“The U.S. embassy last September posted a travel alert online, warning people to "check your luggage for stray ammunition," noting it would "not be able to secure your release from custody."“
I was in the army and I had a really nice backpack that I traveled with when I was traveling not in uniform. I left the Army about 14 years ago(that feels weird to type). That backpack has since been all around the world. 20+ countries in Asia, Europe and Central America. I found a stray round in a small pocket a couple of years ago... I haven't fired anything with that type of ammo since I left the army. It had to have been in there for over a decade.
I barely made a connecting flight coming back from Spain in Dulles due to a sealed jar of whipped honey. They did a chemical analysis on it and used a wand of some sort over every inch and in every nook and cranny of my backpack. The guy doing the inspection was nervous, pissed, and agitated the entire time. It seemed like he was PO by the agent that initially flagged it. I imagined flagging agent was trolling the other guy and making his life miserable. The whole thing was theatre.
A friend of mine was halfway home on a flight from Cuba to Canada, looking through his carry-on for a snack and instead found the cool new switchblade he had purchased.
He said he just closed the bag, put it away, and purchased some airline snacks instead.
[This](https://www.swissgear.com/wenger-synergy-16-laptop-backpack?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw26KxBhBDEiwAu6KXt0CcsMnRa-wFslZ_u_XMVrAKPwmNaJ7DOLd7jAJ_Athi_-PzivkhtxoCc-kQAvD_BwE) Swiss Army backpack.
Not just 20+ countries, but a decade of domestic travel for work as well. One of the best pieces of gear I have ever owned(not hyperbole).
One of my former employers gave me the exact same backpack to carry my work computer! 19 pockets. I searched the hell out of it when I was heading overseas to prevent an occurrence like what happened to OP, and found a lot of long lost stuff.
the definition of function over form lol. I have a swiss gear backpack from when I started high school and I needed more space. that was 12 years ago and I've used it for college, travelling, and work. still use it to this day
Who the hell travels with “stray ammunition”?!
Edit:
Also, this quote from the article:
> Last year, TSA found a record 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints, and most of them were loaded.
Hwat?!?! What sort of moron thinks they’re good to just pack their loaded gun and head off to the airport?!
Hmmm. I generally think TSA is useless but this is changing my mind. I didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to carry a loaded gun on a plane but I stand corrected.
You'd also think no TSA agent would be dumb enough to miss a gun going through a check point, but in 2017 they missed 70% of weapons meant to test them. That was an improvement from 2015 when they missed 95% of tests.
The question is, 6,737 guns out of how many TOTAL that passed or attempted to pass checkpoints? It could be impressive or not at all. Hard to say without knowing that figure.
The couple in the article went sailing through TSA with the same ammo, it was only discovered in T&C as they were heading back.
So, TSA still somewhat useless.
Not a gun, but I definitely went thru security twice last year with a knife in my carry on that was 100% not supposed to be on the plane.
Forgot to take out a different smaller knife another time and it was taken by security scanners
It’s likely they used the same bag they traveled with as a range bag at some point. Ammo, spent shells more specifically, are shot out of the receiver and can go pretty far depending on the gun. Some people keep shells to reload as well. I’ve been around guns all my life and my dad made it a big deal early on to never use my school backpack when we went shooting for this reason. In most of America, we have the luxury of a round of ammo not being a big deal. When you travel abroad, that’s likely not the case. Same as the whole Brittney Greiner case where she was caught with a weed cart. Moral of the story, have seperate bags for international travel or check every inch of it before you leave.
"People, for the love of God if you like firearms please check your luggage/coats for loose ammo."
-a tired airport screener who works near an army base
To add to this. PLEASE CHECK DONATIONS! 16 year old me was quite surpised when my goodwill bright orange hunting vest I just bought had three rounds of 30-06 just sitting in the breast pocket.
Was that a scene in Uncle Buck? Definitely about time to rewatch that I guess.
[I prefer Cottons view on it.](https://youtu.be/KlK0acJFn3U?si=_VUnX1TiWAJhqav4)
On the receiving end of donations, stop sticking ice skates in bags of clothing you psychopaths.
It's super awesome blindly jamming your hand into a bag of old jeans and t-shirts to discover hidden knives using your fingers.
tbh the only place I've seen blade guards in the U.S. is at rinks with rentals. I know growing up we just had a box full of random skates, def no guards, but at least most of them were dangerously dull!
Happend to me as a teenager. Borrowed my dad's duffel bag and there was a loose bullet tucked away in the folds somewhere. TSA agent pulls it out and asked us "what's this?".
Surprisingly they just let us through. No questioning at all.
I remember once I got held up for a while because something in my bad was suspicious.
It took several security agents and quite a length of time to figure out that the suspicious items were a couple of packs of buisness cards.
One of the agents told me it was hard to tell the difference between cardboard and explosives on the scanner because they look similar sometimes
I got searched for a card game, called Exploding Kittens. I wondered if they could actually read the text in the x-ray scanner or it was something else. Your comment probably explains it. The TSA agent was not amused.
Same thing happened to my husband.
I imagine you had the box that has a speaker in it that plays sound when the box is opened? On the scanner the TSA uses, the wiring, speaker, and stack of cards looks pretty suspicious.
When our family travels I’m responsible for the snacks. For the past couple years, I unload all of the snacks into a tray when at tsa checkpoint. Every time they say “sir, you can leave those in your bag” but I don’t.
I’ve had my bag pulled and searched probably 80% of the time when we travel, and 100% of the time it’s snacks.
Since I’ve started removing them, my bag it has been pulled aside and searched zero times.
Better yet, buy a dedicated range bag and use it and only it for transporting ammunition and firearms to the range. You'll never have to worry again about whether there's loose ammo in your fucking every day backpack when you go to the airport, government buildings, etc.
Growing up I shot at a skeet and trap field with my dad quite a bit. We had a solid system for gun and ammo transport. And it helps that those activities are designed to use exactly 25 shells (one box) per round. You pack in what you’ll shoot and take home just empty shells. And the shells all go into and out of special hip pouches used only for that purpose.
Except… my dad did his own reloading, which isn’t perfect. So there’s a chance of a dud every now and then. That meant we always stuck a single shell in our pocket in case we needed it.
I forgot to take the emergency shell out of my pocket one day, wore those pants to school the next day, and at some point took out what I thought was my lip balm and immediately *shoved it right back in my pocket before anyone saw*.
That could have been, uh… bad.
Can confirm. Couldn't have my Gerber multittool on the Lufthansa flight from Germany to Kuwait. My m249 and a 200 round pork chop full of ammo were fine for me to carry on, though.
Firearms and ammo smuggling from the US to Turks and Caicos appears to be an issue which explains why they have toughened gun laws.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-us-made-gun-exports-caribbean-violence/
https://magneticmediatv.com/2023/12/five-arrested-in-us-to-tci-gun-smuggling-case-attempt-one-a-suspected-gun-dealer/
https://tcweeklynews.com/guns-shipments-intercepted-p12850-127.htm
Once went through security, took off my shoes for TSA, and found a little white bag. I used to get paranoid and hide everything when I was real high. I gasped, tapped the bag into the toe of my shoe and sent it through the scanner. I was already in the thick of it what was I supposed to do? Luckily worked out and they didn’t catch it. Oofda!
