Americans arrested in Turks & Caicos for having ammunition

[trojansc]

I'm confused as a non-gun person.. how common is it to have bullets sort of... get into places they aren't supposed to be? I mean, I have traveled through TSA a lot in my life, I think I've only left a liquid in my bag maybe one time out of tons of scans.

Also, how does this happen to multiple people on a small island.. is it that common for US Citizens to be traveling with ammunition and forget that they have it?

[mikegarrison]

I have had stuff in my bags from previous trips that I had forgotten about. Nothing illegal, of course. Usually just some old paperwork or maybe a spare computer mouse that I had forgotten about. Stuff like that.

As for the idea that one might have ammo just tucked away somewhere, well, if you do a lot of shooting, then that's not at all impossible.

On the other hand, when you travel to a foreign country, their laws apply. So don't be stupid.

[mervinswerved]

I've had a folding knife pulled from my carryon before on the way home, which means I had it in there on the outbound flight and got past TSA.

[mikegarrison]

Apr 27, 2024 13:38:40 GMT -5 mervinswerved said:

I've had a folding knife pulled from my carryon before on the way home, which means I had it in there on the outbound flight and got past TSA.

TSA is security theater. They catch some stuff, sometimes, but stuff leaks through all the time.

[gtrich]

The guy probably had a backpack that he used for both travel and for hunting/range time. Given the setup of some backpacks with a million different pockets, it's entirely plausible that he had 4 loose bullets buried in the bag. I haven't read any of the stories, so I don't know what specific type of ammo we are talking about. However, a 22LR round is tiny (maybe 1/4" by 1"). Even something like a 30-06 round isn't terribly large. What's sad is that TSA on the US side didn't see it. I had a similar situation happen to me a while back. I used to use one backpack for travel and for hunting. The thing had like 6 different pockets and all of them were filled with miscellaneous crap (headphones, charging cables, charging cubes, camera crap, medicine, portable batteries ...). I ran my backpack through the machine and the TSA guy saw the ammo on the x-ray. Even knowing where it was in my backpack, it still took him emptying the bag, x-raying it 3 more times, and finally handing me the bag to dig into it before we found the ammo. It wasn't until the third x-ray that he told me what was going on. Until that point, I thought I had left a pocket knife in the bag (something I've done before and found after I had arrived at my destination). Ammo was the farthest thing from my mind. Needless to say, as soon as I got back from the trip I bought a dedicated backpack for hunting and that thing doesn't go anywhere near an airport. I know other people that used to use one bag for both and had them pop positive for gunpowder residue on an airport swab test.

Three people on the island is odd. But what's worse to me is that those three people made it through the US TSA checks without the ammmo being found (unless it was in their checked luggage and that would be perfectly fine). Who knows, maybe the three of the were hunting someplace and flew directly from there to the island. They get to the island because the ammo is in checked luggage and that is perfectly fine in the US. However, they get stopped on the way back because it's not allowed at all on that island.

[mikegarrison]

Apr 27, 2024 14:03:38 GMT -5 gtrich said:

What's sad is that TSA on the US side didn't see it.

TSA ideally should catch the stuff they are looking for, of course, but it's not their responsibility to save people from putting stuff in their bags that is illegal -- either here in the US or abroad.

[BearClause]

I haven’t done it before but heard of people traveling with firearms and ammo. At least in the US they’re required to be check-in only, while presented to airline personnel, who are allowed to examine any firearms to see that they’re unloaded and any ammo properly stored. There have been cases where passengers refused to have their firearms examined, claiming that just declaring them was enough, and they didn’t want anyone damaging their expensive firearms. Didn’t work.

Sure there have been many cases where someone used the same bag they used to carry firearms and ammo and forgot. It happens. There that US Marine who had firearms and ammo in his pickup truck, which were all legal and transported in compliance with California law. At least until he accidentally (as he claimed) turned the wrong way and found himself in Mexico where he had no permit for a firearm or ammo.

[mikegarrison]

Apr 27, 2024 14:16:33 GMT -5 BearClause said:

I haven’t done it before but heard of people traveling with firearms and ammo.

I've travelled with archery equipment. Checked, of course. That was before TSA, when airports did their own security.

[BearClause]

Apr 27, 2024 14:18:28 GMT -5 mikegarrison said:

Apr 27, 2024 14:16:33 GMT -5 BearClause said:

I haven’t done it before but heard of people traveling with firearms and ammo.

I've travelled with archery equipment. Checked, of course. That was before TSA, when airports did their own security.

A few still do, but under TSA supervision. SFO is probably the busiest airport in the US still using private contractors.