY STUPIDITY!
ping
I love Dennis Farina. Fageleh or not. (Which I understand he is.)
Brian Cox rules.
First time I saw him was the head cop in “Super Troopers.”
Next time I saw him was Samara’s dad in “The Ring,” which scared the holy hell outa me.
Because as we all know, anyone who likes guns is a mass murderer waitin’ to bust out. ;p
Because as we all know, anyone who likes guns is a mass murderer waitin’ to bust out. ;p
>>>They oughta charge him with FELONY STUPIDITY!
It’s a shame stupidity does not induce pain more often...
Yes, that TV series was very cool. Remember the lush soundtrack, the deeply saturated colors...
He's certainly in trouble. Most cops I know, ex-cops for that matter, obsess about complying with the letter of the law. They may push the speed limit, but messing around with concealed weapons crosses a line even for cops.
They are paranoid about it. I was with an acquaintance who was carrying, in the state where he was a peace officer, but out of his jurisdiction. He went crazy about going into a flea market on a town common because they had a single entry point and he thought they might have metal detectors.
They precisely don't want to find themselves in the awkward, embarrassing and totally inexplicable position that Mr. Farina is in tonight.
Such commotion over a .22
No doubt your response would be the same if rather than Farina, it was a Quran toting muslim named Mahmoud
He was in Saving Private Ryan too. Just saw it on tv this afternoon. So was the actor who played John Adams in the HBO series.

The .22 is a deadly weapon.
Not for a Chicago cop. He just "forgot" to register it and being a former cop, it's unlikely they'll be any hastle hear. According to fed law, 18USC926(c), he can carry it anywhere in the US. CA certainly won't get a felony, since CA has no jurisdiction in Chicago.
The .22 has killed 1,000 of people....and IMO, probably killed more whitetail deer than any other caliber.
“I’m Ray Barboni from Miami.”
That is as an impressive a reply as I’ve ever seen on this forum in my almost 11 years here.
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