Video at link
Posted on 12/02/2011 11:14:58 AM PST by rawhide
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A teenage girl's sense of style got her in trouble at the airport.
Vanessa Gibbs, 17, claims the Transportation Security Administration stopped her at the security gate because of the design of a gun on her handbag.
Gibbs said she had no problem going through security at Jacksonville International Airport, but rather, when she headed home from Virginia.
"It's my style, it's camouflage, it has an old western gun on it," Gibbs said.
But her preference for the pistol style didn't sit well with TSA agents at the Norfolk airport.
Gibbs said she was headed back home to Jacksonville from a holiday trip when an agent flagged her purse as a security risk.
"She was like, 'This is a federal offense because it's in the shape of a gun,'" Gibbs said. "I'm like, 'But it's a design on a purse. How is it a federal offense?'"
After agents figured out the gun was a fake, Gibbs said, TSA told her to check the bag or turn it over.
By the time security wrapped up the inspection, the pregnant teen missed her flight, and Southwest Airlines sent her to Orlando instead, worrying her mother, who was already waiting for her to arrive at JIA.
"Oh, it's terrifying. I was so upset," said Tami Gibbs, the teen's mom. "I was on the phone all the way to Orlando trying to figure out what was going on with her. It was terrifying. I don't ever want to go through it again."
Vanessa and her mom said it's hard to believe anyone could mistake the design on the purse for a real gun because it's just a few inches in size and it's hollow, not to mention Vanessa has taken it on planes before.
"I carried this from Jacksonville to Norfolk, and I've carried it from Norfolk to Jacksonville," Vanessa said. "Never once has anyone said anything about it until now."
TSA isn't budging on the handbag, arguing the phony gun could be considered a "replica weapon." The TSA says "replica weapons have prohibited since 2002."
It's a rule that Vanessa feels can't be applied to a purse.
"Common sense," she said. "It's a purse, not a weapon."
A TSA official at JIA said it's not that uncommon for passengers to wear something that could be considered a gun replica, but the official encourages everyone to check the prohibited items list, which can be found online or at the airport before going through security.
Video at link
Those people are f—ked in the head...
TSA agents are almost stupid enough to be congressmen! Almost!
That is an amazing purse, and that girl has great taste, but I don’t think it is crazy for the TSA to at least look closely at it.
I don’t fly and I don’t carry a purse.
I don’t dare go near TSA. Liberty is
far more important.
FINALLY!!!
---tangent alert---
When are more people going to agree with me that the TSA, and the NSA, and a whole bunch of federal agencies need to go away?
IMO, the people who continue to accept this BS are the real wackos.
Considering so many of holders people “work” at Thousands Standing Around.......... they have a different concept of common sense.
Duuuuhhhh. Well, dey said dat if I saw a gun, I had to stop duh person what was carrying it and dat’s what I did.
Vanessa’s problem is thinking that any common sense would be used. I’m glad that she got her bubble burst. The more americans are mistreated by the fatassed hamburger munchers the sooner we get rid of the make work losers of TSA.
I bet if she were wearing a burka, with a picture of Bin Laden on it she wouldn’t have been targeted by the TSA
Look closely at it (which would take a a SANE person about 15 seconds prior to realizing it is not a gun, not a ‘replica’ and not a threat)? Yes. Okay.
Accuse her of committing a federal crime, detain her until she misses her flight and defend your actions by claiming the purse is a ‘replica weapon’? No.
Like I said, those people are f—ked in the head.
How long should it take for them to figure out it’s not a real gun?
Yes, they can look at it, but how long does it take the TSA to decide it is a harmless design? The teenager missed her flight because of the TSA bumbling agents.
The thing looks tacky but is clearly not a working firearm.
Vanessa’s lesson fro the day: Common sense, isn’t.
God forbid she pointed that thing at anyone! ALWAYS treat a purse like it’s loaded!
“I don’t think it is crazy for the TSA to at least look closely at it.”
I knew a jeweler who made a working .22 caliber derringer from gold and wore it as a belt buckle when he went on airplanes. This was pre-9/11. The barrel was thick and he said he’d fired it. It didn’t trigger metal detectors. (Oh, did I mention he was totally nuts?)
Bad fashion taste is now a crime?
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