This guy is unbelievably lucky if he only goes to an HK prison for a few years.
It’s been a while but last time I flew into Taiwan I remember a sign at the airport that said simple: GUNS AND DRUGS GET DEATH. Despite the awkward phrasing, the point was unmistakable. I believe in Singapore he also would face the death penalty.
Anyone I know who goes shooting and travels internationally is careful about this. Even a stray empty shell casing in the bottom of a bag would be a major legal problem in many countries.
Back in 2017 I was at Heathrow security on my way to Germany. The security screener checking the scanner called over 2 of his colleagues, then they called a manager…
He was a big dude, shaved head and sharp suit - proceeds to ask me what line of work I was in, then the odd question ‘so you’re not in a line of work connected with the arms trade then?’
Immediate ‘oh shit’ moment - I’d forgotten this little souvenir from a trip to Vegas a few months before was in the bottom of my bag:
When i lived in Vegas the rumor was that a particular tattoo shop would get idiots asking for random barcode tattoos with enough frequency that the shop had one handy. If you scanned it it’d ring up as a douche
Isn’t a traditional barcode just a number? Surely what would come up is whatever is associated with that number in the database connected to the scanner?
Internationally the barcode number isn’t likely to be the same but at least within the US there’s a good chance that a given product will have the same barcode in most places. That’s my assumption anyways
Uh, yeah, I’m well aware. I should have been more clear and said, “he’s really lucky he went to HK, instead of landing in some other Asian countries with even harsher gun laws”.
Waaaay back in college, my friend imagined a scenario in which some boorish tourist, running afoul of the law while abroad, asserts “I’m an American, damn it! Your Mickey Mouse laws don’t apply to me!” Well, here’s the real guy. I imagine this could become a cause célèbre, for opposite reasons, with both the American right-wing and the PRC. For everyone else, it’s the international incident we didn’t need nor want.
I’m sorry (not sorry), but if I regularly carried a device initially conceived to efficiently kill people, I’d probably go through a travel checklist to make sure that said item, I dunno, wasn’t a line item alongside my deodorant!
My last vacation started with an EMPTY suitcase and I built from there.
Eh, I wouldn’t be too concerned. It was a pocketknife and I tucked it into a planter in a side area with little to no foot traffic, and I came back that same evening. It’s not like I stashed an AK in a bathroom stall for a week.
I do keep a packing list, and there are multiple entries on it related to weapons:
{ } Pack pocketknife (for road/camping trips)
{✓} Lock up all house weapons (any trip; cat sitters)
{ } Leave pocketknife home or checked! (air travel)
{ } Pack guns safely, unloaded, confirm (going to range)
My gun/ammo bags never get used for air travel, due to the possibility of powder trace, much less stray ammo or casings.
The only time I spaced was a camping trip in CO; the pocketknife went out in checked baggage, but was in my pocket coming back to TSA. Durango TSA was super chill, and had me run it back to the check-in to tuck it into my bag.
Guys like this make me wonder how they leave their house weapons secured, when they forget about the basics.
They’re too busy taking all my luggage apart because I made the mistake of putting my trackball base on one carry-on and the ball in another. They just HAD to drag out all my stuff to see the ball packed way at the bottom. CPAP machines are apparently another alarming security concern.
