Gun found in stuffed bear at airport

[2dogs]

a .22-caliber single shotgun

Anyone have one of those- or even know what the heck he's talking about?







http://www.wesh.com/news/2329113/detail.html

Stuffed Animal Offers Deadly Disguise At Airport
Airport Screeners Find Teddy Bear Filled With Something Other Than Cotton

POSTED: 10:45 a.m. EDT July 13, 2003
UPDATED: 11:08 a.m. EDT July 13, 2003

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A child carrying a teddy bear through Orlando International Airport security included something else besides a cotton stuffing.

Security stopped a young child Saturday because a gun was stashed inside the stuffed animal.

According to the Transportation Security Administration, the family had no idea a firearm was inside.


An unsuspecting family vacationing in one of Orlando's busy tourism areas was leaving an unidentified hotel when a young girl walked up and handed their child the bear.

The young girl claimed she could not keep it, so the family took the stuffed animal and left to catch their flight at OIA.

However, the family did not get far when security screeners detected a .22-caliber single shotgun sewn inside the bear.

The firearm had been reported stolen in 1999.

A TSA spokesperson said screeners find guns at airports all over the country every day,, but this situation was unusual.

After questioning the tourists, investigators decided they were innocent victims and allowed them to continue their trip.

An airport official told NewsChannel 2 that airport operations were not affected, and the FBI is continuing it's investigation.

 

[BrokenPaw]

.22-caliber single shotgun

It probably should have read ".22-caliber single-shot gun". Like one of those pen guns.

-BP

 

[cslinger]

Nobody moves or the bear gets it. I swear to God I'll blow the stuffing out of him. Now I want $100,000 in cash, a helicopter and bottle of Jack Danials. The bear comes with me you hear. I will let him go when I am safe.

 

[Tamara]

After questioning the tourists, investigators decided they were innocent victims and allowed them to continue their trip.

Okay, now that's a little fishy. Some TSA guy is probably going to get fired over this, because we all know the little girl is supposed to be doing 5-10 at club fed for terrorist activities.

 

[JDSlack]

I thought we had the right to "Keep and arm bears"

 

[TheOtherOne]

Okay, now that's a little fishy. Some TSA guy is probably going to get fired over this, because we all know the little girl is supposed to be doing 5-10 at club fed for terrorist activities.

That's what I was going to say. Since when did airport screeners get to use common sense? Going off of most other stories I've heard recently, there should be no such thing as an innocent child when that child is concealing a weapon of death. Lock her up and throw the maximum sentence at her! What good is homeland security if a little girl with a gun gets a pass?

 

[mete]

This country is going down the tubes , you can't even trust a teddy bear anymore. That bear has to do serious time for smuggling a weapon .

 

[WhoKnowsWho]

Great concealmean method, hate to have to draw from inside myself though...

 

[Mal H]

JDSlack - That one was priceless! Best laugh I've had in a while.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

Sure wish they would name that hotel. I'd like to go see if the little girl would give me one too.

 

[CZ 75 BD]

JDSlack

What MalH said

 

[grampster]

JD Slack....Har Har Har!
grampster

 

[Horsesense]

They should have let her go, without saying anything…..just put an Air-marshal in the seat behind her.
Who knows, they may have caught one of them there terrorists!

 

[Darrin]

I thought we had the right to "Keep and arm bears"

I kind of hate to admit I was taking a drink when I read that.

Please excuse me while I get a towel to clean my monitor. Hmm....and the keyboard.....

 

[Nero Steptoe]

Whoknowswho: Per your sig line, do you spend a lot of time training to shoot kneecaps?

 

[Porter Glockwell]

Conspiracy hat time here....

An unsuspecting family vacationing in one of Orlando's busy tourism areas was leaving an unidentified hotel when a young girl walked up and handed their child the bear.

The young girl claimed she could not keep it, so the family took the stuffed animal and left to catch their flight at OIA.

This is just too freaking weird. What if????.... I was a Million Mom marcher, evil brady anti-gun nutjob? Wouldn't it be great to start manufacturing incedents in this manner?

Step: 1 get a stolen gun... EASY stuff.

Step 2: get it in the hands of a child in an untraceable method. i.e. having your child give away a teddy bear with the gun inside.

Step 3: sit back and watch with an evil glint in my eye as child unwittingly attempts to pass airport security and gets caught with a gun, OR child finds gun in her beloved plaything and has an accident or takes said gun to a school.

Step 4: ram more gun legislation down the public's throats "for the children", as if guns were walking around by themselves and hiding inside children's toys.


Evil, pure evil.

Porter

 

[Mal H]

I am not a tin foil beanie type, Porter, but darned if I didn't have that same thought. What in the world could be the purpose behind giving a child a hidden gun at an airport?! Get rid of a stolen gun? Nonsense, much easier and safer ways and places to do that. The other group (bear givers) didn't know there was gun inside? Again, nonsense. The only logical purpose was to cause 'evil gun' havoc at the airport and possibly get a whole family in big trouble. I am very pleased that the authorities at that airport used some common sense handling the situation - for once.

 

[Atticus]

Sounds like a nutless smuggler was using his kid to get the gun through security and chickened out at the last moment. Stupid move on the part of the parents on the receiving end. What if it had been stuffed with cocaine or plastic explosives. I might let my kid accept a teddy bear from a neighbor, but not a stranger, especially while passing through an airport- not these days.

 

[TheOtherOne]

If those behind the giving of the bear knew the family was going to the airport, maybe this was a situation where they had someone else watching the airport screeners to see the response (i.e. test it to see if it would actually work for a future smuggling attempt.)

 

[DrPsycho]

What surprised me most was that the family was allowed to continue their travels and not gotten locked up. It seems there is no universal policy, and it's up to the individual baggage screeners' discretion whether or not to persue further action if there was a breech of TSA rules.

It's sadly disappointing they would take the words of a family as truth without questioning.

 

[Mal H]

Why assume they weren't questioned? The reporter could be wrong (imagine that), but it was reported that: "After questioning the tourists, investigators decided they were innocent victims...".