Feel free to check and double check that you have your personal belongings, identification, heck, even toothbrush with you when you head to the airport, but please do leave your loaded gun at home.
As the Transportation Security Administration reports via a press release, officials at Norfolk International Airport are having one doozy of a time trying to stave off travelers bringing loaded firearms to the airport - something rational people might see as a potential issue.
The report cites two incidents that illustrate both that it's extremely easy to forget you are a currently armed traveler and also that the previous fact is how you will win a quick citation from officials.
On August 23, an unidentified man was stopped when he attempted to get through security with a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun through TSA. The gun happened to have been loaded with six bullets.
In a sudden twist of coincidence, a similar event played out on August 25 when a female traveler - proclaiming forgetfulness - was cited when TSA found a .40 caliber handgun loaded with four bullets.
This is your reminder to always check your luggage both for things you may have forgotten to pack but also for dangerous items which you forgot to unpack.
Because even the most obvious rules tend to be broken, the TSA release also offered the following: "Both of these 'gun catches' at the checkpoint serve as a reminder that individuals are responsible for the contents of bags they bring to the security checkpoint and TSA's advice to travelers is to look through bags thoroughly before coming to the airport to make sure there are no illegal or prohibited items."
As we have shown in the past, even fake guns are a big no-no if you plan on making it through TSA and onto your plane.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Why Air Travel Is Safer Than Ever[/READMORE]
Back in May, TravelPulse did offer a spotlight to those who do wish to safely and with great transparency fly with a weapon.
Josh Lew writes, "The first step is to call to alert the airline of your plans and to make certain that they have a policy that allows them to carry firearms. Not every airline is willing to accommodate this request."
In the case of the Norfolk travelers, the citations seem to have been a result of heading to the airport without realizing what you may have stowed away.
This is a remarkable concept, especially for those of us who check our luggage roughly a dozen times before departing.
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