AA flight attendant arrested at ORD checkpoint on Friday with gun

[ContUNITEus]

WOW.....

That rant proves my point about why people shouldn't have guns... I am sure that I would've gotten shot by now had I been near him/her....

LOL

 

[FWAAA]

Tens of millions of Americans own hundreds of millions of guns and nearly every single one of them manages to avoid carrying their gun thru an airport security checkpoint. The few who do, tend to get caught. Her attorney now claims that the gun was in a bag she and her husband shared and that she forgot to search it before heading off to the airport for her flight to China.

Whoops! I own guns and have never taken one to the airport (when intending to clear security and fly). They're pretty easy to spot and they tend to be heavy. And if I shared a travel bag with a spouse (I don't) I would check it very carefully before presenting it to an airport screener.

She's not in trouble because Americans have a Constitutional right to own guns; she's in trouble because she's careless or lazy and forgot to make sure that her shared bag was gun-free. Or big-freaking knife-free. Or molotov cocktail-free.

If you have any reason to suspect that one of your bags has been used by or packed by someone else (including gun-owning spouses), then check the damn bag carefully before you head off to the airport. Especially in gun-unfriendly Chicago.

Poor old woman is 65, been a flight attendant since she was 21, never in trouble in her life and had submitted for the early out incentive. She may find herself fired and without the $40k incentive, and it's not the fault of the founding fathers for writing a pretty damn good Constitution along with those first 10 amendments (including the 2d, which guarantees us the right to possess guns). I feel for her, but she's to blame, not some "Y'all Americans are stupid for permitting people to own guns" nonsense.

 

[Mach85ER]

Not a lecture - an opinion
________________________

and I honesty don't care what law it is - it's a cultural thing, and I get it.... (American + NO-GUN = NO-GO)

Just pointing out the benefits of having a gun as constantly portrayed by the news outlets, just like with the OP story.
So, got a gun? Gotta deal with the consequences if something goes wrong. Too bad for her... Next gun related story please....

________________________

Aside from that, if the only word that stood out to anyone reading my response was the word "American," then they have an ego problem.

For every idiotic use of a gun or for criminal purposes, there are many lifesaving acts for those armed and practiced in its legal use.

Me? Add in the general protective reasons. I will also add in the counterweight for those that participate in a tyrannical government. And before you spout off about my Glock against an Apache, rest assured, many of those serving in the military will back freedom over tyranny and bring their Stingers, Blackhawks, Apaches, SAWs', and even A10's if things ever degenerated that far.

On a personal basis, I came close to using it once. Drunk/high and stoned +200 lb guy started slamming his body against my front door one evening without warning. Door was splintering and luckily for him, the lock held. Our house had some "history", so I was concerned about this person wanting in to get hidden drugs or money.

So what should i have done ContUNITEus? I called the police as expected, yet they chose to show up in 15 minutes for a town that takes 2 minutes to drive across. I guess I could have run out the back door for help in the neighborhood, but didn't because my wife, my 3 small children along with one of their friends were sleeping a few steps from the front door. I've replayed what happened a million times since that night, he wouldn't have made it 1 step past the door and I know it would've made the right call.

Now what should I have done in your eyes?

I also live in Hurricane land. Society degenerates pretty quickly. I've flown with 2 people whose families went through H Andrew in MIA. One guy long since moved away. He was out on a trip and his wife and family were terrorized in the aftermath. Groups of looters would show up on their property and walk into their damaged house and announce they were taking XYZ. Another guy was non-chalant and still lived there. Yup, he said, family went through the storm, rebuild and back to normal. I asked about the horror stories of looters, he said they had no problems. Finally I asked why? He replied after the storm, he and his neighbors set up a 24/7 presence at the top of his street with assault rifles. Roaming gangs like "Road Warrior" or "Escape from New York" would take one look and try another block.

Now what would you have done. I'll make some popcorn.

 

[IORFA]

Apparently, rumor is the f/a and her husband were having marital problems and she was contimplating divorce. Then this happens. Seems sort of a coincidence really. I am of the opinion that she might have been "set up".

 

[Jager]

Mach85ER I think you'll fit right in here if the great state of texas.. Come on down and we'll light of a few rounds in the back, maybe shoot at some cans for practice..

 

[eolesen]

Mach85ER I think you'll fit right in here if the great state of texas.. Come on down and we'll light of a few rounds in the back, maybe shoot at some cans for practice..

My recycling bin's content is usually well plinked before it ultimately hits the curb... Those big orange Tide containers make a great 100 yd target without a scope.

 

[Frank Szabo]

My recycling bin's content is usually well plinked before it ultimately hits the curb... Those big orange Tide containers make a great 100 yd target without a scope.

My recycling bin's content is usually well plinked before it ultimately hits the curb... Those big orange Tide containers make a great 100 yd target without a scope.

Built a 1 3/4 bore cannon that does wonders with golf balls using 1/4 cup of FFFg - makes a rather satisfying and belly-tickling boom. Never have found a golf ball (or the chain shot I tried) but the evidence of the projo's presence is rather amusing ...

 

[Mach85ER]

Apparently, rumor is the f/a and her husband were having marital problems and she was contimplating divorce. Then this happens. Seems sort of a coincidence really. I am of the opinion that she might have been "set up".

