We Must End Zero Tolerance Airport Gun Arrests!

Chicago, IL—It happens again and again, a forgetful or preoccupied traveler is found to have a firearm in a carryon bag at Midway or O’Hare Airports.  Zero tolerance kicks in and the hapless traveler is hauled off to jail.  They are forced to miss their flight along with the weddings, funerals and business meetings they planned on attending.

That happened to the late retired Chicago cop and actor Dennis Farina seen in the above photo being handcuffed by police at LAX in 2008.  

Everyday thousands of  travelers are similarly found with lotions, potions, perfume, liquor or various objects that just appear harmful.  Thousands of other forgetful or preoccupied people with the prohibited liquids don’t face arrest, just the confiscation of their sometimes-expensive property. 

The point is that no person with criminal intent would ever knowingly place a bag on a conveyor belt for TSA inspection that contains a gun!  We all know our bags are sniffed, searched and x-rayed! 

Passengers are permitted to transport their firearms unloaded in a hard-sided locking case provided they inform the airline ticketing and checked baggage agents.  There is inspection and tagging the firearm involved.

You’d be surprised to learn that not all airports are the same.  It depends more on local laws, attitudes and their concerns about fundamental fairness. 

If an intended passenger is found with a gun in Phoenix, Denver or Jacksonville chances are they will be told to remove the gun and make proper arrangements for its disposition.  They are allowed to hand over their gun to friends, relatives or place it in their automobile trunks without being arrested or prosecuted. 

The same conduct at most airports brings jail, bail bondsmen, defense lawyers, prosecutors, judges, disgrace and sometimes-horrible publicity.   Even if a passenger were to win in court the over-all financial damage can be staggering to some people. 

Sometimes criminals are forgetful too.  I’m talking about those people that prohibited by law from possessing firearms and those with stolen guns or ones with defaced serial numbers.  When that happens arrests are appropriate and reasonable.

Why would we want to clog our jails and courts with people that are in no way a threat to anyone?  Why would we want to stamp the Mark of Cain (criminal record) on some traveler destroying their current or future business and professional licenses?  Why would we want to criminalize forgetfulness?

This problem of unreasonable arrests can be addressed by either state or federal legislation. 

The federal government currently has the ability to assess a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for violations and that issue also deserves revisiting and review. 

Zero tolerance is more suited for Communist, Nazi or similar Fascist governments, not that of a free nation.  Above all, we have a right to keep and carry firearms that’s spelled out in our Constitution.  

All Americans deserve fairness and the benefit of the doubt when it comes to matters or crime, courts and justice.   Arresting some otherwise law-abiding person simply for pure forgetfulness is nothing short of government tyranny.

The TSA is Still Not Serious About Halting Terrorism but They Sure Love Wasting Money

New York, NY—With the capping off of the symbolic tower that replaced the World Trade Center I thought I’d show you the latest TSA folly.  It’s in the picture above.

No matter how you analyze the September 11, 2001 terror attack on America it was the result of FAA’s fear of armed pilots and off duty cops.   Then there was the cultural weakness of Americans in general.

First I blame the new American Nanny Culture that seemed to dictate that American plane passengers must sit and wait for authorities to deal with crime instead of resorting to self-help for survival.  Many passengers actually thought they were really doing something helpful by calling 911 from their doomed aircraft.

Politicians honored the “heroic” actions of the brave young men on Flight 93.  Actually they too were brainwashed by the Nanny Culture because their actions only came after the cockpit was breached. They did nothing until after they took votes among themselves on whether to resist the hijackers.

When I gathered the driver’s license information on the 9/11 terrorists for the news media I found something unsettling.   They were all little men!  They’re average height and weight was 5’5” and 140 pounds!  They were no bigger than most American women! 

History should have made it clear to the passengers that no Muslim terrorist event ever ended peacefully.  For those doomed passengers it was either they fight for their life or die.   Sadly we know what their choice was. 

Aside from forfeiting their own lives by cowering in their seats they also sacrificed the lives of the people inside the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The politicians and media simply never once uttered a word about the pre-programed mental conditioning or cowardice of those dead passengers. 

Since 9/11 we’ve spent hundreds of billions on Security Theater and the TSA.  As of today the only efforts at terrorism were not stopped by the TSA but by ordinary passengers.

Fast-forward to today and all that’s happened is the airlines have had to fight monumental battles avoiding bankruptcy, pilot shortages and TSA nonsense.

Our government created the Federal Flight Deck Officer’s program to arm a few pilots that specifically volunteered for the program.  That plan consisted of re-vetting the backgrounds and mental health of pilots deemed worthy of trust to handle a firearm. 

I guess a gun in the mind of brain-dead bureaucrats is somehow more dangerous than a passenger and fuel loaded commercial jet.

They trained the FFDO’s like every other armed federal officer.  However unlike cops or federal officers they FFDOs are not trusted or permitted to carry firearms outside of the locked cockpit of their airplane! 

Initially the clowns over at the TSA designed a holster with a padlock that rested directly and dangerously on the trigger of the FFDO’s gun.  At least one accidental discharge in a cockpit aboard a US Airways jet resulted from that faulty design.

Next that holster was retired and FFDO’s were forced to carry the gun in a heavy locked vault style box that was cumbersome and punishing.  Needless to say many FFDO’s quit the program.

The current joke is the container pictured at the top of this story.  It has a padlock but this time it is away from the trigger.  It makes the gun inaccessible and useless to the FFDO until he’s locked in the cockpit. 

However the new case is an improvement from the boxes but the FFDO's must purchase them with their own funds if they wish to discard the heavy boxes. 

The FFDO’s should be carrying firearms like cops and other federal officers.  Their intensive training should benefit passengers from the moment they enter airports until they leave them.

Every commercial pilot should be trained and armed or be forced to retire if they refuse that duty.

I want to add the sad truth that there were two off-duty trained and sworn cops on two of the four planes involved in the 9/11 attack.  They too perished.  No pilot was allowed to carry a firearm back then.

Our politicians have created a Constitutional mess by creating the lawless albatross called the TSA.  It serves little purpose but to allow otherwise unemployable people rob, molest and annoy passengers giving some of them a false sense of security.

I will leave you with two simple questions.  Had those 9/11 pilots and off duty cops been armed would 3,000 people still have perished?  Would we have suffered billions in property damage and business interruption?  I think the answer is obvious.

Airline Security is Different Elsewhere

Geneva, Switzerland—As I left Geneva Airport bound for Amsterdam during my recent trip I was screened for weapons. I cannot complain here be cause I have no right to claim under the Fourth Amendment outside of the United States.

They searched me, and my carry-on bag allowing me to pass on to the boarding area. On my way I passed the duty free shops where all kinds of goods could be purchased. That included Victronix a Swiss Army Knife maker! I could now by a knife for my trip!

When I arrived in Amsterdam things were very different. They gave us the full TSA punishment including the Naked X-Ray. I would have had to place my new Swiss Army knife in my checked baggage there for sure. That is unless I chose to outsmart or outshoot the unarmed security workers.

As always the security is only as good as trained armed cops are allowed to make it. There was a shortage of them in Europe also.

I thought you’d all get a kick out of the knife display at the Duty Free Shop anyway.