A man at Midway International Airport was casually going through the motions for TSA in order to board his flight. His carry-on bag had a little something that airports and TSA frowns upon; a loaded pistol.
Local news reports;
John Waltz, 52, was charged with a felony count of boarding an aircraft with a weapon, according to Chicago Police.
Waltz, who lives in La Porte, Indiana, was being screened at a security checkpoint for a Las Vegas-bound flight when TSA agents found the .38-caliber Ruger handgun in his carry-on bag, police and the TSA said. The gun was loaded with a round in the chamber.
To answer the question posed in this article’s title, it’s obviously that some people are just plain dumb. Mr. Waltz had to have known that his firearm was inside the bag and if he didn’t, he’s a pretty irresponsible person. In both instances, in fact, he’s irresponsible. Either way it happened, Mr. Waltz joins the small list of gun owners who make us all look bad.
There isn’t any mention in the article about whether or not his firearm was legally possessed, but we’ll assume that it was, just for the fact that bringing an illegally-possessed firearm through TSA security is even more stupid.
I mean, it’s still a possibility I guess. We’ve seen some stuff over the years.
The article goes on to say that Mr. Waltz was released on bond, so it’s more than likely that he legally possessed the pistol.
In any event, let’s take away one thing from this story; Always know where your firearm is.
