TSA (courtesy realclearpolitics.com)

“Until Georgia law was changed two years ago, ‘we didn’t really have any issues here,’ Britt Johnson, who is head of the Atlanta FBI office, said of the ‘Guns Everywhere Law’ that expanded the list of places guns were allowed. The law said gun owners with a permit could take guns discovered in their carry-on luggage back to their cars or give them to someone for safe keeping, and they would not face criminal charges.” According to ajc.com, Peach State gun owners can kiss that “common sense gun law” goodbye . . .

Starting June 1, anyone who forgets they have a gun in their carry-on luggage will be looking at up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine if the firearm is caught at the security check point at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

So the TSA’s stepping-in to step on Americans’ gun rights/raise revenue/permanently ban Americans from firearms ownership for a simple (if stupid) mistake.

John Monroe, with the gun rights group GeorgiaCarry.org, said the federal government had always had the ability to bring federal charges, so this change in approach is not unreasonable.

“It’s pretty obvious … they don’t like the idea of people not being prosecuted for something,” Monroe said.

I sincerely hope that Mr. Monroe’s said “unexpected” rather than “unreasonable.” Because this TSA “crackdown” is the dictionary definition of unreasonable, IMHO.

Will the TSA spread this anti-gun ackbootery to other airports that simply wave a wary finger at forgetful gun owners? I’ll call them now . . .

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64 COMMENTS

  1. I’d love to see how that policy stands up to a legal challenge given the precedents. My guess… Not well.

    • Silly peasant. Everyone knows that airports are constitution free zones. Now pick up that can!

    • If you’re too stupid to remember you have a gun, then you’re too stupid have a gun.

      Way too many people trying to sneek things onboard aircraft. Removing the punishment will increase the problem.

      So tired of the sissy gun owners who go crying to mommy when they get a legal boo boo.

      • Thanks Hillary. I needed to be reminded not to be stupid. I know you must have had a hard day telling people how to run their lives. May I rub your feet for you while you list to some jazz and sip merlot?

      • Don’t you just love the TTAG double standard about flaming. Protect the groupthink, but light em up if their options differ. TTAG used to provide a quality service to the gun community. Now its a cesspool of teenage mutant mall ninjas.

        So out of one side of the TTAG mouth comes the gun loser of the day who left their pistol unsecured and a child used it to scratch their head. But the moment someone forget they even have a gun and attempt to go through the tightest security on average any American will face, and suddenly it’s big brother stepping all over their rights. Nannys anyone?

        So just attack the messenger. Nothing says preserve the Second more than acting like a dick.

  2. Knowing the incompetence of the ATF there will be cases where they “misplace” anything that proves being told about the guns.

  3. That photo almost screams out for the caption: “Smell this.” or “Pull my finger.”

  4. Looks to me like TSA wants to get booted from Hartsfield-Jackson. Part of the reason the airport manager just got canned was because of the unreasonable wait times for security.

  5. And the AUSA are on board with this? Because the impression I got from Fed LEOs is that the AUSA doesn’t bother unless it is a major felony.

    Now as far as getting away without punishment, the TSA is allowed to levy civil fines, up to $11k IIRC.

  6. The airport lines due to TSA incompetence are so long that a traveler could start out alert and end up senile by the time he’s cleared. Forget guns? Hell, a feller could forget his name.

    When I checked my guns, I often get a free TSA Pre✓ as a bonus for being a good doobie. I guess the TSA believes that anyone who voluntarily subjects his firearms to the tender mercies of baggage thieves handlers must be harmless.

    Thanks for the pat on the head, TSA. Now go F yourselves.

  7. Send forgetful owners to prison as felons, although no harm done…………but security THEATER is a good thing………………

    • Sir! You may not bring that water bottle with you, it could be an explosive!
      Please dispose of it in that garbage can where thousands of tightly packed people will be standing as the day goes on.

  8. Realized I was carrying my Kershaw Leek at LGA, stuck it under a concrete planter and lo it was still there a week later.
    Threat of jail time/fine will make folks try the same thing with guns I bet.

  9. Yes, if we as a society must err, let it be on the side of more incarcerated citizens, not less – ++good if they are gun-owners. /s

  10. So every time a person forgets their otherwise legal handgun is in their carry-on the FBI, ATF or both will dispatch agents to the airport? Really doubt it. This is a publicity stunt and they will not tie up agents with this BS. What the higher ups say and what the foot soldiers do is often not the same.

    • Well clearly this calls for a budget increase for both agencies, to cover the agent shortfall.

    • I suspect that they will just pull agents off of counter-terrorism details. Obama’s priorities are their priorities.

    • Thanks for the video.

      From the video:

      “Once there is a position of power, it is always the megalomaniacs and sociopaths who will sooner or later, one way or another, get themselves into that position.”

      Yep. Good people don’t typically seek positions of power because they are not power hungry people. Those power hungry people are the ones seeking it.

      Or… as my dad says…
      “Government is like a soup. The scum floats to the top.”

  12. One day, I will buy an RV and be done with flying forever. I have a permit for every state I care to drive through, so I am good.