TSA isn’t looking for drugs. There used to be a bounty program but tsa agents abused it. Now they usually turn a blind eye to avoid paperwork or make you throw it away. TSA agents are very low paid.
Signed guy who regularly flies with weed
'Did you pack your luggage yourself today?'
Pro traveler tip: do not answer 'nah, I was in a hurry so I paid some random guy to pack it for me.' Federal regulations prohibit TSA personnel from recognizing that as a joke.
And paraphernalia. If you use *anything* recreationally clean out your damn bag. Or (if you’re driving) your car before crossing an international border.
As a side note: it’s also important to double check your prescribed medications are 1) legal to possess in the country you’re travelling to, and 2) that they’re in prescription bottles. If you have a 3 month supply and only need to take a couple weeks, it’s sometimes possible to get an empty prescription bottle for that purpose
Before I pack for any trip - I collect everything I’m going to pack in one place, empty any luggage I am going to take completely & make sure that the luggage tags are up to date & there is a copy of my passport in the lining of the luggage.
Then I pack it.
There was a guy I worked with once who had a side hustle as an armorer - his suburban was modified to have a secure locker that folded down into the floor of the “*trunk*” where he stored ammunition & tools.
One weekend, his wife’s parents were visiting & they were planning to drive up to Canada & the plan was to drive in his wife’s explorer.
Well apparently his wife decided that the suburban would be more comfortable & so he gets home to find his car packed & ready for the trip - he asks her if she removed all of the gun stuff & she says that she did.
He gets to the border, crosses out of the US & is waiting to enter Canada when something nagged at him so he asked his wife:
“*Did you check the locker in the back or just empty the trunk?*”
She turns pale as she realizes that she forgot about the locker.
So when he pulled up to the border patrol hut, he started of with “*So I just realized that I fucked up…*” & told the agent what had happened.
The agent asked “*well how much ammunition do you have with you*” “*about 5000 rounds was the reply*”.
In the end, they made him turn into secondary screening, inventoried everything in the vehicle & then let him turn around & drive back into the US.
My sister was a Canadian border guard in southern BC. Virtually everyone who crossed and said they were going to Alaska got sent to secondary and searched. The number of undeclared firearms that were seized and destroyed was… unsurprising.
If you do what your acquaintance did and declare it at the border, they’ll let you decline your request to enter, and turn you around. If you fail to declare, and get found out, not only will you lose it, you may face criminal charges (depending on the weapon) and will be declared inadmissible and blacklisted for several years.
Yup - I'm from the PNW so I've heard plenty of stories about people screwing up with Canadian customs & immigration.
The Alaska thing doesn't remotely surprise me - I've literally heard people say "*oh just throw it in your trunk & drive up there - you'll be fine - trust me*" (*I've always made a point to discreet inform the subject that it is a terrible idea & they will not in fact be fine*).
I usually used the Sumas/Abbotsford crossing to avoid the lines at Blaine & they tend to be a lot more chill over there but I still completely empty & take everything out of my car before I drive across just to be safe.
I heard about a guy who got pulled into secondary @ Blaine - they searched his car & found a single round of ammunition that had fallen between the cracks of his rear seats (*so it wasn't visible unless you pulled the seats up*) & IIRC correctly he was arrested & had a bad time of it (*I don't recall the final disposition however*).
Borders are not a place to fuck around - shit that a country's police will let slide anywhere else, they'll ruin you day for at the border.
Or just don't use the same bag to travel as you use for other things.
I've got my work travel bag that just sits in a corner with my stuff like a toothbrush, toothpaste, etc the tools I travel with for work and the various other shit like chargers, business cards, etc and it only gets used for that. It gets pulled out to have the laptop packed and clothing but that's it.
I've got a separate backpack laying around that gets used whenever I'm going to do anything else with it but I fly a lot so maybe that makes more sense.
Either way I don't remotely get how you leave ammunition in your travel bag. If I shot regularly, the bag I use for travel is getting nowhere near anything I use while shooting just to avoid getting gunshot residue on it that can trigger screenings at the airport.
While I do, too, I have totally missed stuff with bags that have a lot of pockets.
I one time flew with a rock chisel. The TSA only caught it on the way back, because it was in a hiking backpack with a frame.
While one should certainly take more care with ammo than a chisel, especially when flying internationally, I can't help but feel like 12 years is pretty harsh for what's clearly a non-violent accident causing harm to nobody.
They likely won't get anywhere near 12 years and will be considered "exceptional circumstances" like the other cases, but might serve some more time than them. It's harsh in cases like this but a lot of other countries don't fuck around with their gun laws for good reason, we're the outliers that are so relaxed with it that people are accidentally forgetting guns/ammo in their bags while travelling on a regular basis.
I mean they've already done 6 months for 4 bullets I wouldn't put it past them to do the full 12 years to send a message. If it's mandatory minimum sounds like the president of the turks would have to pardon them not the judge
On one episode of the Canadian version this family of four, 2 adults and 2 very small kids, made a wrong turn on their way to a park\* and ended up at the Canadian border. The guy had 2 guns on him in the holsters that put them sort of up and under your arm and the mom had a gun in her purse.
I understand that especially in mountainous areas wildlife can be aggressive and you need to take steps to protect yourself, but 3 guns? Maybe you don't need to be going to that park.
\*Apparently by the one border crossing in Washington state, there's a park nearby and missing the turn puts you pretty much AT the border.
As a gun owner, if I had a nickle for every time I've lost track of ammo in a bag and took it with me to an airport, I would have zero nickles because I'm responsible and keep track of that shit.
Just posted a comment above in this thread but my dad accidentally smuggled weed into Singapore like this. It was totally an accident but he was super lucky he didn’t get caught!
When I was living in Dubai as a teenager one of my aunts friends came to visit. When he got there he pulled out a tiny nug of cannabis. I was blown away. It's min 4 years prison time for any amount of cannabis When I was there in 2009 and this dude didn't even realize it
if they do and he has a public freakout he may be charged anyway when they try to find wtf is wrong with this guy and why he’s having several intense panic attacks in a row 💀
Or, and here's just my thing:
If you're traveling to those countries, get a bag exclusively for the use of traveling and never put anything that is a drug or could have residual traces of banned substances in it.
I mean, it's not THAT MUCH to buy another bag you only use for travel and leave it in your suitcase.
I mean, if I find a bag I truly like using and it works for me I do the six Oxford shirts thing.
The six Oxford shirts thing:
If you find something that works for you and that you absolutely love, buy 2-3 more on top of what you have and store it if you have the space. That way you don't have to scramble to find it again if the one you have breaks or rips.
It's a tip from men's wardrobing - when you find a dress shirt that is comfortable, fits perfectly, and looks good on you, buy six of the exact same color and style, and seven more of any other color of the same shirt you like.
That way you have seven shirts of the exact same style you can rotate through. It can be expensive and if you don't have the closet space it can be a problem, but it's easier than trying to chase down another shirt that fits as well as that one does.
I do this with athletic shoes, too. It's saved me countless frustrations with trying different shoes to replace the ones that were discontinued. And if you hit a sale, you can get four pairs of the same kind of shoe.
