TSA confirmed to CBS News its officers missed the four rounds of hunting ammo in Watson's carry-on when he and his wife departed from Oklahoma City in April. A spokesperson for the agency told CBS News the TSA is addressing the oversight internally.
America’s finest.
It's a shit job with shit pay to deal with assholes all day and you don't even know if you'll get that shit pay if congress can't come up with a deal every few months. I don't blame them.
It's a shit job that shouldn't exist. It's all security theater and always has been.
I blame them. I see people doing literal shit jobs (cleaning bathrooms) every day for shittier pay and they even have a smile in their faces from time to time. They definitely don’t go out of their way to be assholes to everyone around them and spread their misery.
It’s an organization culture thing. I’ve been to airports where they just do their jobs, and I’ve been to ones where they think they’re cops and act accordingly: as bastards.
It's okay - just as long as it's not a slightly larger pack of toothpaste, or god forbid some water. Luckily those get caught, so we're still safe.
problems literally only americans have. is it really too much to ask to store guns and ammunition safely?
Fucks sake. Why should they.
It's literally a victimless crime committed unintentionally. Most people oppose 12-year prison sentences for harmless accidents.
I mean, you’re travelling internationally, check your damn bag. You think if a couple of Turkish dudes got caught with ammo in their luggage they’d do great in the states? Don’t like getting in trouble overseas? Don’t break the laws overseas.
I think getting smacked with a cane for smoking weed is dumb. Still won’t catch me with weed in Singapore though. Best believe I triple checked my bags when I left Europe too.
Yeah the hypocrisy of the US government is the glaring thing here. Do as I say, not as I do. The US holds black children in prison for life for some marijuana, or random internationals in Guantanamo for decades. The projection is central.
I don't understand how ammo ends up in someone's luggage. It's not like people pack their ammo in luggage to go to the gun range. but I know someone that works for TSA and I believe they said finding bullets in luggage is the most common way people get in trouble.
I want to know why. Are they going to gun stores while traveling and saying, "holy shit! Hornady Critical Defense 9mm for $20 a box‽ I can't pass this deal up!" That's the only thing I can think of.
I have various bags that get used for range trips and travel. I am METICULOUS about clearing the gun stuff out of a bag when I’m done. Same with my vehicle, as I cross an international border from time to time and don’t want my truck getting ripped apart. Every bit of gun stuff that goes in the truck on range day is accounted for and removed when I get home.
The real answer is simple. These people are irresponsible fuckwits that give responsible gun owners a shitty name. You can see it every time you go to the range. People shooting the ceiling, people turning around with a pistol in hand and muzzling the whole room. There are a metric fuck ton of people with guns in the US that shouldn’t be considered qualified to own them.
And we've tried everything from "making guns easier to get" to "absolutely nothing," and we're out of ideas.
I really wish we could have a good faith conversation in this country about the intersections between rights and responsibilities. Until then, I'm fine with people going to prison in foreign countries for this kinda crap.
Lefty gun owner here, and we haven’t done “nothing” but certainly not enough. Gun control advocates have always done things that feel good and do nothing to prevent violence. Magazine capacity bans (one columbine shooter had 14 ten round ban compliant mags) and bans on cosmetic features like heat shrouds and pistol grips do absolutely nothing to keep anyone safer. People will just train to be effective with pesky ban compliant features, or, you know, ignore the law.
Michigan did something great in response to a school shooting. If a child or otherwise restricted person gains access to your firearms and harms someone, you get slapped with a major felony, a law that’s already been put to use a few times. So it basically makes a safe mandatory by placing the fear of a lengthy sentence on leaving your guns out for kids to grab. It’s something.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing an actual proficiency test, one that weeds out the lowest common denominator. I have sought training and education consistently over years to participate in competitive shooting events, and I’ve literally shot with cops that I wouldn’t let clean their gun in my kitchen. The “test” for a concealed carry license is a joke, id like to see a true test of safety knowledge to even own a firearm.
I never put gun stuff in anything other than a range bag, and I never take range bags traveling. I don't understand - are these people using their travel luggage as range bags? I can't say I've ever seen someone at the range unloading ammo from a suitcase.
Your situation is a bit different, though. You're actually driving across the border. I can see accidentally leaving some range gear in a vehicle, and especially ammo if you tote it separately as you might with rifle or shotgun shooting. Your diligence is commendable, and wise considering you're crossing one of the two borders we have.
