Wyoming man with loaded gun arrested at San Jose airport

KCBS.com ^ | August 14, 2002 | kcbs staff

[NEWwoman]

Wyoming man with loaded gun arrested at San Jose airport Source: kcbs Publication date: 2002-08-14

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- A Wyoming man arrested after airport security screeners discovered a loaded semi-automatic handgun in his carryon luggage was being held in Santa Clara County jail Tuesday night.

William Simmons, 57, was arrested around 2:45 Tuesday afternoon at Mineta San Jose International Airport after a screener found the gun in his luggage and notified police, said Officer Joseph Deras, a spokesman with the San Jose Police Department.

Simmons was being held on charges of possessing a concealed loaded firearm, Deras said. Simmons was uncooperative with police and had to be forcibly arrested, he said. Simmons was taken to a nearby hospital after complaining he was hyperventilating. He was examined and released, Deras said.

The airport was not evacuated because security screeners found the weapon before Simmons was past the checkpoint, Deras said.

(10:35p.m.)

[NEWwoman]

Like Rodney King? (Just kidding.)

[piasa]

He is a firearms owner and he admitted he forgot he had a firearm on him when he entered an airport. He carries it with him so much, it's second nature. (This was well before 9-11) But they just pointed it out to him and he was embarrassed.

If the guy had it on his person I'd see your point. It is normal to carry a loaded firearm ON your person. But it is not normal to carry a loaded firearm in a case in your carry-on luggage. You don't 'forget' that it is in your luggage- if you put your clothes and shaving kit in there you know darn well the gun is in there, too, and you sure as heck better know if your gun is loaded or not any time you put it up someplace. I always unload my weapons if they are not intended to be readily accessed. Clearly, 'in one's luggage' is not 'ready access,' as a women will find out if she ever has to fumble through her purse in an emergency.

The aircraft is the private property of the airline. They have a right to know what you are carrying and to ban certain items if they so choose. The pilot, as 'captain of the ship' should also have the right to determine what flies on his watch. Unfortunately we don't give the pilots the discretion they should have. If we did, the 911 terrorists wouldn't have succeeded because the pilots would have been armed.

[HairOfTheDog]

BTW.... speaking of forgotten guns...

I have a gun that is in my truck all the time. Loaded. Hidden. Although I think about it a lot, it is possible to forget.

I decided kindof spontaneously one day to go to one of these "full service car washes"... You drive in, and if you want the works, they will vacuum, wash and hand-dry your car while you wait.

I got out and walked over to this outdoor waiting area, nice day, several other people there waiting while several cars were being done.

Suddenly, while I was standing there with all the other customers, this guy who had been doing my car stands up and YELLS... "HEY LADY! - WILL YOU PLEASE COME AND RETRIEVE YOUR HANDGUN FROM THE CAR?"

Oh god... I said.

I walked over and took my gun out from under the seat, and tucked it quickly inside my jacket. With nowhere else to go, I walked back over to the waiting area. Everyone stared at me, not sure what to say, or if they should be too close to me. I tried to smile at them but I was mortified. It seemed like it took forever for them to finish my car.

So, as conscientious as I consider myself, it is possible to forget. Bad things happen when you forget, but it can happen.

No excuse in an airport these days now, though, IMHO... there are extra mental checklists a smart person goes through before flying nowadays.

And I still think there is no excuse for being uncooperative with law enforcement at airports. It is suicide, and bad PR for the rest of us.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Yes, I think there were hijackings but there were also fewer passengers, and aircraft, destinations, etc.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Fine! Blame it on "projection" and get on board with someone from DU who has a gun and yell "Clintons SUCKS! Gore LOST! Reagan and Bush are the BEST". Let's see how far you get ;)

[NEWwoman]

The first hijacking I recall were in the 1970s. I recall an old "stewardess" joke: "Coffee, Tea, or Cuba"?

