Please don't bash my magical vale of security that the TSA wraps me up in daily.
I feel very safe in a world where those who shouldn't have more weapons than those who should.

Too bad the government can't do anything period, as this would be a good time to do anything.....with more of my taxpayer dollars!

Many possibilities...

- He was a felon.
- It was stolen.
- He was going to Peoples Republic of Kalifornia and didn't have the necessary permissions.
- He was going to use the gun for crime.
- Etc.

If any of these were true he should've taken the bus. Besides, does the ticket counter have the ability to do a background check for those who are declaring their firearms?

Sorry Skid. I never checked a gun, and don't know the rules.

Is this really a surprising story?

On the topic of ground employees not having to go through security....from what I can tell, it may be largely based on the individual airport itself and even the layout of the terminal.

At PHX where I work, all US and WN ground employees must go through security to get to work, juts like everyone else. However, a couple thousand feet away over in Terminal 2, employees can easily and legally bypass security all they want, primarily because that terminal has ports of entry to the sterile area that are in private areas.

When I used to work in Terminal 2, (the oldest and smallest terminal, mind you), I think I might have gone through security 1 or 2 times a month. Now I go through everyday at Terminal 4. Food for thought.

Im guessing PHL just has a layout that makes it easy to enter through other areas. This guy could have actually pulled it off if they hadnt traded bags in plain sight, but rather, take his bag down to the ramp, throw a gate-check tag on it and throw it in the bin with everything else.

Nope the ticket counter doesn't. For anyone who has never checked a firearm it is relatively a non-event. You go to the counter say, I need to declare a firearm. They give you a little tag that you sign and put in the case you then lock it. One time, Terminal 3 PHX, they sent me over to one of those bag xray machines for checked luggage. I was told to wait until it went through. The bag went through 3 times and never set off any "bells and whistles." They then asked me to open the case it was in to verify it was unloaded. Normally it just gets sent down the belt. The key is that it has to be in a locked case and you have to have the combination or key with you.

It get's better.

Either the employee or the passenger is a rapper. It was on the news last night, I will try to post the link when I can.

I'd pick up a copy of the mountain flying bible.
Mountain Flying Bible Revised Information

Faaaantastic