Common Excuse for Guns at Airport: 'Oops'

WASHINGTON (Nov. 25) -- A lot of things became off-limits at airports after Sept. 11, 2001, but a surprising number of passengers still get caught with a particularly big no-no: firearms.

The Transportation Security Administration says that so far this year 793 firearms have been discovered at U.S. airport checkpoints -- and we've still got two major league holidays to go: Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last year, in total, there were 902 firearms found.

"The most common excuse we've heard would simply be that the individual forgot the item was in the bag," says TSA spokeswoman Lauren Gaches.

Each day, up to about 2 million passengers at U.S. airports take off their shoes, plop their belongings on a conveyor belt and walk through the metal detector. The lion's share go on to their gate. No questions asked.

Then there are folks like John Clayton McDade, 45, of Tennessee.

McDade was passing through a checkpoint at the Austin, Texas, airport in September when a TSA agent at the X-ray machine spotted a .45-caliber handgun under some dirty clothes, according to a report from KEYE-TV, an Austin news outlet.

Once the gun was spotted, an Austin Police Department officer was called over to question McDade. His response? "I totally forgot it was there."

He was arrested and charged with a third-degree felony of recklessly possessing and introducing a handgun into the secure airport area.

An hour later, another man was busted at the Austin airport for carrying a loaded gun in his laptop case, KEYE-TV said. Once again, the man said that he had plumb forgot the gun was there.

Martin Ficke, who oversaw JFK Airport as chief of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York from 2003 to 2007, said he finds it hard to believe people still bring guns to airports in the post-9/11 era.

"I forget things traveling through the airport; a firearm wouldn't be one of them," said Ficke, who is now director of operations for SES Resources, a security firm based in Jericho, N.Y. "Obviously, anybody who's got a living brain cell in his head knows you're going to have to go through security, post-9/11. To bring a firearm to the airport, it's almost as if you want to get caught."

The circumstances of those caught with guns at airports vary. Some people have gun permits. Some do not. Some are felons forbidden by law from carrying guns anywhere, authorities say. And some have been members of law enforcement who weren't authorized to carry a gun through a checkpoint.

Greg Soule, a TSA spokesman, said the cases may be handled differently depending on the circumstances and local laws. He said TSA agents turn the cases over to the local law enforcement agencies, which decide whether to prosecute.

According to TSA, a sampling of weapons found at airports around the country earlier this month included a loaded .32-caliber gun in Atlanta; a loaded .22-caliber gun in Sacramento, Calif.; a stun gun at BWI Airport in the Baltimore area; a loaded 9-mm gun in Cincinnati; a loaded .32-caliber gun at Reagan National in Washington; and a stun gun in Los Angeles.

Of the number of guns being brought to the airport, Soule says: "I can't really speculate on the reason behind this."

What he does say unequivocally is that TSA tries to educate the public.

"We have a public awareness campaign through the media, through the Internet, through our blog," he said. "We have signage up in all the airports to make passengers aware of what they can and cannot bring through an airport. And we still intercept prohibited items on a daily basis, including firearms."