A Misdemeanor

When I got back from a visit with the Hexberg's a while back I couldn't find the extra clip for my .22 anywhere. I finally figured that I must have left it behind, the Hexberg's hadn't seen it, but I assumed that it would eventually turn up eventually just kind of forgot about it.

I forgot about it until this morning when I was standing on the collection side of the x-ray machines at LAX watching the image of my overnight bag flash up, and then the operator zoom in on what appeared to be the missing .22 clip, a loaded .22 clip...yes, definitely the missing, loaded .22 clip. Just as I had reached that conclusion the x-ray guy's hand shot up into the air and he started saying loudly "I need a supervisor over here! No, I need a supervisor for this one!" So immediately two TSA people descended on me, snatched my bag off the conveyor belt, and rushed me and my bag off to the side where I would be out of the other passenger's way, but of course still totally visible to everyone else flying Delta this morning.

The first order of business was for one TSA person to remove the entire contents of my bag, spread it out all over the counter, while another TSA person stood to the side and watched me like I might try and make a run for it. A third TSA person arrived shortly thereafter to get my information to check for a police record. The fourth TSA person was filling out an official TSA report, and the fifth TSA person was calling and reporting to other people that they had found a loaded clip in someone's luggage. I was questioned by three of the TSA officers, who all seemed very hung up on how a loaded gun clip wound up in my luggage, and even more baffled when I told them that I had left it there, that I am the owner of both the clip, and the gun to which it belongs. At one point I was asked what caliber the rounds were by one of the TSA officers, after he had spent a few minutes silently inspecting the clip trying to ascertain that on his own. Someone from the police department finally called back to report that I have a clean police record, which seemed to disappoint the TSA officer who took the call. At that point I asked if I could please turn over the rounds and keep the clip, and I was told in no uncertain terms that I was not to touch anything until a police officer arrived.

The police officer was kind of a jerk. He started off asking me what I was doing with a clip in my bag, and I told him I must have left it there from a camping trip I took earlier this year. I guess camping and guns don't go hand in hand in his world. Then he paused and I ventured to ask if I would be able to keep the clip. That's when he sort of went ballistic and while waiving the clip in one hand shouted at me and told me that I was interrupting him, and then asked if I knew that I was interrupting. I knew that I was not, but I decided it best to just roll with things, so I told him that I did, and that I was sorry, and to please go ahead. He shouted at me that he didn't think I understood how much trouble I'm in because "THIS IS A MISDEMEANOR!" Maybe he thought that I don't understand the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony? He went on to tell me that he was trying hard to avoid taking me downtown, but that I needed to start cooperating. So I just nodded my head and said "yes, sir." He asked me if I had a lock box for the clip, and when I told him that I did not that's when he started shouting again, louder this time, and went on some rant that lasted for quite a while about how I'm an irresponsible gun owner for "attempting to transport ammunition without knowing the laws." I just let him yell, and when he was done I told him that I wasn't attempting to transport ammunition, it was an honest accident, and I just want the clip, he can take the rounds. He unloaded the clip and had a TSA officer escort me back out of security to the desk to check my bag before he would hand me back the clip.

The guy at the desk wanted to know what was in the bag that security made me check, and when I told him it was a gun clip he got all worked up and wanted to know if there was a gun in the bag too. Because I guess he believed that security would just turn me loose with a gun in the airport? I barely made it back through security in time to catch my flight, but I arrived, with my clip in SLC this morning, and really grateful that my ride to the airport this morning drove fast and got me there earlier than I had felt was really necessary. I'm sure I created quite a spectacle for all the other passengers this morning, what with my entourage of TSA officers, and an angry police officer.