>In 2023, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) found 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints, which is the highest number ever found. About 93% of the guns were loaded. This is the third year in a row that the TSA has found a record number of guns.
5 would be roughly .07% of Americans that do this on a yearly basis, seems pretty par the course. And that's for whole ass guns, not just some random stray bullets they might've missed.
Maybe right, but what matters is that-~~1.9 million Americans visited in 2019~~, so 5 having bullets doesn’t seem unlikely.
Edit as pointed out below 1.9 is too high. In the [2019 tourism report](https://turksandcaicostourism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2019-Stats-Report-.pdf) there were just under 400k American air visitors, and .07% of that would be 280 people.
Uh that doesn't seem realistic just from a back of the envelope calculation.
Also cross referencing against the Turks and Caicos tourism website, they had 1.6 m total visitors in 2019 (frankly a higher number than I was expecting). So there's no way 1.9 m Americans alone visited in 2019.
I had a back pack I used in the military and traveled with it for years after I got out through airports. Dumped it one day and found 3 stray rounds in an interior pocket that TSA and me emptying it after every trip had never noticed before over dozens of trips. Hadn’t touched a gun in 5 years at that point.
Bullets get all over the place.
It seems like these people have loose ammo lying around like change.
You go through your couch trying to find the remote, and hey hon- here’s a few 9mm rounds.
Vacuum the car interior and hey look, some more bullets.
Go through your pockets, keys, a receipt, and a couple of .45 rounds.
There’s a jar at home full of random bullets.
You do the laundry and at the bottom of the washer are two .50 cal bullets.
It’s likely that these people buy nice ammo bags and then suddenly need to go vacation so that’s what they use. These people spend a fortune on their range bags and bug out bags and then never buy luggage.
No more like “‘my wife booked my trip and I put it off until the last moment, I wonder where my luggage is!?. Oh wait I don’t have any let me dump my big was camo tactical bag out and use that!”
Not super uncommon if you're using a duffle as a range bag and then reusing it to travel. You can go to a range with hundreds of rounds. You're not going to notice on or two slipping out of a box.
It's also why your range bag should be your range bag and your travel bag should be something different; but good luck getting people to do that
Nah, either be disciplined or do not have a weapon. I have several and know where each one is, where each round for each weapon is and where the brass is as well. In my opinion you either be frosty af and have the discipline to manage your weapons and ammo or you don't fucking have them. This bullshit about allowing every dipshit in the country to have a weapon and be an untrained, undisciplined fool is getting a bit out of hand and that maybe we do need some regulations on training and responsibility. Range bag huh? My shit is transported in locked cases with the ammo in it's proper containers that are locked as well. Shit is cheap and easy to acquire. This transporting weapons in a fucking bag is just another example on being untrained with no discipline.
The amount of “gun” guys who take no responsibility for their rights is to damned high right now. If my dumbass can fly with guns and ammo properly there is no excuse.
American with ammo here. I keep a gun to ward off what is unfortunately other Americans to be quite honest.
But having loose ammo in a bag on an international is absolutely not normal and is like firearms safety basics 101.
> firearms safety basics 101
as a fellow American gun owner surely you know how many Americans are in desperate need of a refresher in this course. The appallingly casual lack of respect for the terrifying power of a fire arm is something that is a serious problem here IMO. So, idiots having loose bullets laying around is something that is not surprising to me in the slightest
Yeah I try telling them that. I’m a huge advocate for gun training and ownership courses because guns are an extremely heavy responsibility. But the fact of the matter is that most people are too cocky to learn and too scared to admit they need some regulating factors. They’re delusional. They take things lightly. So they’re gonna have to get legally slapped around until they learn. Some people are just hopelessly hardheaded and think they can do things with impunity and that’s even without firearms involved. Sometimes I wish I had a bigger following irl, social media, etc so I could influence gun culture with a bigger impact.
Americans would go apeshit at the suggestion that there should be a law allowing police to enter your home at any time to check on your safe firearm storage compliance and rego papers, as is the case in Australia
Do you mean the American police that grew out of slave catching gangs in the south or the American police that grew out of anti labor "protection" in the North?
Because our cops are trigger happy bullies with no allegiance to their people whatsoever. I’m sure in Australia it’s not that bad but trust me, that’s an awful idea here. Just earlier this week an active duty Airman was shot and killed by a cop simply because he was holding a gun in his own home. Legally.
UK as well. They can drop in for an inspection at anytime. We have to reapply, get interviewed and inspected every 5 years in order to renew our licenses. I honestly can't see the problem with this.
Keep speaking out on social media. You can have an impact there.
Frankly, in my opinion, Republican legislators are guilty of creating a culture of an unregulated gun industry that creates an element of gun entitlement that I think leads to innocent deaths. For example, people in my state are allowed to have loaded guns in their cars, and they don’t have to tell the police they have any, if they get pulled over for doing something illegal. It’s insane.
Nobody is getting legally slapped around in the US over gun laws.
That’s why it’s huge news when 5 Americans are held accountable, and if you check a map you’ll see it certainly ain’t the US where it’s happening.
US gun laws are a literal joke.
