By Kate

As a corporate security advisor, I regularly encourage people to arm themselves before they travel abroad—with information about the crime, civil unrest, terrorism and no-go areas of their destination. In the main, they never seem to worry about getting there. They believe that TSA security “keeps us safe from terrorists” (imagine the voice of George W. Bush). So they put up with the always enjoyable process of waiting in line, removing their shoes and belts and facing the prospect of a TSA rubber-gloved pat down. They’ve been desensitized into denial. In reality, the long lines, gray plastic bins, zip lock baggies and barrels for full-size toothpaste tubes don’t protect us as much as they’d like to think . . .

Sept. 29 –  An unidentified woman forgot her .380 caliber semi automatic was in her purse as she went through the ever-diligent TSA security screening process at Orlando International Airport. But unlike the scores of others who are caught with a gun in their carry on almost every day, this one made it through.

She then boarded her plane – realizing she had the gun with her while on board – then ratted herself out to authorities in Newark when she landed. Port Authority police then confiscated her gun.

Now what if she wasn’t just an absentminded, law abiding citizen but instead, a Jihadi Jane 2.0?

In a statement, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority executive director Phil Brown said the airport would continue to work with law enforcement to ensure travelers’ safety. “We expect the Transportation Safety Administration to evaluate the incident and take appropriate action,” he said.

Feel safer?

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29 COMMENTS

  1. Did she use the gun to threaten the aircraft, crew or passengers? Did she use the gun to commit an act of “terrorism”? The answer is NO, so what the H*ll is the problem?

    Airport “security” is theater, designed to make the weak willed think they are being “protected” while teaching you to do as you are told. The Feds spend billions of dollars every year looking for weapons instead of looking for “bad guys”. This incident simply reinforces that it isn’t the weapon that’s the problem, its the “bad guy” with the weapon.

    Millions of Americans abandon their rights in order that Big Brother can “watch out” for us, make us feel safer rather than free.

    The terrorists have already won; they have US gladly accepting OUR government violating OUR rights in the name of safety. Its small wonder we are becoming a nation of wimps, whiners and dependents.

  3. Kate and John are correct that TSA is expensive and intrusive “window dressing” to perpetuate the illusion that something is being done. I flew quite a bit during my thirteen years of military service but never before or since. I will not willingly fly again.

  4. Having been in the position of looking for drugs amongst the zillions of travelers at a large urban international airport, all this search stuff is just a percentage game. There is NO chance that all of anything can be detected. Period. So in my mind the question comes up, how many guns, both in the hands of good guys AND bad guys are in the air right now? That is unauthorized guns. I suspect dozens a day across the US. It is only idiots like this woman that self -deport…err I mean self -report that we hear of.

  5. I’m all for alltruism, but if she made it that far, why the hell did she report herself??? At that point the pat downs are over, no more metal detectors. No more problems. She basically volunteered to have to pay for a lawyer and have legal headaches for the next year or two. Call me crazy, but I don’t volunteer to pay a speeding ticket everytime my foot gets a little heavy, and sure as hell wouldn’t do voluntary jail time.

  6. Our airports are not secure and have been severely compromised by political correctness. TSA does little more than intimidate our fellow citizens into submission at the checkpoints – to the amusement of those Muslim officers in their ranks. Not only are many of the food concessions, in the secure areas of our nation’s airports. staffed by Muslim workers, but some of their brethren have infiltrated the control towers.

    In September of 2006, I penned an article for Frontpage Magazine addressing airport security concerns titled “Profiling the Dead”. The article focused attention on the findings of a six-month investigation into the funeral business – specifically, the shipment of human remains aboard domestic carriers. At the time, I not only discovered that over 100,000 of such shipments occurred anually but that that they were not subject to e-ray screening or inspection. Bodies are being transported from Mosques to the bellies of awaiting aircraft. In fact, a major terrorism-linked Islamic Center had just applied for a funeral director’s license.

    Nothing has changed since then. Only a small percentage of the freight flown by domestic carrier is subject to a screening process. One should be far more concerned with the threat emanating from the enemy’s infiltration of the entire airline industry than that posed by a law-abiding citizen who mistakenly carries a hangun aboard.

    • Sooo……I get the feeling your not a fan of Muslims? I think that you might be missing that point of the story here. I don’t want to sound like a DB but comments like yours are why people think we are involved in some sort of holy war. I can assure you that we don’t want to get into a my god is better then your god fight. Nobody wins in that type of fight. Let’s just focus on hating the TSA and various other nonsensical government departments.

  7. What gets me worked up is that airport security should be handled buy private companies managed and inspected by government. Now we have another giant government body filled with those $12 an hour employees that were working for the private companies but now they are on the government payroll. And you and I are no safer and have less rights. I would vote for the person that says they are gonna get rid of the TSA

    • Just remember, that when the work is done by private sector employees it will be just as intrusive, just as unconstitutional and just as ineffective — only difference is it will be done with a modicum of courtesy. The feds will still set the rules and procedures so it still won’t be effective, just friendlier.

  8. Adam, when you can provide a list of Christian, Jewish, or Budist airline terrorists that have blown up or hijacked large number of aircraft you can get back on your high horse… Until then spare u’s the fake outrage, he wasn’t criticizing Islam, but to ignore Islamic terrorists is to be blind and deaf to reality… I just wish more people like that would be mute too…

  9. My carry permit is all the proof anyone needs to proove that I am trustworhty enough to go armed in an airplane, any other common carrier, courthouse(state or fed), etc.
    Second, 98% of all terrorist attacks(outside Ireland) since 1970 have been committed by arabic males b/tw the ages of 18&50. Profile them&let THEIR community deal with the stigma until said community gets ticked off enough to do something more about it than issue” statements of regret” . Grateful Dead fans, Girl Scouts,and grandmas should be left alone.
    Finally, yes,make airlines responsible for security. They have the incentive of not being sued! Abolish TSA.
    I know such just and logical suggestions are unlikely to be adopted, but I feel better now…..

  10. “She then boarded her plane – realizing she had the gun with her while on board – then ratted herself out to authorities in Newark when she landed. Port Authority police then confiscated her gun.”

    She may as well have brought the gun through security. Even if she checked it into the luggage the authorities in Newark would have confiscated it. See Revell vs Port Authority.

    As for the TSA, don’t be fooled by the blue uniforms. Ill bet there are tens of people in the sky right now flying overhead who have guns on their person and are wisely exercising their right to remain silent.

  11. Having built two restaurants in an airport concourse, I personally accidentally carried a box cutter through at least once. Laborers carried at least two huge knives through and one idiot carried a bag of pot through, all undetected. This was just what I knew about. Most of the time they catch it. Sometimes they don’t. Depends on the settings on the metal detector.

  12. Sheer volume. Even if TSA was diligent and well organised and motivated to do an outstanding job, which they ain’t, some things will get through based on volume alone. The real answer to airline security is to arm the crews and use a profile based security screening system.

  13. One less thing for TSA to steal.

    She made the right move by self-declaring. If she had tried to check the gun for her return, she would have been reported by airline personnel, arrested, spent a couple of nights in the cooler, pleaded to a misdemeanor, paid a fine and lost the gun, all of which happened to Mark Meckler at LaGuardia Airport. And according to The Post, Meckler had only a “.9mm” handgun. If he had a .380, he’d be doing life.

  14. Can we conclude that the Ruger Elsie Pea is the real porcelain gun that doesn’t show up on a scanner and costs more than Dennis Franz makes in a month?

  17. The only reason she wasn’t charged with a crime is because she was a firefighter. If she was a dentist she would have been thrown in jail.

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