I once saw my Japanese MIL (4 feet-nothing of dastardly oba-chan intentions) get pulled aside for extra screening, but I suspect that had more to do with the three foil-wrapped kabocha in her handbag than with racial bias.
OTOH, my wife used to fly out of Boston Logan pretty regularly in the early 2000s and she says that the TSA never failed to mispronounce her last name or ask if English was her first language.
I totally mistook that for “how does the good person forget they have a gun” and was about to respond…until I realized the actual thrust of the comment, and it’s brilliance. Bravo.
Also: I need more coffee. Two mugs isn’t cutting it this morning.
Check in any firearms in a locked case and declare it at the counter. You can fly with your gun, no problem. In fact, if you want your luggage secure so that the TSA can’t pilfer through it, throw in a stripped AR Lower or a lower half of a pistol. The serialized part are considered firearms even if they fail to function as one by themselves. By law they aren’t supposed to be able to get into your locked, checked in case and you can use non-TSA locks.
What ever state you are going to, check don’t forget to check reciprocity laws as well as anything else that might be different, like transportation laws.
~11:11 “I dOn’T KnOw oF aNy StAtE tHaT wOuLd AlLoW yOu tO cArRy CoNcEaLeD wiTh OuT a PeRmIT.”
Well, officer, maybe you should bone up on the law some, as not only does New Hampshire have Constitutional Carry that doesn’t require a permit, but so do 20 other states. Florida does not, though IIRC they do honor every state that recognizes theirs.
Even if you live in a state with constitutional carry, get a CCW permit in your state and keep it on you at all times. It affords a lot more legal protections.
Know your rights, and the law, and follow it. I don’t fault the TSA/Cops for detaining and charging her. But posting the video like this is some sort of win for “justice” and keeping people safe is rather stupid.
I’d say the opposite - people who forget they’re carrying a gun are irresponsible but at least non-malicious. People who take the time to knowingly pack their gun so that it will escape detection, wel maybe they’re smarter, but they’re deliberately committing crimes, so even more irresponsible than the ones who forget.
(Says the guy who’s lost multiple pocket knives and razor blades over the years because he forgot he had them in carry-on or on his person).
Try flying out of Brownsville, TX sometime where you not only get small-town TSA’d but Border Patrolled as well.
I haven’t been on a plane since a month or two before the pandemic really got cranked up, but I spent a lot of years flying pretty regularly for my job, and I don’t think I’ve ever met a TSA officer who was that overly polite. Not necessarily rude, but nothing like that. One time I had a pair of cuticle scissors taken away because they looked “too pointy”, and the guy screamed at me for 10 minutes, you’d have thought I brought in a 5 gallon pail of napalm. But then, I’m a fat old man and not a cute young blond …
My frustration with TSA is the inconsistency of their enforcement. I’ve had a “TSA approved” multi-tool pass thru dozens of times only to be confiscated by an overzealous agent (in spite of my attempts to show her the website documenting the “TSA Approved” notice).
I also have implanted metal in several locations and it seems my home airport has their magnetometers cranked up far higher than other airports. I get consistently stopped and forced to go thru the porno-scanner (in spite of my preCheck+Trusted Traveler+Clear status) when flying out but almost always pass thru unscathed on the way back. It makes ZERO sense.
I’ve flown over 1 million flight miles across 6 continents in my career and the TSA nonsense is worst anywhere. I’ve vowed to live long enough just to see the eventual downfall of the TSA.
I’ve often wondered if they ever find handguns in the trashcans outside of security.
I had a cigar punch on a key chain that looked like a bullet - but clearly was a cigar punch. Flew with it at least 3 times back and forth, when a guy in Canada refused to let me board with it and I had to find a small box and check it. This was pre 9/11 and he was A-OK with my 3" pocket knife.
I was like, “So, I can’t board with this, even though it can’t hurt anyone - but I can bring my knife??”
“Yes, it is under 3”."
The only thing I ever had confiscated was an old, >95% empty tube of toothpaste because it could hypothetically have held more than 1.5 oz of something, if unrolled, pressurized, and miraculously leak-free… after probably 10-20 flights with the same tube in my travel kit. I declined the option to mail it to myself.
I didn’t watch the whole thing. But, at about 7 minutes in, does he actually say, “Come on baby doll,” as he’s telling her to come with him?
Worst experience I’ve had (and I’ve had more than a few) was the small snowglobe I bought in the souvenir shop in Vancouver - IN THE AIRPORT - only to have it confiscated in Seattle an hour later when changing planes.
I don’t bring back any souvenirs anymore and I’m damn sure never to buy liquids in duty free.
I definitely heard him call her sweetheart. He seems a bit young for a Grandpa.
Lets also note that they came pretty close if not over the line of doxxing her with age, full name, two residence cities, and criminal record. That was also disturbing.
More importantly, looks like she violated the liquids policy too. There’s no way you travel and do that accidentally. She was trying to get away with it. Your rules, not hers.
Feels a bit pro-TSA for Boingboing, NGL.
Ah, but this is an example of the TSA doing the right thing. Keeping weapons off planes is their mandate. Referring passengers to law-enforcement when they discover a firearm is the correct procedure. This is not TSA security theatre (full body imaging, groping, profiling, no-fly listing, berating, harassing, collaterally enforcing laws unrelated to security, exceeding authority, or favoring people who pay for BS like Clear Check).
I think pre-TSA airport security could and should have been in charge of the screening. But the story is mostly about how the Orlando Police handled the referral.
Came here to say basically this; aside from calling her “Sweetheart”, “Honey”, and I believe “Baby Doll”, which, ew, he either outright lies or is completely ignorant of concealed carry laws in the nation. 19 states currently allow concealed-carry without a permit, including NH.
Also this, PLUS any states you are driving THROUGH. If she drove from NH to FL with a firearm in her car, she almost definitely broke at least one state’s laws unless that firearm was in an approved locked case and/or she had a letter from a gun club or shooting competition stating that she was a participant in an out-of-state event.
So someone who forgot they were carrying a handgun got it confiscated. Yeah, not seeing the problem here, apart from the creep factor of some of the cop’s language. I’d be fine with concealed-carry not being a thing at all, but certainly not for someone this dumb.
The ones who forget they have it in their bag are more likely to get it through than the ones who try to conceal it and end up acting nervous.
The firearm also has to be unloaded and cannot have ammunition in the case. I think that means that you have to purchase ammunition at your destination, since ammo is not allowed in checked or carry on bags.
Yes, Boing Boing is well known for making editorial decisions based on who is “good” and “bad”, instead of, you know, reporting on stories as they happen.
There’s a little room in the back here with a devil and an angel in it. I have a script that prints the stories before they go live on the blog. If they catch on fire in the devil room, well, we don’t post those!
