Undeclared Guns In Carryon Luggage Have Tripled Since Last Year

[danez71]

I am a bit ignorant of laws related to flying. Is the whole issue here that it was carry-on instead of checked baggage? I know they have to be in locked containers without ammunition.

In effort to better answer your question...

The main issue, not the whole issue, is that its in the carry on.



The ammo part shouldn't be an issue if the gun was declared, checked in, locked etc.

Don't take word for it because I forgot the rules but I believe the ammo can be with the gun in a locked container in checked luggage but ammo doesn't need to be locked in general in the check luggage.

 

[daniel craig]

TSA is saying the rate of guns in carryon luggage has gone from 5 per million to 15 per million comparing this July to last July.

Excuses went from "I forgot" to "someone else packed my luggage."

Fines range from $2K for an unloaded gun to $4K for a loaded gun, or a gun with access to ammo. Repeat offenders can be hit with a fine up to $10K. In addition, local police are called and some may face local criminal charges.

Try not to forget! lol

Here's the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/us/tsa-firearms.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage

If you’re the type of person to “forget” you packed a gun....I don’t trust you with guns.

I bet very few people actually forget or whatever other lame ass excuse but are actually trying to get a gun through, whether they’re just plain dumb or trying to test the system or some other reason. You didn’t forget.

 

[daniel craig]

In effort to better answer your question...

The main issue, not the whole issue, is that its in the carry on.



The ammo part shouldn't be an issue if the gun was declared, checked in, locked etc.

Don't take word for it because I forgot the rules but I believe the ammo can be with the gun in a locked container in checked luggage but ammo doesn't need to be locked in general in the check luggage.

Even checked you still have to declare it.

 

[danez71]

Even checked you still have to declare it.

I believe you're right and I didn't mean it didn't... I didn't word it well.

Which goes back to me saying.... Don't take my word for it, I forget the rules.

 

[daniel craig]

I believe you're right and I didn't mean it didn't... I didn't word it well.

Which goes back to me saying.... Don't take my word for it, I forget the rules.

Good life advice in general is look up the rules before doing something that might have significant ramifications for messing up.

 

[DocRock]

Makes me wonder how many get through

An excellent point.

TSA has an utterly miserable record. In one case, a pilot for a regional airline was found to be carrying a loaded pistol in his carry-on bag (prohibited). When caught, he was dumbfounded, saying he had been doing so for a year and never had a problem. Security theater is an expensive failure.

In audits, TSA typically fails 75% of the time to 95% of the time to detect prohibited items in carry-on bags.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/6/tsa-failed-detect-95-percent-prohibited-items-minn/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michae...eapons-but-thats-an-improvement/#35bafdc42a38

 

[danez71]

Good life advice in general is look up the rules before doing something that might have significant ramifications for messing up.

Absolutely. I don't fly a lot but I look up the rules and every time and print out the part that says my XYZ is ok to carry on

The zinger is that my Gerber EAB has been thru the airport 6 or 8 times in my smallish backpack carry on.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Absolutely. I don't fly a lot but I look up the rules and every time and print out the part that says my XYZ is ok to carry on

The zinger is that my Gerber EAB has been thru the airport 6 or 8 times in my smallish backpack carry on.

As a side note, after having been a security guard for 12 years I would not carry anyting questionable in my carry-on luggage.

I wouldn't carry anything that I couldn't afford to lose in my carry-on luggage.

I've seen too many power hungry security guards decide that you're not coming in to my facility with XYZ regardless of what the rules say.

 

[reddog81]

Makes me wonder how many get through

I’d bet that at least a couple get through and not a thing happens other than the person freaks out once they realize what they did. The media makes it sound like people accidentally leaving guns in carry on luggage could result in some type of blood bath in the skies when in actuality it’s no different than people carrying a concealed gun through a mall.

FWIW the 911 hijackers used box cutters. Anyone who thinks TSA is able to find all utility knives and little razor blades is sorely mistaken.

 

[AlexanderA]

In audits, TSA typically fails 75% of the time to 95% of the time to detect prohibited items in carry-on bags.

As a traveler, I wouldn't put much stock in those odds. One time when I was being checked, a handheld scanner kept going off, for no discernible reason. Later, I realized that I had put my house key in my wallet.

The TSA audit tests try to make the prohibited items as difficult to find as possible (disassembly, disguise, etc.). That's not reflective of an ordinary passenger casually having a gun in a carry-on. I'll bet that would almost certainly be found.

 

[DocRock]

As a traveler, I wouldn't put much stock in those odds. One time when I was being checked, a handheld scanner kept going off, for no discernible reason. Later, I realized that I had put my house key in my wallet.

The TSA audit tests try to make the prohibited items as difficult to find as possible (disassembly, disguise, etc.). That's not reflective of an ordinary passenger casually having a gun in a carry-on. I'll bet that would almost certainly be found.

Well, that changes everything. I feel much better now knowing that, in your opinion, TSA has such a high failure rate only when passengers are trying to make their prohibited items undetectable...

 

[AlexanderA]

Anyone who thinks TSA is able to find all utility knives and little razor blades is sorely mistaken.

My wife once had a small kitchen knife in her purse. (She was planning to peel an orange in flight.) It was found, and confiscated.

The point being that it's not wise to plan on getting away with anything. The TSA finds enough to be a serious deterrent.

 

[edwardware]

I am a bit ignorant of laws related to flying. . . I know they have to be in locked containers without ammunition.

Yes, and No. Go and read.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

As a traveler, I wouldn't put much stock in those odds. One time when I was being checked, a handheld scanner kept going off, for no discernible reason. Later, I realized that I had put my house key in my wallet.

The TSA audit tests try to make the prohibited items as difficult to find as possible (disassembly, disguise, etc.). That's not reflective of an ordinary passenger casually having a gun in a carry-on. I'll bet that would almost certainly be found.

Doesn't look disassembled or disguised to me.

 

[Robert]

I normally try not to close a thread I've been a part of, but we seem to be more focused the inner workings of TSA and that's just not on topic for THR. There ain't much other than they miss guns that was on topic here. And even that is marginal at best.