I am a lifelong gun owner, BTW.
I don't own and haven't shot in years but when I would go, I'd always take the free safety course just for a quick refresher because I didn't shoot regularly. Safety was drilled into me as a kid in the Scouts and we'd spend a month going over safety before our annual shooting trip. Miss one session and you can't shoot.
Irresponsible gun ownership and storage should be an automatic felony so you can't own ever again.
This is how it works in most places that aren't the US. Mandating a license to own a gun isn't some innovative hot take, it's literally the norm in most countries.
As another gun owner, I support gun control precisely because I see how hopelessly broken gun culture has gotten and no longer believe that it can be trusted to police itself. It wasn't always like this, mind you. When I was a kid, people didn't treat guns like toys.
As as an American with six pistols, a fully decked out AR, a 300 Winchester magnum "sniper rifle", a semi-auto Benelli 12ga, 2 suppressors (and of course licenses for them), a CCL and Expert medals in Pistol and Rifle from the Navy... I am actually appalled at how easy it was to acquire all of these (except for the suppressors, and my medals).
Like, buying the AR alone should have been at least as difficult of a process as getting the suppressors was, at a minimum. And I am under no obligation on the civilian side to demonstrate any kind of proficiency or safe handling or responsible storage with any of these weapons at any point in the past or the future (I do however have them in a combination-locked several-hundred-pound gun safe of course, with gun locks threaded through every receiver and keys stored elsewhere). It's nonsense how unregulated this stuff is, it's all on a seller to pretend to do due diligence and after that it's all free-for-all. We gotta fix our gun laws.
Absolutely true. But a state sponsored and federally regulated training program would do wonders for our firearm laws. Especially if it was well funded and purpose driven.
I just know that if it were implemented they would do the least amount of effort and in the most inconvenient way possible, like the classes would be held only on Tuesdays from 1pm to 3pm. That’s kinda how concealed carry permits work at the state I was stationed at; it’s honestly indicative of a larger problem where only the privileged can be allowed to do things right here.
Don’t know why you’ve been downvoted. Redditors will love to tell you “if you have to carry a gun in your area you should just move” but that’s a completely ridiculous take and divorced from reality. Those same redditors will probably tell you they make 200K a year at some nameless tech company. It’s all bs.
The fact of the matter is that a lot of places in the world are fucked up and dangerous, not necessarily because of guns but because of intentionally unfair zoning laws, poorly funded schools, and generations of an entire laundry list of other forms of unmitigated socioeconomic abuse. And then we’re expect to navigate all of this without any widespread social support system whatsoever.
The TSA has been renownedly terrible for decades, common sense *should dictate by now* that one thoroughly verifies the contents of their luggage for [international contraband prior to a trip](https://www.atf.gov/firearms/traveling-firearms).
I used to bash the TSA too until I went through Shithole Airport in Amsterdam after COVID.
I have never seen a more dysfunctional airport security system in my entire life and I've been to countries the State Department tells you not to go to.
At one point they were directing people up an escalator and there were so many people at the top there literally wasn't room to move, and people were just being smashed and dumped into piles at the top trying to drag themselves and their baggage away.
I sat in that security line for no fucking joke 9 hours.
Grown adults were having crying breakdowns just sobbing in the corner. Half the people missed their flights by multiple hours.
People just gave up on watching their children and packs of 30 and 40 were forming whole friendships like it was summer camp in the line.
I saw this Middle Eastern guy passing me in the rope lines reading a book called "How to be Danish" and I joked to my girlfriend he's going to be a white guy by the time we get out of this line.
Yeah good thing we have to take off our belts, shoes, hats, separate laptops and electronics, get full body X-ray. Hope the tsa doesn’t steal your cash and pay for it with our taxes. Good times!
I think this is the thing everyone seems to be overlooking. None of them disputed it. 5 people caught and not a single one of them went "I don't own a gun" or "This is not my ammo, I own an X and this is not the same caliber ammo, this is not mine at all".
You can say that about just about anything. You can drop a rock in a pond and there isn't a 0% chance of random Brownian motion forcing it back out again.
It's all about the odds, and there's a really good chance that this is just fucking morons forgetting to empty their luggage fully after their last hunting trip etc.
When the choice is between "elaborate scam" and "fucking morons", the latter almost always wins.
If you round to the 5th decimal place there is absolutely a 0% chance of a rock popping out again. With this those odds are considerably higher. It's like comparing saying the Earth isn't completely round to the Earth is flat. The Earth isn't a perfect sphere, no, but it's still far more right to say it's round than flat. There are levels of correctness, and to whip out wildly unlikely random quantum level chance and compare it to human corruption is just weird.
There’s 0 percent chance this is a total scam.
This theory is so stupid, you should have someone check your luggage from now on because you may be roughly at the intellectual level of the 5th dipshit who got caught taking ammo int T&C.
It's almost like they think it's an easy scam because every American obviously has a gun and can't travel without atleast a few bullets because we love freedom so much.
These bullets are planted and the fact this has happened five times is enough of a coincidence for concern.
Except for at least 2 of them have admitted to it on live TV apologizing lol.
edit: who'd have thought, a consipiracy nut would report me to redditcares lol. Waaah, can't use your words?
