I suppose if you're going to bring a loaded .22 caliber handgun to a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) line, it should be at an airport named after John Wayne.
Pilgrim.
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If it makes you feel any better, while the firearm found in baggage by the TSA at SNA on Oct. 26 was loaded, there was no round in the chamber.
And it's not like this was an isolated incident, as the gun was among 41 discovered by TSA at the nation's airports that same week, of which 34 were loaded.
Other interesting airport finds by the TSA that week included an M18A1 mine kit with wires and two blasting cap initiators at Honolulu and a 13-inch cane sword at Charlotte, North Carolina.
While resolving an alarm in checked baggage at Sacramento (SMF), TSA officers discovered five vacuum sealed plastic bags filled with 12 pounds of marijuana in a bag that had been glued shut. While the TSA is looking primarily for weapons, when they come across drugs they are instructed to contact local law enforcement.
By the way, you can travel with your firearms in checked baggage, but they must first be declared to the airline. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality, so travelers are advised to check the laws in departure and destination cities before getting to the airport. The TSA has helpful tips for anyone packing (and I mean PACKING!) here:
http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/firearms-and-ammunition
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.