So you think that inadvertently bringing a gun to a TSA checkpoint is a rare occurrence? Think again.
Over 1,500 guns were discovered by TSA screeners in carry-on luggage in 2012. And that number is up from 1,300 the year before. A new record of 65 guns (54 loaded) found was set in one week in May, 2013. The following week was a rather quiet week for guns at TSA checkpoints: “only” 29 guns were found (26 of them loaded). Still feeling foolish? Of course, but you are in good company.
For over 5 years, from July 2007 until I left TSA in November 2012, I was in charge of the TSA program which held the Informal Conferences with passengers who requested them. During that time, I handled well more than 4,000 cases, most of which involved people who were found in possession of loaded guns in their carry-on bags. Virtually everyone who is found with a gun at a TSA checkpoint will, sometime in the months following the discovery, receive a Notice of Violation (NOV) in the mail. If the gun was loaded (or it was unloaded, but ammunition was found in addition to the gun), the NOV will seek to impose a civil penalty of $3,000 against the passenger. If the passenger wishes to resolve the case quickly, a civil penalty of $1,500 can be paid within 30 days of receiving the notice. Well over half of the passengers who receive the $3,000 NOV, will pay the $1,500, rather than requesting an Informal Conference (IC) as allowed by TSA regulations. Why don't these people request an IC? One reason is that they feel intimidated by the process (If you'd like to familiarize yourself with the relevant TSA regulations pertaining to the civil enforcement process so you can handle your case yourself, you can start here). Others, no doubt, just want the matter to be over and don't think that there is any benefit to speaking to TSA representative about reducing the civil penalty.
In my experience of talking to passengers during their Informal Conference, I found that many of the cases are the result of passengers getting out of their usual firearm routines. In many other cases, the passengers tried, in good faith, to comply with TSA rules. In other cases, they were careless, but not overly so. The fact patterns below represent a good cross section of factual firearm patterns I dealt with.
TSA Gun Violation Fact Patterns
Passengers who regularly carry their gun in the glove box of their car would bring their car to the repair shop in the morning and put the gun in their briefcase for the day, for fear of the gun being stolen. After picking up their car that night, they would forget to put the gun back in the glove box. Flying out that night or within the next few days, they would forget that they had put the gun in their briefcase.
Passengers who keep their gun in their nightstand, but are having young children (usually grandchildren, nephews or nieces) come to visit for a few days. To make sure that the kids would not accidentally find the gun, they would put it in a suitcase in their closet and forget to put it back when the kids left.
Passengers who always carry a gun in their briefcase or purse, generally will remember to leave it in the glove box or console of their car when they park at the airport parking lot. If they were running late for the flight, or were rushing to catch the shuttle bus that just pulled up, they would forget to put the gun away before running to the shuttle bus.
Passengers may have properly packed the gun in luggage that they were expecting to give to the airlines as checked baggage (guns may be transported in checked luggage if the guns are unloaded with no bullets in the clip, in a hard-sided locked container, and a proper declaration form filled out when the bag is checked. See 49 CFR 1540.111(c)), but decided to take it at the last minute as a carry-on, usually because they were running late and the ticket agent told them their bag might not make it on the plane if it was checked.
A large number of guns were found in the bags of sports fisherman returning from Alaskan fishing trips. They always carried a gun with them for protection against bears (I suggest bringing a big gun - a .22 calibre gun is only going to annoy the bear and make him angry). Since they were on a fishing trip, not a hunting trip, they forgot to make sure the gun was properly packed in their checked luggage on their return flight.
Some passengers’ bags were packed by a spouse for a passenger; the spouse put their gun in the bag, unbeknownst to the passenger, the spouse assuming that the bag was going to be checked, not taken as a carry-on.
Other instances involve passengers not checking an empty suitcase before packing it. Sometimes a passenger would take a bag from a friend or relative (not telling them) and fail to empty the bag. How were they supposed to know that the owner of the bag stored their gun in it? Other times, a friend or relative would give a bag to the passenger, forgetting that they had stored their gun in it. (One very remorseful father gave his son a bag that in which the father forgot that he had put his gun in it years before. The son was arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm and spent over 24 hours in jail before he was able to post bond.)
Many passengers told me that they inspected their bags before packing, but not as carefully as they should have. They checked all the many pockets of their backpack, but forgot about a small hidden pocket where they had put their small gun. Sometimes there is a seam in the carry-on bag that opens and a gun can lodge itself under the lining. Sometimes, instead of dumping the contents of a bag onto the bed, the passenger just visually inspected the bag, and didn't see the dark colored gun case inside of the dark lining of the carry-on.
What do TSA Gun Violation Fact Patterns teach us?
The moral of every one of the above TSA Gun Violation stories? Empty all your carry-on luggage before you start to pack. Dump the contents onto a bed and then physically check the bag before you start to pack it.
So how do these fact situations (and there are many more such similar fact patterns) affect what civil penalty TSA will impose for possession of a gun at a checkpoint? In all these situations, there exists circumstances that would tend to show “that the proposed penalty is not warranted by the circumstances.” (49 CFR 1503.421 (c)(2)) which is one of the criterion that TSA must consider when a passenger requests an Informal Conference.
So, do the reasons that you had a gun at a TSA passenger screening checkpoint warrant a reduction in the proposed $3,000 civil penalty? Feel free to call us at 202-241-9282 and we will be happy to discuss your case with you. There is no charge, unless you decide you want us to request and hold the Informal Conference for you.
Or you can e-mail me at [email protected] and I will be happy to call you back to discuss your case.