Airline "loses" four guns

Went to pick up my Mom from the airport last night. We
went to get her baggage from the claim area, and guess what....no luggage.We joined the other 10 people, (all from the flight she was on), at the ticket counter to ask what happened to her luggage. The gentleman in line in front of me told the attendant that he was missing three bags.The attendant put the guy's baggage claim numbers into the computer,and told him that he would be right back. He went into the baggage storage area, and returned (after about 10 minutes) with one of the bags. The attendant then asked the guy to describe his missing two bags. The guy told him that they were black, hard-side Winchester gun cases....with a shotgun and rifle in each case! He asked the attendant where the guns were, and when he could expect them to arrive. The attendant said that he really wasn't sure, since there was no information on his missing bags in the computer......but someone would contact him when they were found!

Maybe it's just me, but since the country is on "Orange Alert", don't you think that the airlines would be exceptionally diligent in keeping track of four baggage-checked guns????????????????

in the cockpit. Is no one making that connection?

We are sort of being told that maybe alQaeda got some of their people to infiltrate the airlines but surely not any US carriers oh no and at the same time guns may be given to some pilots. I don't know it just seems odd to me.

your mom had to take her shoes off and give up her nail clipper to get on the plane. This whole "(in)security thing would be comical if it wasn't so illogically insane.

and almost has to completely disrobe to get on a plane because she has two replaced hips, one replaced knee, and walks with a cane. The scrutiny they give the cane is amazing.....they take the rubber tip off to make sure nothing is hiding inside, then make her pull it apart to make sure it's not some kind of "Maxwell Smart" gun or dagger, then run the parts through the x-ray machine.

She has a replacement knee, too. It's her KNEE that sets off the wand, but they stop short of cavity-searching her when she flies...She hates it, being the widow of a decorated Lt. Colonel and all

I don't take my shoes off. I heard that you are NOT required to take them off, and I tell the TSA burger-flipper "Let's deal with it IF they set the detector off." I always wear moccasins when I fly, no metal in them. Not walking on their FILTHY carpet in my socks...

They never, ever look at my cane. They run it whole through the X-ray machine (a metal cane), but that's it.

And I'm a big scary looking guy who could do some damage with a cane. Go figure.

because of the procedures at the arriving terminal.

Once, when flying into Newark on Thangsgiving weekend, I brought my rifle to do a little hunting in the Poconos in SE PA. My wife and I met our bags at the appropriate carousel, but did not see my gun case come down the chute.

After about 1 hour frantically searching the terminal and asking the clueless baggage attendants, I noticed my gun case, sitting all by itself near the "odd sized baggage" door.

Now, mind you, people were milling all around the case, and it would have taken no skill just to reach down and walk out with my $2000 rifle in one of the busiest airports of the US.

If I travel with guns now, I meet them at the odd sized baggage door first, then get the rest of my stuff.

Any firearms I take on plane trips have to be low enough in sentimental value that getting them replaced from an insurance payout would leave me feeling whole, and they have to still be available in California.

First of all, it's amazing how luggage goes astray. Some of it is simple mishandling, sometimes there's thievery on the part of employees, sometimes . . . who knows? Some cities for some specific airlines are especially bad at handling luggage and lose a lot more than other cities. I won't name names....

I, too, am enraged when I see elderly or wheelchair confined, or toddlers getting an especially careful going over. Use some common sense, fellas! I know, our glorious homeland security folks are going to warn solemnly that you never know where the next terrorist will come from, and those clever devils can disguise themselves any way they want.

And of course, this kind of high-level checking out of the most innocuous of passengers will easily get the rest of us to be willing to have all our personal information on a computer somewhere so we can go through security more easily.

Personally, every time I have to take my shoes off I regret that I've bathed recently. I think everyone around me should share in the unique experience of smelling my feet.

to bypass security.
Do you have any idea how much crap you can hide in a wheelchair? Or a cast for that matter.

And, speaking of guns. Can anyone tell me what the point of National Guard guys having M16's beyond the security point is? If I ever need a rifle at an airport, I will just take one from one of those guys.