not a whole heck of a lot<\/a>.<\/p>\nIn the past three years, authorities at DIA have caught 76 people trying to take guns or illegal knives onto airplanes, according to police records. But only one ended in a felony conviction, while a second felony case is pending, court records show. The rest were let off with what amounts to a slap on the wrist: unsupervised probation, or $100 fines, or 20 hours of community service. Often, cases were dismissed without any punishment at all.
\nAt least 15 of those 76 people were caught trying to take loaded guns onto a plane. Many more had unloaded handguns, but plenty of ammunition in their carry-on bags.<\/p>\n
If they’d been terrorists, these airport visitors easily could have grabbed their guns and started firing. Yet hardly anyone was charged with a felony, or even with a misdemeanor. Most drew the charge of violating a city ordinance. In most cases, police merely confiscated their guns, gave them tickets and let them board their flights. <\/p>\n
In most cases, folks got off easy because they convinced police, judges, etc., that it was inadvertent.<\/p>\n
Okay, on the one hand, I can appreciate forgetting that you have something in your pocket, bag, or elsewhere on your person. Particularly if you, for example, always carry a gun, it might be possible to forget to leave it at home for the trip, or pack it, check it and declare it.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, if you’re regularly carrying a gun, should you be allowed to be that forgetful about it without any penalty?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There have been plenty of stories of late about travellers who’ve had nail clippers, corkscrews (ahem), knitting needles, etc., confiscated by airport security. There have also been other stories –…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homeland-security"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18655,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/09\/21\/more-on-the-don-armstrong-felony-thief-for-now-case.html","url_meta":{"origin":1525,"position":0},"title":"More on the Don Armstrong (felony thief, for now) case","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 21-Sep-10 8:29am","format":false,"excerpt":"After a few days, a few more stories in the news illuminating how the\u00a0 Don Armstrong case went from 20-odd felony theft indictments by the grand jury to \"no contest\" on one felony theft and one misdemeanor theft case. First off, the Colorado Springs Gazette: As part of the agreement,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime & Punishment"","block_context":{"text":"Crime & Punishment","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/crime-punishment"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/don-armstrong-laughter-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":38070,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/01\/make-a-stupid-comment-go-to-jail.html","url_meta":{"origin":1525,"position":1},"title":"Make a stupid comment, go to jail","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 1-Jul-13 3:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Stupid? Absolutely? Deserving of some sort of official attention to make sure it's not a warning sign? \u00a0Sure. Charge an 18-yo with a third-degree felony of \"terroristic threats\" and throw him in jail for months while awaiting trial, all because of a sarcastic (if tasteless and unwise) comment? \u00a0Crikey.Your Zero\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7441,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/03\/05\/scary_stories.html","url_meta":{"origin":1525,"position":2},"title":"Scary stories","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 5-Mar-05 9:20am","format":false,"excerpt":"Granted that we have very few solid details here, but this certainly has all the marks of blind bureaucratic ZTosity. A George Rogers Clark High School junior arrested Tuesday for...","rel":"","context":"In "Writing and Language"","block_context":{"text":"Writing and Language","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/writing-and-language"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31114,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/02\/because-joe-miklosi-loves-murderers-especially-yours.html","url_meta":{"origin":1525,"position":3},"title":"“Because Joe Miklosi LOVES MURDERERS \u2026 especially YOURS!”","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 2-Nov-12 7:12am","format":false,"excerpt":"Continuing the pretty consistent peppering of flyers (and, apparently, broadcast ads, though I don't listen\/watch those) from a worried Mike Coffman against his Democratic challenger Joe Miklosi, we get a doozy here, as a follow-up to previous ad campaigns: JOE MIKLOSI VOTED AGAINST KATIE'S LAW. Sometimes, a single strand of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2012"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2012","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2012"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18627,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/09\/20\/don-armstrong-felony-thief-for-now.html","url_meta":{"origin":1525,"position":4},"title":"Don Armstrong, felony thief (for now)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 20-Sep-10 11:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"For those just tuning in, Don Armstrong was an Episcopal priest here in Colorado who: ... ran Grace & St Stephens Episcopal in Colorado Springs. ... served as the Shadow Bishop of Colorado for many, many years, acting as the spokesman for Episcopal conservatives in the state and unofficial leader\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime & Punishment"","block_context":{"text":"Crime & Punishment","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/crime-punishment"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/episcshield.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6107,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/05\/18\/i_am_not_a_numb.html","url_meta":{"origin":1525,"position":5},"title":"I am not a number! At least — not a unique one!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 18-May-04 9:50pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because if you can't trust fingerprint and expensive computerized fingerprint systems, who can you trust? Benson was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 days for carrying a firearm when a convicted felon,...","rel":"","context":"In "Homeland Security"","block_context":{"text":"Homeland Security","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/homeland-security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}