WASHINGTON – A security screener that reveals anatomical features, liquids in 3.4 ounce bottles, mandatory removal of shoes and belts. We’ve all gotten use to these standard procedures when going through airport security. So how do some travelers forget they are carrying a gun?
Passengers can travel with firearms, but they must be carried in checked baggage and declared with the airline.
But each week Transportation Security Administration screeners find passengers who have a gun in their carry-on bag or on their person. While TSA officials say the most common excuse is “I forgot it was there,” these travelers might be trying to prove a point about concealed carry and their Second Amendment rights.
“Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that’s for the law enforcement officer to decide,” Bob Burns, a TSA spokesman, said in a blog post. “In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items.”
TSA officers are finding an increasing number of guns on passengers. In the first six months of the year, security screeners found 894 guns on airport travelers, a 30 percent increase from the same period last year.
Joan Burbick, a sociology professor at Washington State University and author of Gun Show Nation: Gun Culture and American Democracy, says “I forgot” is a superficial response.
“There are certain people who believe they have a right to carry a gun anywhere,” Burbick said. “That’s just part of the mentality of concealed carry; there should not be any space within the United States where they do not have the right to carry.”
Just last week TSA officers found 49 firearms on passengers, 36 of these weapons were loaded.
Burbick says carrying a loaded weapon is a part of the logic of possession for proponents of concealed carry.
“They perceive that they need to have instant protection, so there would be no point in having an unloaded gun,” Burbick said. “If it’s going to be an effective weapon it must be loaded, in terms of their thinking.”
Passengers found carrying guns are sometimes arrested, but it depends on state gun laws where the airport is located. If a passenger is arrested, the government does not keep statistics on what happens to them after the arrest. In states where gun laws are more tolerant, TSA officials will often hand the gun to the passenger and advise them to store it in a safe place.
“We don’t analyze the behavioral traits of people who carry weapons,” David Castelveter, a TSA spokesman, told the AP. “We’re looking for terrorists. But sometimes you have to scratch your head and say, ‘Why?’”
While passengers carrying guns can cause security delays, Burbick says they often do not view themselves as threats to national security.
“For some of these people they think they are armed citizens and would help fight terrorism so that has a kind of vigilante spin to it,” Burbick said. “I don’t think they think they’re a threat to national security, they very much see themselves as patriotic citizens.”