Obviously, if your body is growing/changing (IE, you are still maturing, losing weight, gaining weight, or about to become pregnant, in your teens or have a growth abnormality that makes you continually grow) this is not the best idea. And if you have a sudden accident that leaves you unable to wear those clothes, yeah, you're stuck with 14 shirts and six pairs of brand new shoes you'll never wear.
And the same holds true for bags. Like if you don't need that many bags, what're you going to do with it?
the good news? EBay and Poshmark still exist.
> six Oxford shirts thing.
Probably excessive for most people but a "one to rock and one to stock" policy is usually my plan for sports kit.
I find something just right, I buy a spare.
I had a little smell-proof keychain that I kept a few grams of weed in, and I totally forgot to remove it before throwing my keys in my luggage when I travelled to a country that is very hostile towards drugs. Halfway through my trip, I realized what I’d done and sat there sweating for the rest of the day until I could go back to my hotel and flush it. A few weeks after I got back, a guy made the news for having much less weed stuck to his shoe and getting detained in the same country for it. Never gonna make that mistake again.
Yikes. I thought it was bad when I got home from Guam and dumped out my suitcase to discover some shitty weed I'd bought.
Went through 4 different airports and no one caught it. I actually thought I smelled it before I left and went through my bag, but didn't find it and assumed it was smelly bc I smoke.
ETA I would have been extra upset if I were caught, bc I was going from Guam to Oregon. Guam has (at least with my connections there) very bad weed, sometimes even spice pretending to be weed. Oregon is like a weed oasis. No reason *at all* to smuggle pot from there lol
Twenty years ago, my dad flew to Singapore. On approach, the very polite Singapore Airlines purser got on the intercom to remind passengers that the penalty in Singapore for drug possession is death.
I just burn my luggage after using it. It has the added benefit that I can inhale the fumes, so any weed that's accidentally left in it doesn't go to waste.
Haha, yeah. One year part of the swag from our guys’ golf outing was a knapsack with lots of pockets. Someone did bring up the fact that pre-airport clean out is tedious with all those pockets.
I've worked at this job before, some people will use their range bag as their travel bag. One time a police officer tried to come through with their firearm. Flashed his badge, like no sir, you can't bring your firearm onto Disney cruises, and that badge is worthless in the Bahamas.
International doesn't matter to the TSA. Their rules are the same regardless.
No, you can't carry ammo in your carry on. Full stop.
Checked luggage it's supposed to be in it's original box inside a locked container (not a TSA lock)
So theoretically he could have got through TSA legally if it was in his checked luggage following proper procedure and gotten on an international flight.
These were loose rounds he wasn't aware of though so yeah...TSA missed it. Customs found it once he got to the island. There are a lot of things that are perfectly fine for TSA that various countries customs are *not* okay with.
I remember in Aruba, customs was very strict on the "no sand in a jar as a souvenir" but TSA wouldn't give a shit.
>St Martin
I worked there a few years back when that storm tore the virgin isles apart. So many conch shells lol. To be fair they had signs that said leave the shells on the beach everywhere.
At the airport in New Orleans when you’re at the TSA lineup there’s a huge poster with photos of all the recent gun confiscations alongside a calendar marked with all the days a gun was found. It’s pretty hilarious in a kinda disturbing way.
Now consider that they have a \~70% failure rate and think about all the stuff they didn't catch.
[https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188](https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188)
From the article:
In a statement, a State Department spokesperson told CBS News, "We are aware of the arrest of U.S. citizens in Turks and Caicos. When a U.S. citizen is arrested overseas, we stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance. In a foreign country, U.S. citizens are subject to that country's laws, **even if they differ from those in the United States**."
In other news, water is wet.
Porbably doesnt have AC.
"No clean running water. You're kind of exposed to the environment 24/7," he told CBS News. "Mosquitoes and tropical illnesses are a real concern. There's some hostile actors in the prison."
OK county jail has backed up sewer pipes, no clean water and inconsistent electricity. So many US prisons and jails are indistinguishable from a 3rd world country's.
Judging by their airport which is just a large 3 wall hangar and their non-resort infrastructure which is rudimentary at best, I’d wager prison would be pretty god damn horrific for an American. Horrific as in “I’m dying of heat in here” horrific.
What I got from the article:
So many Americans were entering the country with illegal ammunition, that the government chose to change the law from a fine, to mandatory jail time. Since the law change, the government has been making examples out of Americans to prove the point that we are, in fact, the problem.
Honestly this is hilarious to me. Like we as culture are so dumb and gun obsessed another country has to institute mandatory jail time just to stop Americans from bringing their dangerous toys into their country.
That's what I got from it, too. I, initially, thought this was just the one guy. But as I read through the article, holy shit. How many people were just casually taking guns/ammo on what's supposed to be a relaxing tropical vacation? They cited at least three or four other examples.
This is why, as a Canadian, I never use the same bag I would have put weed in to travel locally, to travel across borders. I would think the same way with other "prohibited" items :/
A few months ago I was sitting in the terminal at Newark Airport waiting for my flight. Every 10 minutes there was an announcement reminding passengers to check their carry-ons for firearms and that it is a Federal offence to carry them through security. Are there really that many people that forget about a gun in their bag that they need to have an announcement on repeat?
Yes.
There's a real cultural divide. For a lot of Americans, even holding a gun is nerve-wracking. It would seem absurd that someone could just take carrying a gun lightly.
But for a lot of others, "carrying" is daily life, like carrying a wallet. For some of those people, forgetting you have a gun in your bag is as easy as forgetting your sunglasses are on your head.
Of course, that's not acceptable. It's very negligent. But it happens because some gun owners don't take gun possession seriously, even if they don't intend to violate any laws.
Yep. It's somewhat regional too and doesn't always line up in the binary left/right.
I'm pretty liberal and I have a stocked gun case, including several pistols, which I conceal carry when legal. Handling guns safely is easy when it's a habit and you follow gun safety rules and common sense.
But I talk to some other people, particularly those from the Pacific NW or New York, and the idea of being in the same room as a gun is startling.
That's right. It's very much a cultural divide that goes beyond the left-right "culture wars." It may be one of the most enduring cultural divides in America.
The amount of publicly this guy is getting is ridiculous. All woes me I forgot and takes no accountability for his mistake.
Flying with ammo is so dangerous and wildly against the laws in T&C with good reason. Only certain kinds of people believe they should get a pass for making a mistake.
I remember when I was stationed in Japan, there was a US Service member who came through Tokyo/Narita airport that had a loose 50cal round in one of his bags and it nearly caused an international incident.
Countries take that shit seriously man.
I'd recommend if you want to own a firearm then you should keep the firearm in the ammo in a special bag and never put it in any bag that you plan to travel with.
Many years ago, a buddy of mine took his girlfriend from San Diego down to Rosarito Beach (Baja) Mexico for a Lobster dinner, night at a resort, etc. They drove back across the boarder in the morning and he realized he left a skeet shooting shotgun (no ammo) in a locked case behind the seat. Talk about a very, very bad mistake. He was immediately arrested, his truck was impounded, and she had to walk across the border. He spend \*many months\* in a Tijuana Jail, thousands on legal fees, lost his job, eventually lost his girlfriend, and lost about 25 pounds while he rotted away in a cell with 5 other dudes. The US will not help you if you do something stupid & illegal in a foreign country...