[NEWwoman]

Wow. But I'm glad you believe your life was worth protecting in spite of that treatment. What is the old saying, "Better to be judged by 12 (jury), than carried by 6 (pall bearers)"

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh I was treated very well.... The guy didn't have to yelll across the parking lot, but at least he didn't call the cops.

[Mulder]

The guy deserves to spend the night in jail for being so brain dead.

Yeah.... toss him with a 300-lb Bubba for the night. He deserves it, right?

Disgusting.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I was thinking Cuba, too. But how, if they allow passengers to have concealed weapons, will they make the distinction between a regular passenger and a possible hijacker? And I don't think *I* want to be aboard a pressurized tube of aluminum, hurtling around the globe at 600knots, 7 miles up when someone pops a hole in the skin! Can you say "Aloha Airlines!"?

[Mulder]

No excuse for having a loaded firearm in carry on baggage at an airport. None

What was he possibly thinking? That he was a Free man in the "Land of the Free"?

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I was thinking a 400lb Elroy.

[Eva]

I agree, a gun is difficult to forget. On the other hand, I know a man who is a chef on a ship, who carries his own set of knives with him to the ship. One time when he was going home for vacation he forgot about the ban and packed them in the bottom of his bag. Before he left the ship, he remembered and reached down and pulled them out, all except the chef's knife, which was lying flat on the bottom. He forgot it. What a problem that caused!

[Mulder]

Every time I fly, I wish I were allowed to carry my gun aboard.

That's precisely the reason that I don't fly anymore.

But that's never going to happen, especially after last September

The sad irony is that if our Rights as Free men and women were respected by the gov't prior to 9/11, the murderous terrorists probably wouldn't have tried to hijack the planes. And if they tried, they certainly would have not been successful with the pilot and several passengers armed.

Now the same corrupt gov't is using 9/11 as an excuse to further infringe upon our Rights. The whole thing is sickening.

[NEWwoman]

>>pops a hole in the skin

I thought planes were better made than that and could withstand a hit. Saw a special on it. Though I could be wrong--as you pointed out the Aloha example.

[ninenot]

suppose you reserve the "right" to run red lights, hit pedestrians, and drive the wrong way down a highway, since it is the FEDS who have told you that you can't!! What the heck is wrong with you people?

Obviously, you don't think very well. Do 6th grade again.

All the offenses you list are STATE offenses, not FEDERAL.

Secondly, there's a difference between Freepers and terrorists intent on killing Americans in terrorist acts.

Try again when you've grown up.

[Dog Gone]

You never had a constitutional right to carry a gun on a commercial plane anyway. A plane is someone else's private property and they get to make the rules.

It's probably true that the the Federal government had no right to make those rules for them, but that is a different issue than the point I'm making. The owners of private property can still do pretty much what they want, although that's being limited far too much, also.

[ninenot]

First of all, Switzer traveled under the same rules: NO CONCEALED WEAPONS ON PLANES.

The point of my post was that occasionally, habitual concealed weapons-carriers will simply forget that they have the weapon, no matter WHO they are.

Now I only carry to and from the airport, never into...

[ninenot]

Great story.

[Mulder]

Guns are not allowed on aircraft, period, unless authorized!

Your papers, comrade. You are NOT permitted beyond this point without prior authorization from Big Brother.

He should have checked it in at the ticket counter. it has NOTHING to do with your "rights".

It has everything to do with our Rights. If the government can declare certain areas as "no guns", they can declare any area as such. The 2nd amendment says "shall not be infrigned". Not "shall not be infringed unless the gov't decides it should be for your safety".

It is the AIRLINES "rights".

Actually, it's the corrupt gov't saying this, not the airlines. Now, I won't dispute that the CEOs and beancounters (and others who don't actually have to fly on commerical airlines) of the airlines agree with the gov't on this, but that doesn't make it any more legitimate. It's no different that a business owner saying "no minorities allowed"

It is MY right to safety that the airline provides by securing it for me (and others).

Does your "right to safety" also involve the power of the gov't to ban guns anywhere they please?