I am not gay but $20 is $20.
Damn. Just the thought of that gives me cold chills.Back in the early 90's, I had a loaded Glock 17 with two extra loaded magazines that I missed in my carry on backpack. The U.S. airport security missed it and it wasn't found until I reached my international destination. I was immediately arrested and put into a holding cell with some other people. After a few days(?) I was transferred to their federal penitentiary. The U.S. Embassy told me I would be there for a year before getting to trial. It sucked. There was no running water, you locked your own cell, fought frequently (but fortunately it was one on one). Eventually I was sentenced to 5 years for smuggling firearms but after some more time, that was changed to 5 years community service. The Embassy told me they had never heard of them doing this and that I had better leave the country while I had the chance and don't come back. Which is what I did. Ironically, this was a good thing that happened as at that time, I was not on a good path in life. It was a wake up call to say that if I didn't change my path, this is where I would be living (if not here, then somewhere else). I believe that my wife's family political connections are what enabled my sentence change. I did change my path because that is not where I wanted to be. From then on, my travel bags were only for travel and my range bags were only for the range. My company was kind enough to temporarily reassign me to a different crew when my assigned crew was working in that country.
Wow I could only imagine that nightmare, glad all is well and no further action was taken. I double check all bags I take to the airport just to make sure I have nothing firearm related unless I’m traveling with such gear!4:00 am, TSA pre-check, backpack scanned, backpack rescanned, TSA agent Call’s another one over “what do you see? It’s early and I want to make sure I’m not seeing things” as I stand and watch this begin to unfold. Enter APD, sir do you have any loaded or unloaded firearms in this backpack? Me: absolutely not. APD: do you own any firearms? Me: I own many firearms and the are locked up at home in my safe. APD begins to search backpack. As he pulls a holstered 9mm from my backpack, a panic begins to fall over me. My mouth opens wide, and I’m pretty sure I uttered “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me” APD: do you by chance have a CHL? Me: Yes sir. Hands CHL to Officer. APD: you are very lucky, law passed about a year ago allows for such a mistake. So we go downstairs, they run the firearm, all is good, small talk, then APD escorts me to the door and says have a nice day. I secure firearm in vehicle, go back to terminal and airline put me on a new flight, since I missed my scheduled flight. It takes a lot to shake me up, but this experience did it! Two weeks prior, the wife and I went on a road trip, so I threw the 9 in my backpack and forgot all about it. It happens, it can happen to you! This happened at the end of July, and I’ve flown twice since then, unfortunately on both flights No TSA pre-check on boarding pass. I have Global Entry which comes with TSA pre-check. I can only assume I’m being punished for my forgetful act. Anyone else make this kind of mistake, how was it handled? I’m wondering how long I’ll be in Pre-check jail.. you can bet I’ll never make that mistake again! Lesson Learned!
One of the TSA feeds I get at work, worth reading if only to understand the amount of prohibited items found every week...
https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2019/08/15/tsa-week-review-august-5-11
It is not confidence, but preparation and routines. As mentioned, quarantine your travel bags, always empty then pack, always know where every gun you own is, check twice, then check again, etc.
Three years ago after we moved to San Antonio I flew back to Michigan to drive a rental truck with all my ammo and firearms I had in storage there. I didn't check any firearms; but I did put three empty 1911 magazines in my back pack. Who knew? TSA is San Antonio acted offended that I dare to have "gun parts" in my back pack. During the confrontation the Duty SAPD Officer wandered over to listen to the "conversation". He looked at me and just shook his head from side to side at TSA's reaction. About six months later I received a civil penalty - which was the letter telling me I did wrong!
Last year on one of our trips to visit my son-in-law, his wife, and our granddaughter in Cancun I put my back pack on TSA's X-ray - negative, have a good day. At the airport in Cancun - just prior to leaving the secure area you are required to push a button - green light, have a good day; red light - luggage check. My lucky day - green light. As I was unpacking at the apartment - OMG - two live .45 ACP rounds. Whew damn lucky day!
I can neither confirm nor deny that they were lost in the mangroves on Isla Mujere! TSA would have been bad enough - but Mexico? I'd be lucky if my son-in-law could come see me on Visitor's Day!
Lesson learned, range bag only; travel back pack not range bag!
I travel a lot for work. So much that I have a dedicated travel backpack for flying( 5.11 72 hour rush) that sits in a giant zip lock bag in the closet and only leaves that container when I am packing for a flight.
I have 2 other 5.11 72 Hour Rush bags( different colors) one is my hunting bag and one is for when I am traveling by car. Neither of those will ever see the inside of an airport.
A group could cause some major travel disruptions by exploiting the TSA. Coordinate a few delays across the country, and watch things grind to a halt. Surprised some environmentalists or con-trail conspiracy theorists haven't done it yet.
Ouch. It could have gone a lot worse. But that's why it's always important to check your gear before heading anywhere like that.
It's funny I've flown out of notoriously anti-gun areas, rhymes with Komifornia, I was expecting a lot of trouble or weird looks when checking in my gun in my pelican case. The guy at the counter was a retired cop and fellow gun enthusiast. He started telling me about his carry gun and that he had a 1911 just like mine.
Houston to Denver earlier this year. "sir do you have any bullets in there or something like that?" me while chasing after a one year old and in-laws "No, just a lot of electronics, it might be batteries" He looks some more "okay have a nice flight"... Get to Denver, unpack, pull out a fully loaded glock 19 mag. Oops. And here I thought I was hot stuff for forgetting that I have knives on me most of the time I go through.