TSA MESS UP: Businessman Boards Plane With Loaded Gun

[Pardus]

Article

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM - One of the first things most people hope TSA screeners would be able to spot in an X-ray is a gun, especially with the sheer volume of travel that happens around the holidays. Unfortunately, that's not always the case.

Details are emerging about a Houston businessman who boarded a plane at Bush Intercontinental Airport last year, only to discover that he had accidentally left his .40-caliber gun stowed away in his carry-on computer bag, according to ABC KTRK Houston. And this was at the height of the Christmas travel season.

"I mean, this is not a small gun," the businessman, Farid Seif, told ABC. "It's a .40 caliber gun."

The gun should have been particularly hard to miss, as screening procedures require passengers to remove their laptops from their cases, leaving the gun as the sole object left in the bag as it was scanned.

Another passenger accidentally made it past security with a 6-inch hunting knife, according to the Consumerist.

Perhaps even more disconcerting to some, according to authorities, the incident isn't unheard of. ABC even reports that a source familiar with the covert testing of US airport security has said that at some airports there's a failure rate of up to 70 percent in identifying banned items.

Though more stringent security measures have since been implemented, the breach in this incident exemplifies a larger problem: the human element of fatigue that can affect screening quality while TSA employees spend hours examining luggage for contraband items. However, as the Consumerist points out, this example is considered particularly alarming, as the X-ray very clearly identifies the gun.

 

[Soccerman06]

:hmm:

 

[HamburgerBoy]

It happened a year ago, which was before they began their current groping methods. Plus, the dude's name sounds Muslim. Political correctness never allows you to search Muslims. Everyone knows this.

 

[Aluvus]

It happened a year ago, which was before they began their current groping methods. Plus, the dude's name sounds Muslim. Political correctness never allows you to search Muslims. Everyone knows this.

It was in a bag that was x-rayed.

Calling this a "mess up" is like losing an arm and calling it an "owie".

 

[xanis]

epic lulz

 

[Bryf50]

Plus, the dude's name sounds Muslim. Political correctness never allows you to search Muslims. Everyone knows this.

No way. Racial Profiling>Political correctness in airports.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

No way. Racial Profiling>Political correctness in airports.

You are wrong. TSA is too cowardly and fears lawsuits by the Muslim lobbies, so they grope blonde women instead.

 

[schneiderguy]

You are wrong. TSA is too cowardly and fears lawsuits by the Muslim lobbies, so they grope blonde women instead.

I'd grope a blonde woman over a hairy muslim dude if I had the choice, too :hmm:

 

[HamburgerBoy]

That's because you're racist.

 

[techs]

I guess the TSA inspector was too busy groping his junk.

 

[edro]

It's the threat of search and imprisonment that acts as the deterrent.
You don't have to actually catch every weapon, just search everyone for them.
99.999% of people who carry weapons on planes are not terrorists.

If a terrorist wants to blow up a plane, they could easily hide a bomb in their body cavity.
I think the TSA is mainly to stop moron copy cat criminals, like the shoe and underwear bombers.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Take a power supply brick and other boxy metal objects and they could easily create a false image when overlayed onto a gun. TSA xray readers are seeing what they expect to see.

 

[SagaLore]

I've accidentally left a can of shaving cream in my carry-on, and that was immediately identified with alarms and everything. My fault and they caught it. I don't understand how someone accidentally loads a gun and accidentally puts it in their bag, and how a security check won't automatically set off an alarm. Its not like they're playing where's waldo - its obvious to spot.

 

[guyver01]

The gun should have been particularly hard to miss

Is that a typo?

 

[TwiceOver]

Hrm, wonder what in the computer bag would have masked the outline of a .40 gun. Power brick and several large USB sticks?

 

[Homerboy]

Im confused as to how exactly you FORGET you have a loaded .40 caliber gun in your computer bag. Let alone as you walk through the airport.

 

[edro]

Im confused as to how exactly you FORGET you have a loaded .40 caliber gun in your computer bag. Let alone as you walk through the airport.

Texas?

 

[Joemonkey]

Im confused as to how exactly you FORGET you have a loaded .40 caliber gun in your computer bag. Let alone as you walk through the airport.

Texas

 

[Homerboy]

Texas?

Still. I just find it "impressive" that one can forget they have a loaded gun on them. I don't care where you live.

 

[MotF Bane]

Im confused as to how exactly you FORGET you have a loaded .40 caliber gun in your computer bag. Let alone as you walk through the airport.

Texas.

Edit: Damn, didn't get the three in a row.

 

[JulesMaximus]

It happened a year ago, which was before they began their current groping methods. Plus, the dude's name sounds Muslim. Political correctness never allows you to search Muslims. Everyone knows this.

Was his laptop bag wearing a turban?

Seriously, you're getting as bad as theflyinghog.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Still. I just find it "impressive" that one can forget they have a loaded gun on them. I don't care where you live.

I went through airport security with a loaded .45 clip in my bag once. Yes, I know...I said clip. Blow me. This was before 9/11 though.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Im confused as to how exactly you FORGET you have a loaded .40 caliber gun in your computer bag. Let alone as you walk through the airport.

This is the United Paranoid States of America. Laptops are sold with a free handgun in this country and everyone carries a loaded gun at all times.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Just further proof that the TSA is completely incompetent. Full body scanners won't help anything if the people operating them can't catch a gun on an X-ray.

 

[darkxshade]

Oh man, I can't imagine how it would have turned out for Farid Seif if TSA had actually discovered the gun in light of his uh... profile.