  13. Complete waste of resources. They really ought to consider getting rid of carry-on luggage altogether, reserving carrying on to just what single personal item you can fit under your seat. That’d speed up the lines rights there.

    As for the feds flexing their muscles, well, thank W. Bush for the TSA. You remember W, don’t you? Same guy who was more pro-2A than the “devil you don’t know” Trump, whom so many of you are slobbering over. Just wait until Trump bans guns on airport property and sends out dogs to sniff out offenders’ cars. (I know, I know, airports are typically city property, not federal. Lyin’ & Lawless Trump doesn’t care!)

  15. “looking at up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine” Sounds like a good punishment for TSA workers.

  16. TSA needs to be abolished. Privatize airport security and use the Israeli system of airport security. So what if they profile people. It obviously works and works well. Searching elderly and children while letting people who should be looked at more closely slide by because they may be offended is just plain stupid.

  17. “There’s no need to have guns out there at the airport,”

    Friendly TSA guy here wants to say that there are reasons armed police hang around checkpoints… Because apparently there is a need to have guns out there at the airport. Fortunately I work in AZ and as long as you aren’t a douche to the police when we find it, you’ll be okay. Hell, they’re likely to go out of their way to help you.

  19. Ummm…know you have a gun with you? I don’t agree with the punishment but have your shite together. Sorry-I can’t imagine not knowing where my gun is…

    • I agree with you. I don’t believe anyone “forgets” they have a heater in their carry on baggage. If this is a reoccurring problem, I do think there should be a penalty for the error. Everyone on here bellyaching about “new regulation”, are the same people would rail on an idiot forgetting a gun in a bathroom stall. Double Standards.

  20. Wonder why they went full jackboot. You would think confiscation would be more workable: painful lesson, no jail time.

  21. I remember several years ago (pre-TSA) walking through security and setting off the metal detector. I am sure the security guys got a laugh at me swapping my waist and pockets until I found the flash light in my coat pocket. By that time I had been carrying for several years and was comfortable with my pistol on my hip.

    • I had the joy of being behind a guy who evidently didn’t know the definition of the word “metal.” He went through multiple times, and kept removing just one more item, including belt buckle, coins, keys, and even a wrench.

      Meanwhile my flight was already boarding at the far end of the concourse…

      • HAHAHHAHa. He was running distraction while someone else brought their nailclippers and pocketknife on board so they didn’t have to buy new ones at their destination.

  22. How long does it take to check your bag?

    Or use a different bag than your range bag?

    Every time I fly my hands are swabbed for explosives. I tell the tester I was at a rifle range in the last few days and have been handling ammunition, in case of a positive. So far, no positive results.

  23. I stopped flying anywhere in this country years ago. I refuse to put up with the gestapo like tactics of our Federal Guberrmint. And the #$%^ TSA.
    If I cant take my guns with me on a plane anymore. I know I still can but. With some airlines to stupid to know the rules about separate locked and unmarked check in of guns. Its just too annoying. Here in Palm Beach County being anywhere on airport property, even driving to pick up a passenger. Having a gun in your position is technically illegal.
    If I have to travel I drive. I no longer pick up relatives from the airports here. I will if they come into Broward airports. PBI nope, take a cab.

  24. We have a convention in utah sometime this year, I refuse to fly [my wife not so much] so I talked her into letting me drive [& we saved $200.00] I will pick her up at the airport in SLC. Now no need to rent a wreck or worry about “self defense”. Bonus she can pack way more stuff without paying the “bag extortion fee” to the airlines. And extra bonus I get to see some more of the heartland taking my fishing pole and giving myself an extra day to get there and 2 extra to make it back.
    Everyone is happy.

    • I don’t dare fly any more. I suffer from acute general anxiety disorder, and the shenanigans I’ve read about from TSA employees are enough to make it so the only way I could get on an airplane without a severe episode would be sedated enough I’d have to be carried.

  25. Comments here (in addition to a massacre of 4+ people on average every day) is why people so fed up with guns. Equating forgetting a lethal firearm to forgetting keys / wallet is dangerous and asinine.

    Yet I am sure the posters would be furious if a doctor forgot to prescribe a life-saving medicine to a loved one.

    What idiocy.

    • Absolutely correct. You will find this idiocy here often. If you disagree they will call you a FUD, or sheep. These comments are worse than the Blaze or Huffington Post sometimes. I come here to read the stories and the comments never cease to amaze me. No idea how they rationalize their arguments sometimes.Especially this time.

    • The problem is that they treat a single loose round as a firearm. I once had a .22 round in my pocket that I’d picked up off the ground to dispose of later, and having that when I entered a courthouse cost me two hours of time and got me on a list as having brought a firearm into a courthouse.

      The same thing will happen if you have a revolver without the cylinder — or the cylinder without the revolver. They don’t care if it’s actually a dangerous weapon; a piece of one will do just fine for a prosecutor.

      If they used common sense, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but common sense is not a valued commodity either in D.C. or the TSA.

  26. THis is revealing:

    ““It’s pretty obvious … they don’t like the idea of people not being prosecuted for something,” Monroe said.”

    Federal prosecutors want it to be easy to prosecute anyone at random for something. The more laws they have to do it with, the happier they are.

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