"Airport screeners still finding guns in carry-on bags"

Friday, May 26, 2006

Airport screeners still finding guns in carry-on bags 
By ANDREA BROWN
The Colorado (CO) Springs Gazette


Lighters, sure. 

Screwdrivers, maybe. 

In the frenzy to catch a plane, it's easy to forget stuff in your carry-on
bag that isn't allowed on the flight. 

But guns? 

Even loaded guns? 

It's all in a day's screening for many airport security workers, who
discovered 2,149 firearms that were brought to Transportation Security
Administration checkpoints across the country in the past year, said Carrie
Harmon, spokeswoman for the agency's Rocky Mountain Region. 

At the Colorado Springs Airport, two armed passengers were nabbed at the
checkpoint in the last 10 days. 

Boy, were they surprised. 

Not the TSA workers - the passengers. 

Walter Wayne Wright, 48, of Vancouver, Wash., told Colorado Springs police
he was unaware he had a loaded Ruger .357 magnum in his carry-on bag when he
tried to board a morning flight May 20. 

Three days earlier, Jennifer Lynne Burghardt, 28, a Utah State University
graduate student, put her bag on the X-ray conveyer - thinking the unloaded
.357 Smith & Wesson was in the suitcase she'd left in a closet, out of
harm's way. 

She was served a misdemeanor summons for unlawful possession of dangerous or
deadly weapons at an airport - and sent on her way with a court date. 

Because Wright's weapon was loaded, however, he was charged with a felony
offense and booked into the Criminal Justice Center before going back to
Washington. 

"It can be a felony or a misdemeanor," Colorado Springs police Sgt. Matt
Harrell said. 

"We look at every situation on its own merit. There is not a cut-and-dried
answer. It's the totality of the circumstances." 

Anyone caught with a gun is photographed and fingerprinted. And the incident
goes on his or her permanent criminal record as an arrest. 

There's also a good chance of missing the plane, a fate that also may befall
those unlucky enough to be in line behind a gun-toter. 

"The line stops until we arrive and take control of the situation," Harrell
said. 

What about if the person has a concealed weapon permit? 

"It doesn't matter at an airport," he said. 

Unloaded firearms can be checked onto a plane with approval if declared by
the passenger in advance. 

Passengers caught with firearms give pretty much the same story. 

"A myriad of 'I forgot it was in there,'" Harrell said. 

Those were the excuses from passengers busted at airports coast-to-coast,
including a 79-year-old grandmother with a gun in her tote bag at a Florida
airport, an Indiana congressman heading to Washington, D.C., with a loaded
Glock pistol, and an off-duty Los Angeles police chief boarding a plane to
New York with his handgun and family in tow. 

"It doesn't negate that they bring a weapon through a checkpoint," Harrell
said. 

"There's signs all over. I don't think anyone is surprised you are not
allowed to bring a gun on a plane." 

AIR TRAVEL DETAILS 

Items that cannot be taken aboard airplanes include: 

Ammunition 

Axes 

Baseball bats 

Bull whips 

Cattle prods 

Corkscrews 

Dog repellent spray 

Fireworks 

Golf clubs 

Metal scissors with pointed tips 

Pool cues 

Portable power saws 

Screwdrivers 

Toy transformer robots (a toy that forms a toy gun) 

Toy weapons 

Items that are permitted include: 

Walking canes and umbrellas 

Nail clippers 

Nail files 

Tweezers 

Safety razors (including disposable razors) 

Eyelash curlers 

Here are some tips for air travelers: 

Bring a small bag to be placed in carry-on luggage for loose change,
jewelry, cell phone and anything else that may set off the metal detector. 

Be flexible. Not all trips through the checkpoint will be exactly the same
because of TSA's layered screening approach to make it difficult for
terrorists to manipulate. 

Belligerence, inappropriate jokes and threats are not tolerated at security
checkpoints. Jokes and/or comments about threats to passengers or the
aircraft will be taken seriously and can result in criminal or civil
penalties. 

For more information, go to www.tsa.gov. 

Source: Transportation Security Administration

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