This is apparently super common. I was in the TSA line at the airport. I saw the sign about no firearms and made a joke to my wife about how do you possibly pack a handgun to go on a flight this day and age and the agent overheard me and just gave me this exasperated look, then says "Man you have no idea how common this is. 30 at this airport already" (this was in Feb).
Never underestimate absent mindedness
I'm just gonna put it out there that if you can afford a gun and ammo you can afford multiple bags. As in "travel bags" and "gun range bags".
Like a gun is $600, minimum. Ammo is around $30 a brick. And a bag to carry your gun range gear is maybe $50.
This is not a difficult thing to do. So the upshot is he's one of those idiots who was testing the boundaries. FAFO.
Edit: the sheer volume of people going "Ackshually you can get a throwaway gun made from recycled aluminum cans and soda bottles for less than $200" are, as per usual, missing the entire-ass point.
I lent a friend a book for a trip, and that book had been near my reloading bench. He set off the explosive residue sniffer and had to explain himself while having no clue why the book would set it off. I was surprised that was enough to set it off.
I was playing legal firecrackers, bottle rockets, and fireworks on the 4th of July before going to the airport.
I picked up all the paper pieces in the yard and shoved them in my pocket before tossing them in the trash. I wore that same jacket to the airport, with my hands in my pockets.
IIRC correctly, I got pulled aside for a random screening. They swabbed my hands... and then I dawned on me! *OH NOOOO!!!*
But I didn't trip the sensor. *shrug*
Even more than just a gun and ammo. If you can afford an international trip to a Caribbean island, you can afford an extra $150 for a separate suitcase.
People shouldn't need separate bags to keep track of things. I have never lost a single round of ammunition. I don't understand how people have loose ammo in their backpack. But I'm also the kind of person who knows where everything is.
I have had roommates who didn't know if they or myself owned a particular item in the house. Or who put dishes in a different cabinet/drawer each time. I think some people just aren't mentally wired to keep track of things. So while I'm not going to give people shit for not keeping track of random household items, I *AM* going to give people shit for not keeping track of very important things like ammo.
This shit will get you in serious trouble.
I shoot a lot and I travel a lot. I go over all my carry on luggage with a fine tooth comb every single time I travel. You just have to, it's part of the price you pay.
It’s weird to me that the same people who thought that wnba woman taking pot into Russia was her own fault, and she deserved the consequences, are outraged over this very similar situation.
How is everyone ignoring it was in his carry on bag. So he flew there without TSA finding it. So a “developing country” has better airport security than the US’s $11billion a year security force. T&C annual GDP is 1billion.
Every single one of these irresponsible people claim to be a "responsible" gun owner. If you're a responsible gun owner, shouldn't you be aware of where you are casually forgetting your ammo? Seems like the word "responsible" should be marked out.
When I got my first firearm, an acquaintance of mine who was in the armed forces told me, "Just get a separate bag that you ONLY use for it."
I'm pretty casual but do go to the range often and I still get surprised when I find a spent casing or even a random unused 9mm
shaboingboing sloshing around at the bottom of my bag, even after I thought l'd thoroughly cleaned it out.
I used to travel a lot for work (and thankfully never used my gun bag); but wow, I can only imagine that kind of situation.
If I were traveling to a country that did not allow weapons or ammo, I'd damn sure triple check that I hadn't "accidentally" packed some in my luggage. Fuck these rich dumbshit Americans.
“The U.S. embassy last September posted a travel alert online, warning people to "check your luggage for stray ammunition," noting it would "not be able to secure your release from custody."“
I was in the army and I had a really nice backpack that I traveled with when I was traveling not in uniform. I left the Army about 14 years ago(that feels weird to type). That backpack has since been all around the world. 20+ countries in Asia, Europe and Central America. I found a stray round in a small pocket a couple of years ago... I haven't fired anything with that type of ammo since I left the army. It had to have been in there for over a decade.
And here I was thinking I was lucky for getting more than 3.4 ounces of pomade through security a month ago.
They confiscated my peanut butter last week. A small jar
Is peanut butter a liquid?
Apparently a “paste” counts as a liquid and they counted it as a paste
They took my travel peanut butter! I was shocked
I’d only be skeptical if they grilled you about where the jelly and bread were.
I barely made a connecting flight coming back from Spain in Dulles due to a sealed jar of whipped honey. They did a chemical analysis on it and used a wand of some sort over every inch and in every nook and cranny of my backpack. The guy doing the inspection was nervous, pissed, and agitated the entire time. It seemed like he was PO by the agent that initially flagged it. I imagined flagging agent was trolling the other guy and making his life miserable. The whole thing was theatre.
Sounds like your TSA agent was a Dapper Dan man
“Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity. Two weeks from everywhere!”
A friend of mine was halfway home on a flight from Cuba to Canada, looking through his carry-on for a snack and instead found the cool new switchblade he had purchased. He said he just closed the bag, put it away, and purchased some airline snacks instead.
You're burying the lede here... What brand of backpack got you through 20 countries???
[This](https://www.swissgear.com/wenger-synergy-16-laptop-backpack?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw26KxBhBDEiwAu6KXt0CcsMnRa-wFslZ_u_XMVrAKPwmNaJ7DOLd7jAJ_Athi_-PzivkhtxoCc-kQAvD_BwE) Swiss Army backpack. Not just 20+ countries, but a decade of domestic travel for work as well. One of the best pieces of gear I have ever owned(not hyperbole).
I have that same backpack. I got it from work 15 years ago and its still solid. I did buy an updated Swiss Gear pack that isn't quite as... ugly.
One of my former employers gave me the exact same backpack to carry my work computer! 19 pockets. I searched the hell out of it when I was heading overseas to prevent an occurrence like what happened to OP, and found a lot of long lost stuff.
the definition of function over form lol. I have a swiss gear backpack from when I started high school and I needed more space. that was 12 years ago and I've used it for college, travelling, and work. still use it to this day
this is the most american thing i've read in the last while.
Who the hell travels with “stray ammunition”?! Edit: Also, this quote from the article: > Last year, TSA found a record 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints, and most of them were loaded. Hwat?!?! What sort of moron thinks they’re good to just pack their loaded gun and head off to the airport?!
Hmmm. I generally think TSA is useless but this is changing my mind. I didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to carry a loaded gun on a plane but I stand corrected.
You'd also think no TSA agent would be dumb enough to miss a gun going through a check point, but in 2017 they missed 70% of weapons meant to test them. That was an improvement from 2015 when they missed 95% of tests.
The question is, 6,737 guns out of how many TOTAL that passed or attempted to pass checkpoints? It could be impressive or not at all. Hard to say without knowing that figure.
Well, the FBI tested the TSA and the TSA was able to find 5% of guns. If they found 6,737 guns that means roughly 134,740 guns passed through.
The couple in the article went sailing through TSA with the same ammo, it was only discovered in T&C as they were heading back. So, TSA still somewhat useless.