If it was an accident, good reason why flight crews should never ever use luggage of any kind that they would use for work for general, non-flight use like hunting, camping or range bags. No matter how careful you are, it's too easy to lose a round or even leave a weapon and then doing the dance in front of the TSA.

I don't even want to think of the "dance" if caught trying to get home in the UK, China, Japan, Brazil, and something is found that shouldn't be in my bag because I used it as a range bag 3 days before.

 

[FWAAA]

Apparently, rumor is the f/a and her husband were having marital problems and she was contimplating divorce. Then this happens. Seems sort of a coincidence really. I am of the opinion that she might have been "set up".

On Saturday, I posted a similar supposition over on Flyertalk where some trolls disagreed, but if he didn't like the idea of her retiring (perhaps impeding his activities), having her arrested (and maybe fired) might have cost the marital estate the $40k, a rather expensive method of hurting his wife (and, probably, himself). She's got expensive legal fees and maybe no more income.

If it had happened this week, she might have skated past the TSA with the Known Crewmember program, where y'all avoid the x-ray machines unless you're "randomly selected" to be denied the KCM access that day and you have to go thru the regular checkpoint. Of course, had that happened, she would have unwittingly imported a handgun into China, as she was at ORD to work the PVG flight that morning. Had she discovered it at her hotel in China, maybe she could have ditched it in a trash can. But if she hadn't found it, imagine what the Chinese version of the TSA might have done to her.

 

[IORFA]

Seriously, what a fiasco that would have been. I don't want to go to jail, but I REALLY don't want to go to Chinese jail! I bet there is more to the story that we haven't heard yet.

 

[eolesen]

If it was an accident, good reason why flight crews should never ever use luggage of any kind that they would use for work for general, non-flight use

It's not just flight crews. I don't like to let my wife borrow my bag when she has to travel... Nothing to hide, but I leave it packed and ready to go without any thought or checking to see if everything I normally bring is there or not.

Last time she used it, my extra glasses, flashlight, and sewing kit got taken out to make room for her stuff, and haven't been seen since...

 

[Jager]

I can handle misplacing the flashlight and extra glasses, But that sewing kit......... Eole.... That there is grounds for deevorce court...

 

[eolesen]

Yep. Nothing screws up your day more than losing a button in Sao Paolo, and the nearest department store doesn't open before you're supposed to be face to face with a client.

 

[777 / 767 / 757 Love]

Last time she used it, my extra glasses, flashlight, and sewing kit got taken out to make room for her stuff, and haven't been seen since...

LMFAO!!!

 

[ChockJockey]

There was an employee here in PHX that was caught with a handgun going through security a few years back. Reappeared at work some six months later, so depending on the circumstances you can apparently save your job in such a situation, it might just take a while and take a few hearings to sort everything out, and presumably some dollars...

There are a number of good reasons for owning firearms (besides being a fun and informative hobby), and there are a plethora of types and rounds that are conducive to each. The main reasons as I see them are:

1. Practical necessity - Some folks, albeit not too many, use firearms in the course of doing their jobs, such as hunters, ranchers, gunsmiths, and law enforcers. Guns as a part of American culture probably has something to do with the centuries of people settling ever Westward into vast, often unfriendly and unforgiving frontiers into which without a musket or rifle life would have been very hard. America is still a relatively young country.

2. Recreation - skeet shooting, target practice, hunting, educating folks and young people in safety and responsibility, civics and the law.

3. Self defense - a properly-trained person can successfully save the life and limb of him/herself or others in dangerous circumstances, or halt the committing of a felony in progress, ideally without ever having to fire a shot. Desperate or deranged(high) people can be very dangerous, if not completely psychotic, with zero regard for the consequences. Now I choose not to carry concealed or otherwise and thankfully I've never needed to. In my home however I refuse to be a victim.

4. Communal defense - securing, if necessary, an area or neighborhood in coordination with others to protect from looters or hostile elements in such a scenario where there is a breakdown of law and order. Katrina, anyone? This is also quite popular in Syria at the moment.

5. Guarantor of political liberties - Just as with one's own personal safety, the individual holds final responsibility for the retention of his or her political rights, those Mr. Jefferson and pals termed inalienable and enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and its amendments. The fact of the matter is, compared to most the world's population and all of human history, your average American enjoys an near unprecedented range of freedoms, personal, religious, political, economic, geographical, etc. We've set up our institutions to protect these liberties as they conduct our business, by saying that the first job of government is to do exactly that. The problem with this is, which history teaches and even the Founders understood, is that all entities, especially governments, understand only to increase their influence and powers once granted or conceded are hard to reclaim. Regardless of who it is "coming for them", the bottom line is do you love your liberties enough to defend them, with your life if necessary? Those liberties were purchased with blood in the first place, people often forget this.

Whether you like guns or not, the Second Amendment upholds the right of citizens to retain those powers that come with gun ownership. One is of course free to decline to practice that right, but he or she does so at their own peril. While it is not a uniquely American phenomenon, the American conceptualization of gun ownership, the heritage, historical experience, personal and political justifications for it etc. is pretty unique, and perhaps not readily intelligible to one foreign to it. Just my aught-two cents...

~ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ~

B)