Yoshi212

I agree with Chollie & Petaluma. No additional fees and no escorting to their car. The firearm is locked in a box with only the owner/traveler having the key. I don't mind the idea of having to pickup at a baggage office to verify identity of transporter but it ends there. This is an airport security matter, not a TSA matter. Security can verify the correct person is getting the package and then the person can leave the airport.

It's about limiting risks while being free, not completely eliminating risk and being drones.

Boggie Dog

Less than honorable discharge.

Loren Pechtel

There's a problem, though--any such system requires marking the bag containing the firearm. Oops--they have already found that marking gun-containing baggage was a bad idea. (I don't know what prompted this, probably theft.)

petaluma1

I thought bags with properly checked firearms had a special bag tag so that TSA wouldn't go further bonkers by finding an object that looked suspicious on x-ray/CAT scan.

GUWonder

Any reports on whether the shooter got PreCheck on his DL boarding pass this time too?

Yoshi212

Why would it matter if he got PreCheck? The firearm was not on his person. If anything TSA will use this incident to their own benefit (more financing) and to treat the traveling public like .....

gsoltso

As opposed to what, giving him a lecture about liquids and gels or patting him down before allowing him to continue on his way? News flash, when someone starts shooting at random, and you don't have a gun, the smartest process you can follow is "run, hide, fight".

GUWonder

Given how lousy the TSA BDO/profiling thing is, I can't say we should expect any better by having airline or airline-contracted ground handling (inclusive of baggage claim) agents engaging in that kind of behavior to determine if a licensed gun owner claiming back their property is completely mentally competent, a terrorist or something else at the time of recovering their property. Giving the employees of airlines and airline contractors more opportunities to go on power-trips and act out on their prejudices is a recipe for more problems than solutions.

I'm very curious if he got PreCheck on his DL boarding pass for this trip. It would be yet another sign of how foolish the profiling element of PreCheck determinations really is.

Given the shooters name and birthdate is known, people can book a refundable DL ticket and check in online to see the result. It might be a fascinating outcome again before the government shuts it down from being repeated.
Because it speaks to the point that the TSA "trusted traveler" determination scheme is but another exercise in profiling that flops.

gsoltso

I don't think there will be a rush of changes from TSA, or a serious revamping of the process. There may be small changes, increased patrols by local LEOs or increased staffing for LEOs. TSA is not truly involved in the security protocols for the checked baggage areas, that is usually the purview of the local LEOs.

The anti gun crowd will use this to push for stricter laws regarding firearms, or the outright removal of firearms from everyone.

The pro gun crowd will use this to push for better laws regarding the open carry/concealed carry of firearms for everyone.

The best response to this situation is to examine how someone that had as many run-ins with LEOs as this gentleman did, and had as many mental challenges as he (apparently) does, gets to the place where he can shoot this happens. Someone, somewhere in the process leading to this senseless situation should have been able to recognize the mental illness ahead of time. Once we examine how all these signs were missed, we can then begin to formulate a path forward, to try and make sure we get people with similar challenges the treatment they need in order to prevent future tragedies of this nature.

GUWonder

With that approach, it sounds like the TSA really shouldn't have been pretending as if it's on the front line in a war against some terrorists.

Yoshi212

While I do see your point I don't want to draw attention to anything that will make the TSA take away traveling without a freedom groping. The PreCheck experience should be the traveling standard with scanning/groping on either a computerized random selection and/or if someone triggers a swab, WTMD or baggage scan, but that is hoping for too much in the anything in the name of security world we live in.

^
I don't blame TSOs for running or hiding but they need to back down from the frontline fighting terrorists scam.

chollie

I believe an unarmed school employee at Sandy Hook was vilified for allegedly running and hiding. The rest of her unarmed co-workers assumed leadership roles and tried to guide the children to safety.

Any FA who elbowed pax out of the way to escape an attack during a flight would be condemned.

I don't think it's inappropriate to expect 'academy'-trained TSA employees to perform as responsibly as unarmed elementary school employees with no 'academy' training - particularly when such a high percentage are allegedly veterans with military experience and training in addition to their 'academy' training.

TWA884

Comments that are political in nature and do not directly relate to TSA functions and responsibilites, and airport security are better left for OMNI/PR.

There is are two active threads there discussing this incident:
Posts have been deleted.

Thank you,

TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator

Martina70

I think it was a reservist.

GUWonder

He had some more recent Alaskan employment history with a private security company, a place he went to years after his Iraq service.

Those in the National Guard are often getting PreCheck for years after leaving. But he had been released from that too.