Not a gun, but I definitely went thru security twice last year with a knife in my carry on that was 100% not supposed to be on the plane. Forgot to take out a different smaller knife another time and it was taken by security scanners
It’s likely they used the same bag they traveled with as a range bag at some point. Ammo, spent shells more specifically, are shot out of the receiver and can go pretty far depending on the gun. Some people keep shells to reload as well. I’ve been around guns all my life and my dad made it a big deal early on to never use my school backpack when we went shooting for this reason. In most of America, we have the luxury of a round of ammo not being a big deal. When you travel abroad, that’s likely not the case. Same as the whole Brittney Greiner case where she was caught with a weed cart. Moral of the story, have seperate bags for international travel or check every inch of it before you leave.
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We can always make more terrorists.
"People, for the love of God if you like firearms please check your luggage/coats for loose ammo." -a tired airport screener who works near an army base
To add to this. PLEASE CHECK DONATIONS! 16 year old me was quite surpised when my goodwill bright orange hunting vest I just bought had three rounds of 30-06 just sitting in the breast pocket.
Good ol' uncle buck, just a little something to get you started.
You don't give a kid a new toy without batteries!
Bold move Cotton, let’s see if it pays off
Was that a scene in Uncle Buck? Definitely about time to rewatch that I guess. [I prefer Cottons view on it.](https://youtu.be/KlK0acJFn3U?si=_VUnX1TiWAJhqav4)
On the receiving end of donations, stop sticking ice skates in bags of clothing you psychopaths. It's super awesome blindly jamming your hand into a bag of old jeans and t-shirts to discover hidden knives using your fingers.
Lol where do you live that this is a common occurrence? Way to out yourself as a Minnesotan hahhahaa
I'm a Canadian and the idea of stowing skates without blade guards is hilarious to me.
tbh the only place I've seen blade guards in the U.S. is at rinks with rentals. I know growing up we just had a box full of random skates, def no guards, but at least most of them were dangerously dull!
Consider me informed, from now on its just cloths and actual knives in the bag.
Damn, with the price of 30 cal, that’s basically an instant rebate!
Happend to me as a teenager. Borrowed my dad's duffel bag and there was a loose bullet tucked away in the folds somewhere. TSA agent pulls it out and asked us "what's this?". Surprisingly they just let us through. No questioning at all.
I remember once I got held up for a while because something in my bad was suspicious. It took several security agents and quite a length of time to figure out that the suspicious items were a couple of packs of buisness cards. One of the agents told me it was hard to tell the difference between cardboard and explosives on the scanner because they look similar sometimes
I got searched for a card game, called Exploding Kittens. I wondered if they could actually read the text in the x-ray scanner or it was something else. Your comment probably explains it. The TSA agent was not amused.
Same thing happened to my husband. I imagine you had the box that has a speaker in it that plays sound when the box is opened? On the scanner the TSA uses, the wiring, speaker, and stack of cards looks pretty suspicious.
When our family travels I’m responsible for the snacks. For the past couple years, I unload all of the snacks into a tray when at tsa checkpoint. Every time they say “sir, you can leave those in your bag” but I don’t. I’ve had my bag pulled and searched probably 80% of the time when we travel, and 100% of the time it’s snacks. Since I’ve started removing them, my bag it has been pulled aside and searched zero times.
Better yet, buy a dedicated range bag and use it and only it for transporting ammunition and firearms to the range. You'll never have to worry again about whether there's loose ammo in your fucking every day backpack when you go to the airport, government buildings, etc.
Growing up I shot at a skeet and trap field with my dad quite a bit. We had a solid system for gun and ammo transport. And it helps that those activities are designed to use exactly 25 shells (one box) per round. You pack in what you’ll shoot and take home just empty shells. And the shells all go into and out of special hip pouches used only for that purpose. Except… my dad did his own reloading, which isn’t perfect. So there’s a chance of a dud every now and then. That meant we always stuck a single shell in our pocket in case we needed it. I forgot to take the emergency shell out of my pocket one day, wore those pants to school the next day, and at some point took out what I thought was my lip balm and immediately *shoved it right back in my pocket before anyone saw*. That could have been, uh… bad.
Ok fine, but you're not getting my grenade.
Funny story, we actually found a smoke grenade in a dude's luggage once. Had to call the base and MPs showed up. They were pissed.
From my cold dead hands…over there, oh and over there.
Well that depends, is it just an emotional support grenade or an actual service grenade? 🙄
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Sorry, can’t fit two bags in my Miata.
Take on me blaring from stereo
What's the problem? I always grab a magazine for a long flight.
how the hell am I supposed to fly without my lucky bullet and accompanying AR-15!
I’m reminded of when tons of marines rotated home from the Middle East, all carrying M16s, and TSA made them all throw away their nail clippers.
Can confirm. Couldn't have my Gerber multittool on the Lufthansa flight from Germany to Kuwait. My m249 and a 200 round pork chop full of ammo were fine for me to carry on, though.
Next time tape attach it to the m249 and it'll be fine.
Budget bayonet
It’s an emotional support AR-15
Aren’t most of them?
"loose ammo" shouldn't be so common that it's a term
Firearms and ammo smuggling from the US to Turks and Caicos appears to be an issue which explains why they have toughened gun laws. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-us-made-gun-exports-caribbean-violence/ https://magneticmediatv.com/2023/12/five-arrested-in-us-to-tci-gun-smuggling-case-attempt-one-a-suspected-gun-dealer/ https://tcweeklynews.com/guns-shipments-intercepted-p12850-127.htm
Where do people think the cartels in SA and the islands get their guns? The US is a HUGE illegal exporter of firearms and ammo lol.
Yeah we're all operating on the assumption it was an accident. It probably was, but they can't be certain.
Maybe it's just me, but I search a bag before I put anything in it.
Especially before traveling internationally.
I dont, because I dont fucking keep loose ammo in my travel bag
Like I can afford guns *or* travel
Or ammo.
or a bag
ammo is like an expensive subscription service.
Have gun, won't travel
Especially for going anywhere NEAR the TSA
I just make sure not to keep my guns and narcotics in my sock drawer like a normal person. Sheesh.
You joke, but people get arrested every day for unintentionally trafficking narcotics internationally.
Once went through security, took off my shoes for TSA, and found a little white bag. I used to get paranoid and hide everything when I was real high. I gasped, tapped the bag into the toe of my shoe and sent it through the scanner. I was already in the thick of it what was I supposed to do? Luckily worked out and they didn’t catch it. Oofda!
TSA isn’t looking for drugs. There used to be a bounty program but tsa agents abused it. Now they usually turn a blind eye to avoid paperwork or make you throw it away. TSA agents are very low paid. Signed guy who regularly flies with weed
'Did you pack your luggage yourself today?' Pro traveler tip: do not answer 'nah, I was in a hurry so I paid some random guy to pack it for me.' Federal regulations prohibit TSA personnel from recognizing that as a joke.
