Forgot you were armed? Seriously?

I have flattened my forehead and gone back to my car at courthouses and post offices. Once I had to fly out for a family funeral and the schedule was tight. I rushed home from my office, locked up my carry pistol, grabbed my bag, and beat it to the airport. Started unloading my pockets at TSA and realized my spare mag was in my pocket. They were nice about it, asked me what I carried and complemented my readiness. I was able to sprint back to my car and leave it and make it back in time to board, although I think the door of the plane bumped my backside as it closed.

So, yeah, people who carry routinely and have a lot of stuff on their minds can make innocent mistakes in that regard.
 
Few people get to the checkpoint carrying on their person. Many people have used the same carry-on bag at some time in the past when traveling by car or even as a range bag and leave a firearm or ammo in them. Just ammo or magazines won't get you arrested in this country, but you read quite often of people getting into another country before the ammo is discovered and find themselves in serious trouble.
 
I went though a checkpoint with a loaded 9mm mag once some 20 years ago, but I wore my leather jacket that had like 10 pockets and totally forgot I had it. They kept it, and I actually picked it up on my return.
 
I worked during one summer in college at Atlanta airport (in the 70s). Caught one gent coming through with a .25 in his back pocket,. He was going to pick up his daughter at the gate - remember when you were allowed to do that? - and got caught. Went to court; he was fined $100 and released since he did not have a ticket for a flight. Had another woman who was "fashionably late" for a flight to Alaska and couldn't check her luggage in time. Had a .44 mag in the suitcase. She was arrested and missed her flight all the while yelling about how important she was and who her husband was, blah, blah. APD put her in cuffs and hauled her away. Third weapons violation was a plane load of Marines. Had their own chartered flight, came inside the terminal and exited past security to hit the stores/newstands - all wearing their fighting knives. Colonel got real pissy with with me when I said he and his men couldn't pass. APD backed me up, as did my supervisor. Delta had to send several representatives who signed waivers and then escorted them out through a different door directly to their plane.

But the dumbest (and funniest) wasn't gun related. Idiot comes through security and the detector goes off. I wave him to come over to me so I can wand him. He panics and bolts back through the checkpoint with my female sergeant in pursuit - right into the men's room. He had kicked the door in on one occupied stall and then into another trying to get rid of the 2 kilos of cocaine he had strapped to his legs IN ALUMINUM FOIL! That sergeant wasn't a lightweight and she had him down as APD came in to help......He'd of made it through if he had only used a zip-loc bag... :D

If you had a knife that was illegal, they just handed you a padded envelope, told you to address it to yourself - either home or your destination - and it was sent COD.
 
One of my relatives is an ATF agent. They carry with them paperwork that allows them to carry their sidearms on the plane. The same is true of FBI agents, etc. There is a story out there, supposedly true of one such agent, who was allowed to board armed after presenting his paperwork but only after having his fingernail clippers confiscated .
 
One of my cousins is a pilot who had a nail clipper taken. Not clear to me who the pilot was going to threaten.

And I have told this before, but my daughter flew to Germany with a keychain sized pepper spray clipped to the outside of her backpack in plain view, only to have her Tide pen confiscated from her purse on the return trip.

The reason we can tell these stories is because at least some of the people doing the work are focused on rules instead of actual safety.
 
Forgot I was carrying. A no. I spent more time wishing I wasn't carrying.

Anything is possible at airports. Apparently forgetfulness is one serious topic.
 
NO ONE I know has ever forgotten that they were carrying. Two folks I know, though, HAVE had bad TSA experiences. One, a guy I know, Forgot that his pistol was in a particular bag and got caught by TSA. That one is still playing out. The other experience was my wife's. A pistol that we thought had been stolen by a valet turns out to have slipped behind the liner of my wife's computer bag. (It was a gun from a private purchase and I hadn't recorded the serial nbr, so I didn't contact the police about it. I had even already bought another pistol to replace that one that had "disappeared.") Well, TSA found it FOR us when she was headed out on a day trip for the company she works for. She visited the ATL Airport Fulton Co. jail and then the Clayton Co. jail. Thankfully, powerful lawyer friends were able to keep her from being booked and she was out within about 2-3 hours. No charges were actually filed, but it still ended up costing us $2000. $500 for a one day gun safety class and then the $1500 TSA fine. We didn't even get the cheapo Keltec back. It's probably on the streets somewhere now. Folks, check your bags, especially if you think a pistol has been "lost" or thought to be stolen. It just might be residing where it ends up biting you.
 
Folks, check your bags, especially if you think a pistol has been "lost" or thought to be stolen. It just might be residing where it ends up biting you.
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Same can be said for some loose live rounds in a pocket or bag. A friend is a gun writer and gets to go to various places bird hunting (and gets paid!). One such trip was for pheasant in SD. In the airport for the return trip with a few fellow hunters, he realized he had a few loose rounds in his coat pocket. The girl running security just smiled, and pointed him to a HUGE lexan box about half-way filled with loose rounds from other folks. She told him that it happens all the time and no biggie.
The difference between a small airport in hunting territory and a large one like Atlanta.....
 
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