by For the last eight years, we have been subject to ever increasing scrutiny by airport security when traveling by air. From taking off our shoes to measuring out exact measures of shampoo, going from point A to point B by air has slowly turned into an exercise in greater and greater public humiliation at the hands of the TSA.
We must wonder, therefore, how we can have incidents like that of a loaded gun being brought onto an airplane — loaded and unlicensed.
The TSA, Delta and Hartsfield-Jackson Airport are all reviewing how a Delta flight attendant was able to take a loaded, unlicensed gun onto a flight from Atlanta to Indianapolis.
Thirty-nine-year-old Amber Robillard brought a loaded handgun to the Indianapolis International Airport in her carry-on luggage now faces misdemeanor charges…
She told investigators after the June 4 incident that she had placed the gun in a bag and had left it in her car at the Atlanta airport.
It is truly disturbing to think about how we are all taking off our shoes and yet somehow, actual lethal weapons are getting on planes undetected. Then there is the case of Juan Manuel Baldoquin, who “accidentally” brought his gun with him when traveling to Cuba — as if we are to believe that accidents of this sort really happen.
About 6:40 a.m., a TSA agent saw the outline of what appeared to be a firearm in Baldoquin’s fanny pack while at concourse G’s TSA X-ray checkpoint. Miami-Dade police officers searched Baldoquin’s posessions, and found a .25 caliber, semi-automatic Raven Arms pistol.
“That is my firearm, I honestly forgot that I was carrying the firearm,” said Baldoquin, according to police.
Detectives found out the weapon had been reported stolen in 1996, in West Palm Beach.
If the TSA is only sometimes finding lethal weapons while making every effort to make us feel as uncomfortable as possible while traveling, then what is the purpose of the TSA? Could it be that the real purpose of the TSA is a sort of an assuaging group that doesn’t really keep us safer but gives us the feeling that they are doing so?
This is definitely disturbing news, Gordon.
We need to give up the current “everyone is guilty” security meme and start profiling passengers. That doesn’t necessarily mean racial profiling, but “risk profiling” based on direct, human interaction with passengers based on observation and asking questions and evaluating answers.
Enough with the “show dramatics” of our current pat-down and radiation schemes!
A problem that I can think of with profiling is that some people who never have guns, bombs, etc. on them might continually be pulled. Like my dad, who used to be pulled to be checked for drugs because he had long hair and a beard.
sorry, the computer filled in a different name.
No worries! We appreciate the effort to update us! 🙂
I wonder how many people with long hair and beards were found to be in possesion of drugs that lead them to this conclusion.
That’s exactly right, David. The current system is far too ineffective.