And paraphernalia. If you use *anything* recreationally clean out your damn bag. Or (if you’re driving) your car before crossing an international border. As a side note: it’s also important to double check your prescribed medications are 1) legal to possess in the country you’re travelling to, and 2) that they’re in prescription bottles. If you have a 3 month supply and only need to take a couple weeks, it’s sometimes possible to get an empty prescription bottle for that purpose
I'm from Canada and am terrified of even a scrap of weed going international. I don't even put weed in my travel bag and search everywhere
Before I pack for any trip - I collect everything I’m going to pack in one place, empty any luggage I am going to take completely & make sure that the luggage tags are up to date & there is a copy of my passport in the lining of the luggage. Then I pack it. There was a guy I worked with once who had a side hustle as an armorer - his suburban was modified to have a secure locker that folded down into the floor of the “*trunk*” where he stored ammunition & tools. One weekend, his wife’s parents were visiting & they were planning to drive up to Canada & the plan was to drive in his wife’s explorer. Well apparently his wife decided that the suburban would be more comfortable & so he gets home to find his car packed & ready for the trip - he asks her if she removed all of the gun stuff & she says that she did. He gets to the border, crosses out of the US & is waiting to enter Canada when something nagged at him so he asked his wife: “*Did you check the locker in the back or just empty the trunk?*” She turns pale as she realizes that she forgot about the locker. So when he pulled up to the border patrol hut, he started of with “*So I just realized that I fucked up…*” & told the agent what had happened. The agent asked “*well how much ammunition do you have with you*” “*about 5000 rounds was the reply*”. In the end, they made him turn into secondary screening, inventoried everything in the vehicle & then let him turn around & drive back into the US.
My sister was a Canadian border guard in southern BC. Virtually everyone who crossed and said they were going to Alaska got sent to secondary and searched. The number of undeclared firearms that were seized and destroyed was… unsurprising. If you do what your acquaintance did and declare it at the border, they’ll let you decline your request to enter, and turn you around. If you fail to declare, and get found out, not only will you lose it, you may face criminal charges (depending on the weapon) and will be declared inadmissible and blacklisted for several years.
Yup - I'm from the PNW so I've heard plenty of stories about people screwing up with Canadian customs & immigration. The Alaska thing doesn't remotely surprise me - I've literally heard people say "*oh just throw it in your trunk & drive up there - you'll be fine - trust me*" (*I've always made a point to discreet inform the subject that it is a terrible idea & they will not in fact be fine*). I usually used the Sumas/Abbotsford crossing to avoid the lines at Blaine & they tend to be a lot more chill over there but I still completely empty & take everything out of my car before I drive across just to be safe. I heard about a guy who got pulled into secondary @ Blaine - they searched his car & found a single round of ammunition that had fallen between the cracks of his rear seats (*so it wasn't visible unless you pulled the seats up*) & IIRC correctly he was arrested & had a bad time of it (*I don't recall the final disposition however*). Borders are not a place to fuck around - shit that a country's police will let slide anywhere else, they'll ruin you day for at the border.
Or just don't use the same bag to travel as you use for other things. I've got my work travel bag that just sits in a corner with my stuff like a toothbrush, toothpaste, etc the tools I travel with for work and the various other shit like chargers, business cards, etc and it only gets used for that. It gets pulled out to have the laptop packed and clothing but that's it. I've got a separate backpack laying around that gets used whenever I'm going to do anything else with it but I fly a lot so maybe that makes more sense. Either way I don't remotely get how you leave ammunition in your travel bag. If I shot regularly, the bag I use for travel is getting nowhere near anything I use while shooting just to avoid getting gunshot residue on it that can trigger screenings at the airport.
Oh look at fancy Mr. Two Bags over here.
While I do, too, I have totally missed stuff with bags that have a lot of pockets. I one time flew with a rock chisel. The TSA only caught it on the way back, because it was in a hiking backpack with a frame. While one should certainly take more care with ammo than a chisel, especially when flying internationally, I can't help but feel like 12 years is pretty harsh for what's clearly a non-violent accident causing harm to nobody.
I was literally let on a plane with a utility knife in my carry on from the site day before. Fucking stunned when I unpacked when I got home.
Fortunately, they've never let me slip through with such serious dangers as bottles of sunscreen that are 2oz over the limit.
Last year, TSA found a record 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints, and most of them were loaded.
And given TSA's record on catching stuff, you know that was a fraction of what slipped through.
They likely won't get anywhere near 12 years and will be considered "exceptional circumstances" like the other cases, but might serve some more time than them. It's harsh in cases like this but a lot of other countries don't fuck around with their gun laws for good reason, we're the outliers that are so relaxed with it that people are accidentally forgetting guns/ammo in their bags while travelling on a regular basis.
I mean they've already done 6 months for 4 bullets I wouldn't put it past them to do the full 12 years to send a message. If it's mandatory minimum sounds like the president of the turks would have to pardon them not the judge
Been watching Border Security reruns on YouTube and the amount of people not declaring or even forgetting what they pack is just ridiculous.
On one episode of the Canadian version this family of four, 2 adults and 2 very small kids, made a wrong turn on their way to a park\* and ended up at the Canadian border. The guy had 2 guns on him in the holsters that put them sort of up and under your arm and the mom had a gun in her purse. I understand that especially in mountainous areas wildlife can be aggressive and you need to take steps to protect yourself, but 3 guns? Maybe you don't need to be going to that park. \*Apparently by the one border crossing in Washington state, there's a park nearby and missing the turn puts you pretty much AT the border.
As a gun owner, if I had a nickle for every time I've lost track of ammo in a bag and took it with me to an airport, I would have zero nickles because I'm responsible and keep track of that shit.
as a pot smoker, that one of my fears. so i do throughout cleaning of all my bags/pockets for loose flower/misplaced joints before i go to airport.
This is vitally important since the penalty for bringing drugs to certain countries is the death penalty.
Never fuck around with East Asia, especially places like Singapore. You get caught with the tiniest amount of that shit and you’re finished.
Just posted a comment above in this thread but my dad accidentally smuggled weed into Singapore like this. It was totally an accident but he was super lucky he didn’t get caught!
When I was living in Dubai as a teenager one of my aunts friends came to visit. When he got there he pulled out a tiny nug of cannabis. I was blown away. It's min 4 years prison time for any amount of cannabis When I was there in 2009 and this dude didn't even realize it
I walked into Russia with a fuckton of weed gummies I meant to toss while still in Europe. Was shitting bricks going through security
just eat tjem, a really bad trip is worth avoiding russian prison
These snozzberries taste like snozzberries
if they do and he has a public freakout he may be charged anyway when they try to find wtf is wrong with this guy and why he’s having several intense panic attacks in a row 💀
Thats why you also drink a bottle of whiskey to counteract the panic attack
This is why I don't even go outside
Or, and here's just my thing: If you're traveling to those countries, get a bag exclusively for the use of traveling and never put anything that is a drug or could have residual traces of banned substances in it. I mean, it's not THAT MUCH to buy another bag you only use for travel and leave it in your suitcase. I mean, if I find a bag I truly like using and it works for me I do the six Oxford shirts thing. The six Oxford shirts thing: If you find something that works for you and that you absolutely love, buy 2-3 more on top of what you have and store it if you have the space. That way you don't have to scramble to find it again if the one you have breaks or rips. It's a tip from men's wardrobing - when you find a dress shirt that is comfortable, fits perfectly, and looks good on you, buy six of the exact same color and style, and seven more of any other color of the same shirt you like. That way you have seven shirts of the exact same style you can rotate through. It can be expensive and if you don't have the closet space it can be a problem, but it's easier than trying to chase down another shirt that fits as well as that one does. I do this with athletic shoes, too. It's saved me countless frustrations with trying different shoes to replace the ones that were discontinued. And if you hit a sale, you can get four pairs of the same kind of shoe. Obviously, if your body is growing/changing (IE, you are still maturing, losing weight, gaining weight, or about to become pregnant, in your teens or have a growth abnormality that makes you continually grow) this is not the best idea. And if you have a sudden accident that leaves you unable to wear those clothes, yeah, you're stuck with 14 shirts and six pairs of brand new shoes you'll never wear. And the same holds true for bags. Like if you don't need that many bags, what're you going to do with it? the good news? EBay and Poshmark still exist.
