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.
The TSA guys checked the bag after it went through X-Ray, We showed them that it came apart to reveal the small round punch / cutting blade, but they wouldn't let him take it on the plane. The darn thing cost me $20 when I bought it for him as a present and it went into the pile of confiscated trash.
I was pissed at him for bringing it because being the paranoid guy I am, I would have left it at home. Then on the flight over, I started getting really pissed about how stupid and neurotic our entire Society has become.
When I was much younger and I used to drive around in my 4x4 Pickup with two Rifles in the gun rack and I didn't get a second look. Nowadays I'd be pulled over and arrested.
ok
How come no one has asked where the father was during all this?
LOL!! That’s a keeper!
Mind if I adapt it to use as a tagline?
This country is going to hell in a hand basket. I have recommended to my kids to move to Canada or any country that isn’t run by idiots. Damn few of those. Mebbe Israel?
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