A friend of mine, who was also an NRA Director at the time, went to LAX for a flight to several cities where he was to give firearms courses. He took with him fourteen handguns of various configuration.
When he got to LAX, he stood there and dutifully opened each case, showed by manipulation that each was unloaded and, after relocking each, the guy behind the counter took them and placed them behind the counter.
This was at the time when they required you to fill out an orange sticker that said
FIREARM and it was pasted on the
outside of the case. That case was then conveyed to the pilot who carried it in the cockpit.
The problem came when he went to security at his first destination and stated that he had fourteen firearms to be returned to him. Guy goes back to look.
First guy comes out with second guy and, after some questions, they go back.
First and second guy show up with a third guy who tells him that they can't find his firearms. They also tell him that the pilot on his flight denies ever coming in possession of them.
He makes some calls and gives his class the next day using borrowed firearms.
He makes his next flight but they still have no word on his firearms but assure him that they will catch up to him. He is in his hotel room when he gets a call from the LAPD. It is a Leiutenant who states that his firearms have been recovered. It seems that the idiot behind the counter didn't really know what to do with the firearms so he sent them down the conveyor with the rest of the baggage.
Now here is this guy at the other end of the conveyor who thinks the heavens have just opened up because here come fourteen clearly marked cases that say
FIREARM on them so he starts pulling them off as fast as they come down and stashes them under the conveyor.
The problem for him is that another thief sees him stash them so he goes over and steals the stolen firearms from him. The first guy gets miffed and snitches off the second guy who in turn snitches off the first guy. By the time all is done, they have about ten people in custody and have broken up a major theft ring at LAX.
The firearms were recovered from the baggage area of a Lufthansa flight destined for Germany.
The LAPD tell him that they will hold the firearms in property until he gats back but he insists that he wants the airline to get them and bring them to him. The cops, being appreciative that they have gotten rid of a major crime ring, agree to this. He calls the airline and tells them his itenerary and that they need to get them to him post-haste.
Mistake.
Big mistake.
Big, big mistake.
As a director, he was also going to a director's meeting at the NRA. This was at the time that the NRA was still located in Washington, DC.
He is in his DC hotel room when he gets a knock at his door, and there stands a guy with a big box.
So here he is in DC with a big ol' box with fourteen handguns.
He got on the phone and called a friend in VA and told him to "get the Hell over here and get these things out of here!" Before the friend got there, he opened each case to inspect the firearms. All were in perfect condition with the exception that they all had had the grips removed. He surmised that the cops were searching for drugs.
The rest of the trip went uneventfully.