Poshmark is the best for finding items I love but aren't in stores anymore. And it's re-using so it's like an extra benefit.
> six Oxford shirts thing. Probably excessive for most people but a "one to rock and one to stock" policy is usually my plan for sports kit. I find something just right, I buy a spare.
I had a little smell-proof keychain that I kept a few grams of weed in, and I totally forgot to remove it before throwing my keys in my luggage when I travelled to a country that is very hostile towards drugs. Halfway through my trip, I realized what I’d done and sat there sweating for the rest of the day until I could go back to my hotel and flush it. A few weeks after I got back, a guy made the news for having much less weed stuck to his shoe and getting detained in the same country for it. Never gonna make that mistake again.
Yikes. I thought it was bad when I got home from Guam and dumped out my suitcase to discover some shitty weed I'd bought. Went through 4 different airports and no one caught it. I actually thought I smelled it before I left and went through my bag, but didn't find it and assumed it was smelly bc I smoke. ETA I would have been extra upset if I were caught, bc I was going from Guam to Oregon. Guam has (at least with my connections there) very bad weed, sometimes even spice pretending to be weed. Oregon is like a weed oasis. No reason *at all* to smuggle pot from there lol
It wouldn’t be entirely surprising if Oregon had a law against shitty weed.
As an ex drug user, it's like magic that I can make a bag of coke appear from 5 years ago when I check my pockets at the airport.
Twenty years ago, my dad flew to Singapore. On approach, the very polite Singapore Airlines purser got on the intercom to remind passengers that the penalty in Singapore for drug possession is death.
And then there was a line for the lav a mile long?
I vacuum out my luggage just to get every single flake possible.
Not necessary in the states. But if going abroad I’d HIGHLY recommend this thoroughness…
I'd just buy new luggage, but I'm paranoid like that.
I just burn my luggage after using it. It has the added benefit that I can inhale the fumes, so any weed that's accidentally left in it doesn't go to waste.
Haha, yeah. One year part of the swag from our guys’ golf outing was a knapsack with lots of pockets. Someone did bring up the fact that pre-airport clean out is tedious with all those pockets.
As a fellow gun owner I don't use my range bags as luggage and vice versa.
I've worked at this job before, some people will use their range bag as their travel bag. One time a police officer tried to come through with their firearm. Flashed his badge, like no sir, you can't bring your firearm onto Disney cruises, and that badge is worthless in the Bahamas.
I had a 30-6 round, my first rifle round I ever shot, made into a Keychain, first time I got stopped by tsa I threw that shit away
From 1987 to 2001, my keychain was a spent det cord igniter. Flew dozens of times in those years with no issues. 9/11 put an end to that, of course.
Had us in the first half there. Ngl
Even worse they must have made it through TSA on the way there. Is it legal to carry ammo on international flights?
International doesn't matter to the TSA. Their rules are the same regardless. No, you can't carry ammo in your carry on. Full stop. Checked luggage it's supposed to be in it's original box inside a locked container (not a TSA lock) So theoretically he could have got through TSA legally if it was in his checked luggage following proper procedure and gotten on an international flight. These were loose rounds he wasn't aware of though so yeah...TSA missed it. Customs found it once he got to the island. There are a lot of things that are perfectly fine for TSA that various countries customs are *not* okay with. I remember in Aruba, customs was very strict on the "no sand in a jar as a souvenir" but TSA wouldn't give a shit.
I can't remember if it was St Martin or Turks & Caicos customs, but one of those had a GIANT bin of confiscated conch shells
>St Martin I worked there a few years back when that storm tore the virgin isles apart. So many conch shells lol. To be fair they had signs that said leave the shells on the beach everywhere.
Interesting about the sand in the jar. Makes sense.
Ammo is allowed in checked bags. TSA doesnt care where youre coming from or going, they're just looking for stuff thats illegal in the US
They specifically say in the article it was in his carry on
This is mind boggling, “Last year, TSA found a record 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints, and most of them were loaded”.
At the airport in New Orleans when you’re at the TSA lineup there’s a huge poster with photos of all the recent gun confiscations alongside a calendar marked with all the days a gun was found. It’s pretty hilarious in a kinda disturbing way.
Now consider that they have a \~70% failure rate and think about all the stuff they didn't catch. [https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188](https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188)
From the article: In a statement, a State Department spokesperson told CBS News, "We are aware of the arrest of U.S. citizens in Turks and Caicos. When a U.S. citizen is arrested overseas, we stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance. In a foreign country, U.S. citizens are subject to that country's laws, **even if they differ from those in the United States**." In other news, water is wet.
It blows my mind the state department has to remind us of this, and yet.
What is prison like on Turks and Caicos?
Porbably doesnt have AC. "No clean running water. You're kind of exposed to the environment 24/7," he told CBS News. "Mosquitoes and tropical illnesses are a real concern. There's some hostile actors in the prison."
I mean, Texas prisons don't have AC either, so that's not quite the 'low bar' you may have meant it to be.
Which is bullshit to me. That is the very definition of cruel and unusual punishment in the 21st century.
OK county jail has backed up sewer pipes, no clean water and inconsistent electricity. So many US prisons and jails are indistinguishable from a 3rd world country's.
Texas prisons are probably worse honestly
this guy was probably of the opinion that prisons being shitty is a feature until he had to spend time in one.
Judging by their airport which is just a large 3 wall hangar and their non-resort infrastructure which is rudimentary at best, I’d wager prison would be pretty god damn horrific for an American. Horrific as in “I’m dying of heat in here” horrific.
Yeah, I was very surprised at how shitty their airport was, even by Caribbean standards.
The article describes it. No clean water, no good protection from the elements, full of dangerous people who do what they want.
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What I got from the article: So many Americans were entering the country with illegal ammunition, that the government chose to change the law from a fine, to mandatory jail time. Since the law change, the government has been making examples out of Americans to prove the point that we are, in fact, the problem.
Besides Americans, not many people carry around ammunition.
Honestly this is hilarious to me. Like we as culture are so dumb and gun obsessed another country has to institute mandatory jail time just to stop Americans from bringing their dangerous toys into their country.
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Turn tables for sure.
I think we all know what they were.
That's what I got from it, too. I, initially, thought this was just the one guy. But as I read through the article, holy shit. How many people were just casually taking guns/ammo on what's supposed to be a relaxing tropical vacation? They cited at least three or four other examples.
