Gun Goes Off at Checkpoint at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport

opposingviews.com ^ | 12 December, 2011 | Mark Berman

[marktwain]

A scare at the busiest airport in the world, as a gun goes off at a security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that TSA agents spotted a .22-caliber Magnum in a bag that was going through the x-ray machine on Sunday. It turns out the gun was loaded with small game pellet ammunition known as "snake" bullets.

An Atlanta police officer who responded to the scene was trying to unload the gun when it went off. No one was injured, but the officer wrote in his report:

“I was grazed by a pellet fragment on the left side of my face. However, there were no visible injuries.”

The man who owned the gun, 43-year-old Richard Popkin, said he didn't realize the gun was in his messenger bag.

Popkin was arrested and charged with carrying a weapon in an unauthorized place.

[marktwain]

These kind of inadvertent infractions should be investigated and punished with a small fine. If you carry firearms a good bit, and millions in the U.S. do, the occasional confluence of events that results in a lapse such as this is inevitable.

They will likely ruin this man's life because the police officer was not knowledgable enought to unload the derringer safely, or smart enough to ask the possible owner how to do it.

[Recon Dad]

It is not impossible to forget you have a gun when you carry it all the time. Example, my wife and I were being dropped off at an airport earlier in the year for a trip to Denver. Just as the car pulled away my wife realized she had her gun in her purse. I ran after the car that dropped us off and caught them before they got too far, passed them the gun and everything was fine.
But, what would have happened if she had not remembered when she did.......I told her I would try and see her every visiting day for sure.

[RipSawyer]

Any police officer who cannot unload a weapon without it firing should return to a safe civilian job like cleaning toilets.

[crghill]

Similiar thing happened to me. Had a Walther PPS stowed in a holster inside my waistband. I wore the thing everyday so I was used to it. Walked all the way up to security and was about to get in line when it dawned on me. Had to walk all the way back out to my vehicle and left it there.

[41Thunder]

Remind me not to be around this “Police Officer” when he’s unloading his service firearm. There is NO reason for a firearm to discharge unless you pull the trigger.

[R. Scott]

An Atlanta police officer who responded to the scene was trying to unload the gun when it went off.

Aren’t LEOs supposed to be the well trained experts? I guess pulling the trigger is one way to unload a firearm but it’s not recommended.

[driftdiver]

I travel a lot and am constantly paranoid about this. To reduce my risk I never put my firearms in any bag I take to the airport. I also never put ammunition in them. So far its worked.

[R. Scott]

And he shot himself in the face. Was he looking down the barrel to see if it was loaded?

[Psalm 73]

HA!
Years ago I was checking my deceased father's guns at the airline check-in and the attendant asked me to clear the weapons.
You should have seen the look in the couple's eyes next to us when I racked the shotgun (a Savage 12-gage).

[SampleMan]

Any police officer who cannot unload a weapon without it firing should return to a safe civilian job like cleaning toilets.

Police are often almost totally ignorant of firearms. A colleague of mine at work had his apartment broken into and firearms stolen. The cop that came to file the report called him a liar concerning what was missing because, "there is no such thing as a bolt action shotgun."

I shoot IDPA and very few of the police officers that come shoot (and God bless them for practicing) have either good form or competent marksmanship. Like I said, good for them for working on it, but I'm pretty sure they are the cream of the crop.

[Hot Tabasco]

People leave their wallets at home, lock their keys in the car, forget to pick up the kids from school, drive to work leaving the garage door open, forget the top is down on the convertible that’s parked in the driveway in the pouring rain........stuff happens all the time and always will.

[NonValueAdded]

Pellet in the face, rice grains in the arse ,,, he was channeling his inner Kerry. Give him a Purple Heart.

[CPOSharky]

..."there is no such thing as a bolt action shotgun."

Mossberg, have one in 16 ga.

[toolman1401]

As mentor Mas would say, ‘keep your booger hook off the bang button’.

[bert]

I had one when I was about 13. I became a dead eye wing shooter with that shotgun

[SampleMan]

Mossberg, have one in 16 ga.

And .410, and 20, and 12, and 10. Bolt action shotguns have been common for at least 63 years.

[MindBender26]

Marlin also made them.

[John123]

And he shot himself in the face. Was he looking down the barrel to see if it was loaded?

"I wonder what happens when I stick my finger in the trigger while pointing the barrel to my face?"

[762X51]

Any police officer who cannot unload a weapon without it firing should return to a safe civilian job like cleaning toilets.

My brother was stopped last week by the police because the lights illuminating his tag were out. He had recently had his bumper on his truck replaced and the body shop didn't hook the lights back up. The cop asked for his license and proof of insurance. His insurance card was in the glove box as was his pistol. Knowing the cop might freak out and shoot him when he reached for his insurance card my brother informed the cop that both his pistol and insurance card were in the glove box and the cop asked if he (the cop) could get the pistol and unload it until their encounter was complete. My brother approved and the cop proceeded to try and unload the Colt Mustang sweeping my brother with the muzzle TWICE! My brother firmly said "Hey, you need to watch the muzzle!" After Barney got done endangering my brother's life he reloaded his pistol and replaced it in the glove box and sent him on his way. The moral is NEVER be around cops handling firearms; most seem poorly trained, and keep your insurance cards and pistol in separate places in your vehicle.

[sergeantdave]

“Popkin was arrested and charged with carrying a weapon in an unauthorized place.”

Whatever happened to the concept of criminal intent as being a necessary element before one is charged with a felony? What this man did is a tort.

We really are a fascist state. In a fascist state, people are arrested for offending the state, and no criminal intent is necessary.

How many Washington fascist pigs could we arrest for committing an error or having a lapse in judgment?