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Two CHL's were caught trying to board a plane in Houston with their guns. Not charged, released and got their guns back.

Harris County prosecutors said, "This office will not criminally prosecute people who make innocent mistakes."

Imagine that. Someone is exercising common sense.

Who is the Harris County District Attorney, anyway? I forget.

I'm concerned about the attitude of the unnamed cops who don't "get to" arrest people. Is this a game, where you cross the foul line and go to jail? This is why I avoid flying whenever possible and don't go to Houston much any more (or spend money there).

- Jim

to Harris County prosecutors

They'll still get hit with hefty fines by the TSA.

I'd rather deal with a fine than be tossed into a cell with Spike and Loco.

- Jim

Wow, I wonder if they were really that forgetful? Perhaps I could see the lady CHLer more feasibly forgetting she had it in her bag, but the gentleman travling to Bogota and forgetting about it? If he somehow magically made it through he would have had one heck of a "trip" in Bogota when the authorities found out .

I think they definitely can consider themselves lucky though, glad to see that they won't be prosecuted.

This reminds me of what a Check-in Attendant said to me while flying to DFW recently. While declaring my handgun, she said something along the lines of "Thanks for telling us, lots of people forget to delcare it and we have to call them back over the intercom when security screening shows it (the gun)". I suppose keeping this in mind, it's not too much of a stretch that someone would forget about carrying when trying to get past a secured portion of the airport, but still, this doesn't help the situation seem any better. Which brings me to my next question... could they possibly have their CHL revoked for this, or would that require that they had charges pressed against them?

CEOofEVIL wrote:Wow, I wonder if they were really that forgetful?

I tend to remember where my firearms are, and I don't carry them around in brief cases, backpacks, and so forth. On the other hand, I have misplaced things and even forgot that I owned them until I found them years later.

could they possibly have their CHL revoked for this, or would that require that they had charges pressed against them?

I think they would have to be convicted. The conditions for revocation of a CHL are strictly defined.

- Jim

It seems like, in the majority of cases, be it a knife or gun, the weapon is in the carry on bag. People are also generally preoccupied with so much stuff on a daily basis, and even more so when travelling, that forgetting seems very beleivable to me. I've come very close to going through security with lighters, pocket knives, etc. in my pockets before. I even got pulled aside for "special treatment" when I went through the metal detector with my studded "punk rock" belt in Paris.

I could also see instances where one spouse takes a road trip one week and drops a pistol in their bag. The other spouse grabs the same bag for a trip and doesn't notice the pistol is still in there when they pack the bag for their flight.

It surprises me the that there aren't many, many more instances of this than there are. It's too bad that there are so many instances where security and law enforcement are focused on "policies and procedures" and can't see the forest for the trees. That's how you end up with the same jokers who didn't put 2 and 2 together when a dozen middle eastern men get on a plane all carrying box cutters but a 95 year old lady get's humiliated over a soiled diaper. It's also how you end up with a five year old expelled for bringing a plastic knfe in his lunch box or teenager suspended for bringing a midol pill with her.

Kudo's to the DA for having some common sense. IT seems in short supply these days.

I think the use of common sense may be a response to this:

http://youtu.be/5hgOXPtllWM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

punkndisorderly wrote:It seems like, in the majority of cases, be it a knife or gun, the weapon is in the carry on bag. People are also generally preoccupied with so much stuff on a daily basis, and even more so when travelling, that forgetting seems very beleivable to me. I've come very close to going through security with lighters, pocket knives, etc. in my pockets before. I even got pulled aside for "special treatment" when I went through the metal detector with my studded "punk rock" belt in Paris.

I could also see instances where one spouse takes a road trip one week and drops a pistol in their bag. The other spouse grabs the same bag for a trip and doesn't notice the pistol is still in there when they pack the bag for their flight.

It surprises me the that there aren't many, many more instances of this than there are. It's too bad that there are so many instances where security and law enforcement are focused on "policies and procedures" and can't see the forest for the trees. That's how you end up with the same jokers who didn't put 2 and 2 together when a dozen middle eastern men get on a plane all carrying box cutters but a 95 year old lady get's humiliated over a soiled diaper. It's also how you end up with a five year old expelled for bringing a plastic knfe in his lunch box or teenager suspended for bringing a midol pill with her.

Kudo's to the DA for having some common sense. IT seems in short supply these days.

The DA there has been very reasonable, but I don't like to impose or depend on reasonableness.

It is easy to forget prohibited items in luggage from trip to trip, and for that reason I put anything that would arouse the interest of the TSA in a red colored nylon pouch when I take the luggage on a non flying trip. When I get home, I take the red pouch out and I'm good to go on a flight with no worries.

If I forget to take the red pouch out, it is glaringly obvious when I go to pack the bag for a flight next time and remove it then.

This system helps prevent senior moments and the resulting attraction of more attention than necessary at the checkpoints.

seamusTX wrote:

Harris County prosecutors said, "This office will not criminally prosecute people who make innocent mistakes."

Imagine that. Someone is exercising common sense.

Who is the Harris County District Attorney, anyway? I forget.

I'm concerned about the attitude of the unnamed cops who don't "get to" arrest people. Is this a game, where you cross the foul line and go to jail? This is why I avoid flying whenever possible and don't go to Houston much any more (or spend money there).

- Jim

I think you might have been able to knock me over with a feather when I read that quote at the top...I had pretty much gotten the impression that in regards to anything untoward happening at an airport, you would pretty much be a felon in short order. Amazing...and in Houston, of all places...

seamusTX wrote:Who is the Harris County District Attorney, anyway? I forget.

- Jim

Pat Lykos and she's up for reelection in 2012. This lady needs our support.

Chas.

As a past TSA screener, I have to wonder if these are ALL of the cases that occurred, or if they are only the "catch and release" ones. I assume the latter.

This has been occurring since the earliest days, see the big flap over Barry Switzer when he "forgot about the thing" being in his bag. At Love Field we released as many folks who "inadvertently" carried such things in their carry ons as we did send them for a ride, but almost universally they got to model a new set of silver bracelets while the decision was being made.

I have to wonder how the screeners at DFW determined that the firearms mentioned by the ticket agent were not declared. TSA is not supposed to "threat" bags with guns in them, the assumption, and rightly so, is that in the absence of any item which either the machine or operator declares a threat which needs to be manually investigated, firearms are not to be declared a threat. The only way a screener would be able to determine that the gun was not declared would be for a screener to open the bag and check the case for a tag, which is not SOP, which also states that bags are not to be opened unless they are threated.

It is not TSA's job to check for firearms declarations, or even firearms.

A little common sense in the world would go a long ways, sounds like it was used here.