Pregnant Teenager Delayed by TSA for Gun on Purse

[ihpguy]

The more and more I think about this, even more that I realize that the name of the USA should be the United States of Cah-Ray-Zees. Of course, beside the fact that someone of the caliber of Newt Gingrich could be in the lead for the republican presidential nomination. Herman Cain? Michele Bachmann? How did either even enter the realm of the possible? What about the ideal of the best and the brightest? John McCain? Sarah Palin? Sarah Polley or Sarah Paulson would probably be better choice on the Sarah front. Oh hell. Abraham's wife Sarah, if alive, would probably be a better option. And that even includes the Binding of Isaac nutso stuff. Talking about a real faith-based belief system.

Anyone. PHD: Piled higher and deeper. Here goes:

CNN) -- Flying fashionistas with a thing for the Second Amendment may want to leave their gun-themed purses and other paraphernalia at home, lest they be flagged as a security risk and miss their flights.

As she was flying home after the recent holiday weekend, Virginia Gibbs' gun-themed purse was flagged as a security risk by Transportation Security Administration officials at the Norfolk, Virginia, airport.

While Gibbs told CNN affiliate News 4 JAX that she's carried the purse on many flights, the 17-year-old says she was told that the purse "was a federal offense because it's in the shape of a gun. I'm like, 'a design on a purse. How is it a federal offense?' "

Purses or belts with gun emblems can fall under a TSA prohibition on replica weapons because they could be mistaken for a real weapon in the X-ray machine or by a fellow passenger.

"Security checkpoints may be impacted or closed because replica weapons like toy guns, novelty grenades, fake bombs and other items appear similar to the real thing when viewed through an X-ray machine," TSA spokesman Greg Soule said. "Checkpoint closures cause significant delays, which can be avoided if passengers don't bring these items to the airport."

By the time TSA officials figured out that the purse was a fake, offering Gibbs the opportunity to give up the purse or check it, Gibbs had missed her flight and was placed on another to Orlando. Her frantic mother drove from Jacksonville to Orlando to pick her daughter up.

Gibbs arrived at security 20 minutes before her flight was due to depart, which may have caused her to miss her flight, according to a security official.

The TSA says it's investigating her allegation that the purse has made it through airport security before.

[TampaYankee]

Just one more example of so many things fucked up in this country at this time.

[RA1]

I personally know of a friend of mine who accidentally walked through airport security with a gun in his pocket. He didn't realize he had done it until he was through and walking towards his departure gate.

The TSA has some very silly rules and no rational way of interpreting them, especially during the actual screening of passengers. But, who among us expects the government to be flexible or do rational things? I certainly don't and I am very weary of our rights being usurped by the TSA, HSA and others.

We can still vote for change but our options do seem to continually diminish, don't they?

Best regards,

RA1

[Guest hitoallusa]

I find silly that one TSA agent's mistake can reflect poorly on the whole government. There were other TSA agents at other airports who let this girl through freely carrying the purse! Yet we seem to forget that at all and emphasize this incident and the government gets blamed for it. It was the individual who made the mistake and yes he didn't have any common sense. That's why we need government but not too intrusive to protect innocent people from harm. The problem is that we evitably have and will have a couple of senseless people in the government who make a lot of important decisions. Fortunately not all the politicians are like that so we have hope.

[Guest CharliePS]

I find silly that one TSA agent's mistake can reflect poorly on the whole government. There were other TSA agents at other airports who let this girl through freely carrying the purse! Yet we seem to forget that at all and emphasize this incident and the government gets blamed for it. It was the individual who made the mistake and yes he didn't have any common sense. That's why we need government but not too intrusive to protect innocent people from harm. The problem is that we evitably have and will have a couple of senseless people in the government who make a lot of important decisions. Fortunately not all the politicians are like that so we have hope.

But in this case, the govt. (TSA) is defending the one agent's action, and apparently thinks other agents who acted sensibly and let her through were wrong and should be reprimanded.

[RA1]

Sensibility and initiative are seemingly almost never rewarded by any government agency. Why should the TSA be any different? Answer: It won't.

Many of us seem to just sit back, let things happen in the name of security when really our rights and freedoms are being taken away willy nilly, and think very little of it. To make matters worse, there is no security.

Best regards,

RA1

[Guest epigonos]

As far as I can tell the only major success that the TSA has had in that it has employed many people who were otherwise unemployable. I don't know of one recorded incident where the TSA thwarted a terrorist attempt.

I just hope the Global Entry/TSA experiment in Baltimore is successful and if so is approved for the rest of the country. It would certainly make flying one hell of a lot easier.

[BiBottomBoy]

I can't believe they flagged that. A couple years ago I was in the line behind a guy who was carrying a Koran that he'd carved swastikas into - and they didn't give him any trouble at all.

Man, I was fucking terrified during that entire flight.

[lookin]

I find silly that one TSA agent's mistake can reflect poorly on the whole government. There were other TSA agents at other airports who let this girl through freely carrying the purse! Yet we seem to forget that at all and emphasize this incident and the government gets blamed for it.

As well they should.

The difference between letting a civilian get away with a thoughtless intrusion on our individual rights and letting a government employee get away with a thoughtless intrusion on our individual rights is that the government employee has the full force of the government behind him. That can easily extend to depriving us of our liberty and, in some cases, our life.

Since 9/11, many people have turned a blind eye to such intrusions on our civil rights. And they have done so, as Epigonos pointed out, even in the absence of an iota of proof that we are getting anything in return.

While I am perplexed that the federal government casually assumes these attacks on civil liberties are justified, I am gobsmacked that so many ordinary citizens don't consider them anything to get worked up about either. This desensitization to the value of individual rights in the U. S. is the worst fallout of 9/11, in my opinion. If Ayman al-Zawahiri was happy over the loss of three thousand lives on 9/11, he must be ecstatic over the subsequent erosion of freedoms for three hundred million U. S. citizens.

Although the TSA's violations of individual rights is bad enough, they are a just a subset of the many violations of individual rights we have come to accept in little more than a decade.