Airport screeners find 75 guns per month

THE WASHINGTON TIMES ^ | November 25, 2004 | Audrey Hudson

[neverdem]

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The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

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Airport screeners find 75 guns per month

By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published November 25, 2004

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Traveling for the holidays? Have everything you need? Razor? Toothbrush? Handgun? Ammunition?

    Homeland Security officials say that even now, three years after the September 11 terrorist attacks prompted new security measures at airports, passengers continue to show up at the terminals carrying guns and bullets.

    Airport screeners find 2,000 bullets and 75 guns per month on passengers or in carry-on bags, said Mark Hatfield, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). At 450 airports across the country, an average of two guns per day are discovered.

    "The numbers are going up," Mr. Hatfield said.

    Nearly every case is accidental -- hunters forget to take ammo out of coat pockets and sportsmen forget to take guns out of bags after target practice or a trip to the skeet range, he said.

    A 79-year-old woman was arrested Tuesday at Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Florida after a single-shot Colt Derringer and seven bullets were found in her tote bag.

    The woman said she had placed the gun in a hollowed-out book in the bag months ago and had forgotten about it. She faces a penalty of up to five years in prison.

    "That underscores the importance of the need to screen everyone," TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said. "This continues to be a significant problem at checkpoints across the country."

    The National Rifle Association (NRA) is teaming up with the TSA on a public service campaign to remind its members to include guns and bullets in last-minute...

[Dead Corpse]

What do you think the odds are of that plane continuing to fly?

Very good actually. Learn something about aircraft then come back and continue discourse on this subject. Explosive decompression? Not unless you were carrying a Howitzer. No pistol caliber bullet would do enough collective damage to the fuselage. Airlines mandating frangible or bi-metal "aircraft safe" slugs would even get rid of the possibility of wrecking the avionics of hyd lines.

No. Punching a round, even a tracer round, through a gas tank is not enough to cause an explosion. Just a leak. Try shooting a gas can full of fuel sometime and you'll see what I mean.

I'd rather get shot in a gun fight with terrorists than sit there f*cking helpless while the plane gets crashed into a juicy target or lawn darted.

[Shryke]

That's pretty much the basis of my argument. Allowing everyone to carry a weapon would NOT reduce terrotists threat to aircraft. It would increase the threat. It's a question of initiative (terrorist is going to open fire first) and liabilities (terrorist WANTS everyone to die).

[jimthewiz]

At altitude? Not much. The first round to penetrate the fuselage would probably cause an explosive decompression that would not only suck people out the hole, it could cause enough damage to bring about catastrophic failure of the fuselage.

That is highly unlikely.
Remember the plane in Hawaii a few years ago that lost a large piece of the fusilage and the pilot managed to fly it and land it with the only fatality being someone who was sucked out through the gaping hole.

Bullet holes would cause decompression, but not likely cause catastrophic failure.
A greater danger would be if a bullet punctured a hydraulic line causing loss of control.

[Shryke]

Learn something about aircraft then come back and continue discourse on this subject

I know quite a bite about aircraft, for a laymen. Where in my post did I suggest explosive decompression? It's is a very practical thing to say that one guy with a handgun is going to have a very hard time disabling an aircraft. It is another thing entirely if the gunfight involved 10 people or more, no? You also discount entirely the fact that terrorists would be able to research schematics on the aircraft, take hostages, etc.

At the VERY best, you would have DOZENS of aircraft landing every week with cabins full of corpses.

[datura]

Your argument follows the same line of "logic" as the gun grabbers who say that unlimited carry would turn the cities into Wild West fire zones.

An armed society is a polite society.

[gc4nra]

"At altitude? Not much. The first round to penetrate the fuselage would probably cause an explosive decompression that would not only suck people out the hole, it could cause enough damage to bring about catastrophic failure of the fuselage."


...and you got your facts from what movie???