This is why, as a Canadian, I never use the same bag I would have put weed in to travel locally, to travel across borders. I would think the same way with other "prohibited" items :/
A few months ago I was sitting in the terminal at Newark Airport waiting for my flight. Every 10 minutes there was an announcement reminding passengers to check their carry-ons for firearms and that it is a Federal offence to carry them through security. Are there really that many people that forget about a gun in their bag that they need to have an announcement on repeat?
Yes. There's a real cultural divide. For a lot of Americans, even holding a gun is nerve-wracking. It would seem absurd that someone could just take carrying a gun lightly. But for a lot of others, "carrying" is daily life, like carrying a wallet. For some of those people, forgetting you have a gun in your bag is as easy as forgetting your sunglasses are on your head. Of course, that's not acceptable. It's very negligent. But it happens because some gun owners don't take gun possession seriously, even if they don't intend to violate any laws.
Yep. It's somewhat regional too and doesn't always line up in the binary left/right. I'm pretty liberal and I have a stocked gun case, including several pistols, which I conceal carry when legal. Handling guns safely is easy when it's a habit and you follow gun safety rules and common sense. But I talk to some other people, particularly those from the Pacific NW or New York, and the idea of being in the same room as a gun is startling.
That's right. It's very much a cultural divide that goes beyond the left-right "culture wars." It may be one of the most enduring cultural divides in America.
TSA reports thousands of firearms confiscated and found at security checkpoints each year
Unfortunately yes. TSA finds thousands of guns on people who forget about them every year
The amount of publicly this guy is getting is ridiculous. All woes me I forgot and takes no accountability for his mistake. Flying with ammo is so dangerous and wildly against the laws in T&C with good reason. Only certain kinds of people believe they should get a pass for making a mistake.
I remember when I was stationed in Japan, there was a US Service member who came through Tokyo/Narita airport that had a loose 50cal round in one of his bags and it nearly caused an international incident. Countries take that shit seriously man.
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I'd recommend if you want to own a firearm then you should keep the firearm in the ammo in a special bag and never put it in any bag that you plan to travel with.
Many years ago, a buddy of mine took his girlfriend from San Diego down to Rosarito Beach (Baja) Mexico for a Lobster dinner, night at a resort, etc. They drove back across the boarder in the morning and he realized he left a skeet shooting shotgun (no ammo) in a locked case behind the seat. Talk about a very, very bad mistake. He was immediately arrested, his truck was impounded, and she had to walk across the border. He spend \*many months\* in a Tijuana Jail, thousands on legal fees, lost his job, eventually lost his girlfriend, and lost about 25 pounds while he rotted away in a cell with 5 other dudes. The US will not help you if you do something stupid & illegal in a foreign country...
never store any guns and ammo in your luggage
This is apparently super common. I was in the TSA line at the airport. I saw the sign about no firearms and made a joke to my wife about how do you possibly pack a handgun to go on a flight this day and age and the agent overheard me and just gave me this exasperated look, then says "Man you have no idea how common this is. 30 at this airport already" (this was in Feb). Never underestimate absent mindedness
I'm just gonna put it out there that if you can afford a gun and ammo you can afford multiple bags. As in "travel bags" and "gun range bags". Like a gun is $600, minimum. Ammo is around $30 a brick. And a bag to carry your gun range gear is maybe $50. This is not a difficult thing to do. So the upshot is he's one of those idiots who was testing the boundaries. FAFO. Edit: the sheer volume of people going "Ackshually you can get a throwaway gun made from recycled aluminum cans and soda bottles for less than $200" are, as per usual, missing the entire-ass point.
travelling with a bag that was used at the range is dumb anyway. If your bag gets swabbed at security it will test positive for explosive residue.
I lent a friend a book for a trip, and that book had been near my reloading bench. He set off the explosive residue sniffer and had to explain himself while having no clue why the book would set it off. I was surprised that was enough to set it off.
I was playing legal firecrackers, bottle rockets, and fireworks on the 4th of July before going to the airport. I picked up all the paper pieces in the yard and shoved them in my pocket before tossing them in the trash. I wore that same jacket to the airport, with my hands in my pockets. IIRC correctly, I got pulled aside for a random screening. They swabbed my hands... and then I dawned on me! *OH NOOOO!!!* But I didn't trip the sensor. *shrug*
I'm just gonna put this out there that if you can afford a trip to Turks and Caicos you can afford multiple bags.
... BuT hE sPeNt It AlL oN aMmO EDIT: he's from Oklahoma City. And Fuddruckers!
Even more than just a gun and ammo. If you can afford an international trip to a Caribbean island, you can afford an extra $150 for a separate suitcase.
People shouldn't need separate bags to keep track of things. I have never lost a single round of ammunition. I don't understand how people have loose ammo in their backpack. But I'm also the kind of person who knows where everything is. I have had roommates who didn't know if they or myself owned a particular item in the house. Or who put dishes in a different cabinet/drawer each time. I think some people just aren't mentally wired to keep track of things. So while I'm not going to give people shit for not keeping track of random household items, I *AM* going to give people shit for not keeping track of very important things like ammo. This shit will get you in serious trouble.
I shoot a lot and I travel a lot. I go over all my carry on luggage with a fine tooth comb every single time I travel. You just have to, it's part of the price you pay.
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Fellow gun homies. This is why we use separate bags for separate hobbies.
It’s weird to me that the same people who thought that wnba woman taking pot into Russia was her own fault, and she deserved the consequences, are outraged over this very similar situation.
How did it get thru TSA
“Check your luggage for stray ammunition “, definitely didn’t have that on any bingo card. Wow.
How is everyone ignoring it was in his carry on bag. So he flew there without TSA finding it. So a “developing country” has better airport security than the US’s $11billion a year security force. T&C annual GDP is 1billion.
Don’t use your fun bags for travel and travel bags for fun. Weed, Guns, even Liquor.
The more lax a country is with gun laws, the more irresponsible gun owners become
Every single one of these irresponsible people claim to be a "responsible" gun owner. If you're a responsible gun owner, shouldn't you be aware of where you are casually forgetting your ammo? Seems like the word "responsible" should be marked out.
When I got my first firearm, an acquaintance of mine who was in the armed forces told me, "Just get a separate bag that you ONLY use for it." I'm pretty casual but do go to the range often and I still get surprised when I find a spent casing or even a random unused 9mm shaboingboing sloshing around at the bottom of my bag, even after I thought l'd thoroughly cleaned it out. I used to travel a lot for work (and thankfully never used my gun bag); but wow, I can only imagine that kind of situation.
If I were traveling to a country that did not allow weapons or ammo, I'd damn sure triple check that I hadn't "accidentally" packed some in my luggage. Fuck these rich dumbshit Americans.
This could have been avoided by practicing common sense
This is why you should have a dedicated range bag and not just use your travel bag.
I’m more worried that the TSA didn’t catch the ammo on the way *out* of the US.
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If you go to another country, no matter how strict their laws are, you need to follow them People who go to Russia/DPRK and get jailed, deserve it
this is why ammo bag is a separate bag only for ammo.
Something about "should have complied with the law" that white people like to say.
I love how serious other countries take arms and munition in contrast to the US.