ShutteLag

passenger flew from LAX to Taipei with loaded Ruger with 6 bullets in her backpack... she surrendered the weapon and herself to the airport police.

Edit: apparently the female passenger was an officer with Santa Monica Police Department. She was going to Thailand on vacation, with a connection in Taipei.

Question: how can the TSA at LAX miss a loaded Ruger?

Google Translate doesn't do a very good job... here's the article my friend just emailed me... can someone who speaks Japanese translate it into English?
https://translate.google.com/transla...-text=&act=url

pdsuk

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...u/3678020.html

Here is something in english

FliesWay2Much

Geez -- I looked up the cost of a Ruger revolver on the Worldwide Web and they come in at somewhere between $250-$300. Other than the TSA's screw-up, one wonders about the judgment of this cop voluntarily surrendering herself in a foreign country. For me, it would have been a no-brainer to eat the $300 and loose the revolver somewhere. If the gun was registered, I don't know if she would have had to report it "missing" when she got back to CA.

Although I was quick to blame the TSA, perhaps the cop flashed whatever badge she had to flash in order to bypass the checkpoint?

More detailed news:

ShutteLag

What you are describing is a crime that's much worse than accidentally bringing a firearm on a commercial airliner.

I don't know about police departments in California, but in my county, police officers must register their personal firearms if the said firearms are carried while on-duty. How will she explain her lost gun to mysteriously turn up in a foreign country thousands of miles away. It will take 2 seconds for them to figure out she was connecting or visiting that country. Another 2 seconds to figure out that she was lying about a lost/stolen gun. Most likely she'll be fired and possibly face prosecution somewhere.

Self-surrendering was the best course of action. Sure, she may get in some trouble, but if it was an honest mistake, she'll probably face nothing more than a reprimand.

It's the TSA guys at LAX who must be sweating like hogs right now...

Section 107

Extremely unlikely that she "flashed a badge" and "bypassed" the checkpoint. First, not just any badge will do.

Second, with very few exceptions* anyone entering the sterile area as a passenger must go through the security checkpoint, even airport workers with a SIDA badge for that airport. There is no "flashing a badge" and bypassing the checkpoint when being a passenger. This used to be possible but that loophole was changed awhile back.

Third, unless a law enforcement officer must fly for duty and must be armed in the performance of that duty while in flight (or be prepared to use the firearm immediately upon arrival), the LEO is not going to be carrying weapons in the cabin; the LEO's weapons will be checked. For a LEO to fly armed requires quite a bit of routine paperwork between the LEO's commanders and the TSA.

Because this pax was flying with family there is little chance she would have been able to claim she was on duty and therefore might be eligible to bypass security.

*The exceptions for a passenger to be armed is a LEO on protective detail for a passenger on the flight or a LEO who must be prepared for duty immediately upon arrival (i.e. cannot wait to claim checked firearms). Usually VIPs traveling with a protective detail are not required to go through the checkpoint. These people enter the sterile area usually through the known crew member access point, the exit point, or a discreet entrance. These arrivals are pre-arranged (even if sometimes rather hastily).

ShutteLag

She already freely admitted that it was an honest mistake... I always felt that honesty was the best policy... but these days, people don't value honesty that much. In some cases, it's actually makes more sense to keep one's mouth shut or outright make something up. <deleted>

FliesWay2Much

I'm really having a hard time wrapping my brain around how someone who has an 8-year old child and who packs heat for a living "forgets" where their personal firearm is.

I really do know how the system is supposed to work. I also know LA pretty well.

ShutteLag

travelling with a child is no picnic

so... one or more TSA guys messed up?

FliesWay2Much

Never had kids, so I'll take your word for it...

chollie

Maybe TSA needs to start rubbing bags instead of crotches.

ShutteLag

but surely you've seen unruly kids? or have you been avoiding them as well?

and don't even get me started on babies who cry almost nonstop on 15-hour nonstop TPAC flights on the upper deck.

Icecat

Varies by department..(at least it did ten years ago), but I suspect she will be an ex-Santa Monica Police Officer, as I would expect federal charges to be filed here in the states..

You're right about the TSA person..(I'm assuming that the TBIT TSA checkpoint if filmed) Once they find what line the officer went into, I wouldn't want to be the person observed working the x-ray machine.

chollie

(bolding mine)

Or, if the xray operator flagged the bag for a search, I wouldn't want to be the TSO who conducted the search.

I wonder if the pax was groped when she went through the checkpoint.

ShutteLag

with the war with North Korea breaking out shortly, the news media has pretty much overlooked this serious TSA incident.. ^

Dresden

So. She "forgot" she had a handgun in her backpack. I have been carrying guns daily for 43 years. Always on duty, mostly when off duty. Am I the only person reading this thread who is astounded that a sworn police officer is unable to control her belongings and inadvertently travels with a firearm?

Last month the TSA reportedly confiscated over 80 firearms in carry-on bags. Most from Ma and Pa Kettle. What in the name of heaven would possess a person to store a firearm in a bag that you use for travel? Gun bags are for guns, and nothing else. Travel bags are for travel. Putting a gun in a travel bag is a recipe for a very expensive mistake, unless it is in a hard case, unloaded and declared, very deliberately.

So once again the TSA ignores an obviously lethal weapon that traveled through their X-Ray device and matches the pattern that their algorithms are supposed to spot. And once again, a gun owner ignores the cardinal rule that a lethal weapon needs to be stored properly or consequences may be disastrous.

|Rant off|