[TERMINATTOR]

99.99%. What are your chances of surviving if your plane crashes into something like the world trade center? A few small holes (.45 or less) wouldn't even effect presurization. One flight had the whole top of the plane missing and landed safely. Only a stewardess was sucked out. All the passengers were fine.

[mvpel]

In a very small confined space, it strikes me that the odds of a running gunfight are somewhat on the low side. Even cops hit what they aim at most of the time, and at airplane cabin distances, it seems that the odds would be higher.

[Revolting cat!]

Nice cartoon (#5), but where is the token Asian-American, token gay midget and a token disabled activist (for starters)?

[Poohbah]

Very good actually. Learn something about aircraft then come back and continue discourse on this subject.

Learn something about how human beings react under gunfire, then come back and continue discourse on this subject.

Statistics from war tell that 80% of the good guys will freeze or act erratically.

The remaining 20% who attempt to act decisively will be attempting to discern friend from foe in a confusing, chaotic mess. They will engage those of the 80% who act erratically, in addition to having to constantly check six to make sure that the bad guys don't have someone waiting for the armed passengers to react. They will be "armies of one," and about as tactically effective.

Meanwhile, the bad guys will have the advantage of superior situational awareness (knowing that your allies are Abu, Ahmed, and Mohammed, and that everyone else is a kuffar, really simplifies the tactical picture).

Firearms favor the few and organized over the many and unorganized. (Note: the American Indian tribes frequently had better weaponry than the US Army, but they still lost.) Better to have the passenger cabin gun-free (i.e., not even sky marshals), and to have the pilots armed and behind a door that takes some time to breach. (Stick firing ports into the door, and you can stack up dead terrorists in front of it all day.)

[Poohbah]

Even cops hit what they aim at most of the time

That is NOT my experience.

[gc4nra]

Did you ever hear about the Aloha Airlines Flight(727, I think) that continued to fly when about a third of the top of the fuselage tore off? A couple of people including one flight attendant fell out, but the plane managed to land safely

[Dead Corpse]

Bravo sierra. Terrorists look for targets of opportunity. Make an aircraft a too pricey target to take, and you eliminate that option. Period. 140 vs. 10 is pretty darn good odds and a damn sight better than the sitting ducks we are now.

[mvpel]

Aloha Airlines, April 28, 1988. The roof from just behind the cockpit back to the wing blew off at 24,000 feet due to stress cracks in the fuselage. The plane made a safe landing at Maui, and suffered one dead, Clarabell Lansing who was the chief flight attendant, and 65 injured.

[mvpel]

Right, just like we have dozens of shootouts every week over parking spaces in the states with shall-issue concealed carry licensing systems, eh?

[mvpel]

Even 51%? ;-)

[Dead Corpse]

Hey Poobah. Still souring milk for a hobby I see. I guess those poor clods and their "Let's Roll" comment were just hopeless, helpless idiots as well?

Considering how many of us "out here" are former military or retired/off duty law enforcement, your "out of my butt" stats are pessimistic enough to be utterly irrelavent.

[Poohbah]

Right, just like we have dozens of shootouts every week over parking spaces in the states with shall-issue concealed carry licensing systems, eh?

How many people in parking-space disputes are seeking martyrdom and 72 virgins for killing a bunch of kuffars?

[hopespringseternal]

What do you think the odds are of that plane continuing to fly?

Compared to what actually happened? Pretty good.

It never ceases to amaze me how people repeatedly choose the terrorist who will kill them over the well intentioned neighbor who has a remote chance of killing them.

[blau993]

Hatfield is the designated TSA BS Spewer. This is all timed to deflect criticism of the TSA for the intrusive searches and heavy handed (pun intended) frisking of passengers. The TSA is totally out of control, but they hope this PR campaign will distract us from demanding accountability. Remember this. The GSA periodically runs tests in which they attempt to sneak guns, knives and other prohibited items through TSA checkpoints. The last statistic I saw was that TSA intercepted these items only 25% of the time. TSA -- our motto is "We get it right one time out of four."