You have to think most of these guns were brought by accident and were pistols. Most people keep their pistols loaded because they have them to kill other people if necessary. An unloaded gun is less lethal. People who carry all the time seem to get careless after a while. Inb4 stories of people with pistols just for snakes or bears or whatever, that is definitely not the most common use case. I know someone who had a gun in his bag and they charged him like $500ish dollars to mail it back to himself and threatened him with fines up to $2000 but there were no additional fines levied.
Yeah it depends on the gun too though. A long barrel pistol you could have the mechanical advantage but a little snub nose and you might as well just be holding a roll of quarters.
I worked with a guy from Florida who was telling us that legit everyone in Florida carried a gun, and that it was so common to keep one on you that when he left for work one day and realized that he’d left his gun at home, he did a u-turn and went all the way back home to get his gun before heading on to work.
I don’t feel like that is necessary for me, but then I’ve never lived in Florida either.
You have to think most of these guns were brought by accident and were pistols.
While that is certainly true, it doesn't make it much better. It means that a bunch of people are forgetting what they've done with their loaded firearms when they go to the airport. Seems to me that if you are a responsible gun owner, you'd damned well better know where your gun is at all times, especially if it's loaded.
No need for a psa just enact law that makes someone this reckless and absent minded ineligible to own firearms. The problem will stop real quick with that.
One time I had a giant Costco-sized thing of Tums in my bag and they brought out the drug sniffing dog and the science kit to take one - from the still unopened bottle - and test it.
It was a minor annoyance, but I couldn’t imagine packing to go to the airport and not making sure I don’t have a loaded gun on me first. That would be the first step, before ID or whatever.
People who are dumb enough to try taking a loaded gun onto an airplane are lacking the mental capacity to own a gun without endangering other people. In civilized countries, this usually will lead to a revocation of your firearms licence.
If the person is charged and convicted it is effectively the same result in the US, as it constitutes a felony and convicted felons are barred from firearms purchase and possession.
Well, that is an entirely different point. TSA is 99% security theater to make people feel safe. If they found a record number of weapons, but on the other hand miss most of them anyway, did they miss a record number of weapons, too?
I have no idea how anyone can “forget” they are carrying. I carried fairly regularly for years before letting my CCW expire during COVID. And I was always VERY aware that I was carrying, checked regularly to make sure I wasn’t printing, and what places allowed and didn’t allow carrying.
To me, forgetting you are carrying a gun and going to the airport is a negligent as leaving your gun in a bathroom. It shows you are not treating it with the respect and caution that should be required in order to own a gun.
EDIT: Clarified that I carried for years and made sure I wasn’t printing.
It’s just complacence. Doing the same thing every day. It’s just a habit. People probably forget. That’s not an excuse at all , in fact, I’d say that becoming complacent with a firearm is extremely bad in any circumstance.
It seems insane that people take a gun with them so often that it becomes a habit. Impossible to comprehend from a country without an unhinged gun culture.
I agree that it is insane. But considering that I live in a country with an unhinged gun culture, it is part of life.
And weirdly, you have to strike a balance. You don’t want to be complacent and forget you’re carrying a gun or treat it like it isn’t the deadly weapon that it is. But you have to be comfortable and familiar enough with it to be able to go about your day and be able to reliably draw and fire accurately if a situation occurs where the gun is necessary. Otherwise, there is no point in carrying at all.
Maybe a good comparison is driving or operating heavy machinery? You need to be aware at all times that you are operating something that could kill you and others in an instant at all times. You need to know where you are, where others are, etc. But you also need to be comfortable and familar enough with your vehicle or equipment that you can operate it smoothly and react to unforseen events.
But forgetting you have something on you on general pretty easy. I mean it doesn’t necessarily be on you I am gonna expect the truly forget ones probably was on a bag or similar that they didn’t remember they put something there the other day.
I believe it means that the gun is making an “imprint” in your shirt. Like someone could see your gun under your clothes. I would think if someone were concealed carrying, this would be undesirable.
No, just autocorrect fail. Meant I made sure regularly that I wasn’t printing. I didn’t want it to show. That would break the whole point of conceal carry. And I live in a state where open carry w/o a license is legal so I could if I wanted. But I didn’t want to.
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