Ultimately, the only person I trust with a firearm is me. It sounds as if you're more charitable than that, but we agree there are a lot of people who really shouldn't have guns.
TLDR: Bring backpack to the range finish with a round left put it in the backpack. Forget to take it out. Go on vacation months later "Oh I should bring my backpack for hiking".
Seeing a great deal and spontaneously buying it is understandable, but why would they open up the box and allow ammo to roll around loose in the car?
This typically isn't people putting it in luggage (like suitcases) but backpacks or other non-dedicated range bags.
You definitely might use the same backpack or tote to go out to the range as to go on a weekend trip. Drive to a hunting holiday with friends, then use the same bags for a trip to Disney with the kids. If you're going somewhere, you use the bags you have.
It’s simple. I don’t need different bags for specific purposes. That’s wasteful. I just use the same bags for range time and travel. Obviously I couldn’t tell you how a whole ass gun gets left in there, but I could see a few accidental rounds or casings.
I got stopped going into Canada and their dog got a hit on my bag in the back of my truck. They accused my wife and I for over an hour of trying to bring weapons into Canada. Told them the dog has a good sniffer and that I frequently use that bag at the range, but that I was in fact just traveling to visit national parks and that if I was bringing in guns to their country it wouldn’t be through a major point of entry and would be in the thousands of miles of semi-unmonitored border.
Just use a separate bag for guns and ammo. It's not that hard, and you will never mix them up.
But then you get that awkward situation where you go on vacation, open your luggage to get a fresh pair of socks or whatever, and find that you brought nothing but guns and ammo along with you on your trip.
God I hate it when that happens!
I think they'd be more likely to feel distressed at discovering the opposite had occurred
Yeah this is psychotic my ammo bag is never used for anything else except ammo. It would never occur to me to take it on vacation. Why would I even want to? I don't even believe these people.
Or even better, don't own either! Boom, problem solved!
Or even better, don’t own either!
Easy for you to say. But what an I supposed to do without any bags? Just carry everything in cardboard boxes?
Make the world a safer place, Turks and Caicos.
12 years seems like a long time, but a couple years of prison for bringing a weapon to a country that has illegalized those weapons and states very clearly that you can be prosecuted for bringing those weapons?
Sure.
There was no weapon.
Oh, thanks, I thought I read the woman had ammunition only, but the four earlier tourists were carrying guns. They were apparently not!
Still, if the airport explicitly tells you not to carry firearm ammunition into the country under penalty of prosecution, and then you carry firearm ammunition into the country, you can't be shocked by prosecution.
Downvoted for pointing out the facts. lol. Good job Lemminites!
As an american: no mercy. You should always be looking up whether its legal to transfer weapons when you visit another country.
There is zero evidence that any of these people arrested were intentionally bringing ammo into their country. The woman in the article was actually caught with 2 rounds in her bag when she was leaving the country.
12 years for accidentally bringing 4 rounds into a foreign country for a husband and father of two? Regardless of what you think of this guy, that is extreme.
A father of two carelessly leaving ammunition lying around? That guy should neither have guns nor children. The length of the prison sentence is definitely excessive so it matches perfectly well with the US justice system.
The idea that you just have loose ammo in the folds of your bags instead of crumbs is so insane and also so stereotypical of americans. 12 years is a little much but I have less sympathy since the US constantly locks citizens of other countries away for longer for less dangerous offences.
Like around here if you store ammo inappropriately like this will get your gun license yoinked permanently faster than you can blink. Like the dangerous part of owning guns is the ammo, without it guns are just an ineffective club, and ammo can go off without a gun.
Totally agree. Not being able to account for all your ammunition shows to me a lack of the basic necessary discipline and maturity to handle a weapon.
I love this. This is my current favourite part of the timeline where Americans are treated with the same hypocrisy they demand of everyone else globally. Then whine and complain as always, and the other government just doesn't care. Stay strong Turks and Caicos, makes me want to buy one of your citizenships so much more.
Do you have anything that actually indicates any of these people who have been arrested there demanded that this exact thing happen to everyone else globally? Outside of that, it just reeks of dealing with the cognitive dissonance of thinking you care about justice, but having a vengeful attitude towards Americans, probably because you have a low opinion of America's politics.
Everyone is for restorative justice until it’s someone or something they don’t like.
This is a common hustle. They will try to extort money or will drop a round in your baggage.
Four of the detained Americans have admitted they brought the ammunition — but by mistake.
It appears this isn't the case.
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