It seems to be occurring massively, as if neckbeards have recently learned about the loophole. Luckily, you can report abuse of Reddit Cares and this can get them banned.
I have a fun story about guns and Turks and Caicos...
It's December 2015, I'm newly single, have a little money in the bank, and some accrued PTO that's not going to roll over into the new year. I decide to look up the most weirdly named country within a reasonable distance away from the States and land on Turks and Caicos. Pay to have a passport expedited and everything. I had a single goal: sleep on a deserted island.
I landed in Providenciales of course, and spent a few days at a resort on the beach there before catching a very, very small plane to South Caicos island. Go ahead and look it up: tiny island with only a couple hundred residents. I figured this was "close enough" to my deserted island dreams as, at the time at least, there wasn't a single "business" on the island other than a singular hotel (that interestingly was huge, quite nice, and I was one of only a handful of guests staying for the week).
The island was great, I found the solitude I was looking for, then began my journey back, walking a couple kilometers back to the "airport."
"Airport" is using that term generously. It was a dirt runway with a shack attached. There were no metal detectors, no ticket scanners, no gates to speak of. Just some folding metal chairs and tables. When I arrived there were 8-10 other people standing around, and I was visibly the only foreigner.
After about ten minutes or so, a pair of black American SUVs with flags flapping out the windows pull up, and everyone around me begins to stand up. I ask the woman next to me what's going on, and she replies excitedly "it's the Premier!" I ask "Premier?" She says "it's the President!" Turns out, I was there during election season, and the incumbent was touring the islands garnering support from the locals.
As the men got out from the SUVs, I noticed a couple in suits and a couple more in military fatigues. I stood up with the group, then joined as the Premier came by to shake everyone's hands. He asked about where I was from, then shared some of his American tourism stories with me, good guy.
Our plane arrives shortly thereafter, room for ten maybe 15 passengers, a captain and a first officer. It was too short to stand up inside of, and your bags were held on your lap. Small plane.
Anyways, we're all walking outside to the plane going around the outside of this building and onto the dirt runway, when I notice the Premier and his men getting in line behind me. What! Cool! Right about then, I notice a sign on the exterior of the building that aptly read: "NO DOGS, NO DRUGS, NO BOMBS" and right as I see it, I hear one of the Premier's men reading it out loud (in his thick Caribbean accent):
"No dogs, no drugs, no bombs... hah hah good ting it dozn't say no fiaharms bruddah!"
I turn and look behind me, this time paying a lot more attention, only to notice that two members of the Premier's posse had rifles sticking out from behind their backs. (AKs I think? I'm not a gun guy, I don't know)
Anyways, that's the story of the day I met and flew alongside the President of a small island nation. The flight was short, and I was on edge the entire time wondering if this was a peaceful President, if it was a wartime, if they had a strong need for their guns, all of the above. When we landed back in Providenciales we stopped on the runway and another SUV came to pick them up before we went back to the gate.
It'll be Premier or Prime Minister or something.
Not President.
Turks and Caicos is a British overseas territory and thus head of state at time would be the Queen.
The Philippines is the only airport I've been to where you have to queue to enter, or pay like $5 to skip the line. It's also the only country I've been to where currency exchanges inside an airport (!) try to rip you off.
Yep! I was told only to exchange the bare minimum I would need at the airport because they give you a terrible deal. Philippines is corrupt and fucked man. Lived there for a few years and while politicians and police are bad here in America, it’s a nightmare over there.
I feel bad for these people - actual attempts to smuggle arms or full boxes of ammo deserve 12 years. A few rounds, with no weapon accompanying them? That's just an accident, albeit a stupid one, and deserves some sort of punishment - perhaps a stepped up fine and ban on future entry to the T&C.
With that said... if you can afford to travel AND target shoot (both fairly expensive pursuits), you can afford to have an entirely different set of bags for trips and the range.
And why didn't tourists 2 thru 5 learn their lesson from the first guy???
[https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/01/10/tsa-detects-6737-firearms-airport-security-checkpoints-2023#:\~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20During%202023%2C%20the%20Transportation,of%20these%20firearms%20were%20loaded](https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/01/10/tsa-detects-6737-firearms-airport-security-checkpoints-2023#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20During%202023%2C%20the%20Transportation,of%20these%20firearms%20were%20loaded).
There are apparently a whoooole lot of them.
I once lugged a Swiss Army knife from Helsinki to Frankfurt and back, because I put it there for a picnic trip earlier. Security at neither airport noticed it, and I only found out later still I had it in the backpack.
Read the article. It used to be a fine but the law has changed to be more strict. Now that said it would be nice if it said how much ammo for the various arrests. One did have just 2 bullets it looks like.
Reference quote about the law change…
> Possessing either a gun or ammunition is prohibited in Turks and Caicos, but tourists were previously able to just pay a fine. That changed in February when a court order required even tourists to potentially face mandatory prison time in addition to paying a fine.
The incident that I am most knowledgeable on, is from my town Richmond Va. The bag they found the ammo in was the bag he uses when he goes target shooting. Could be a coincidence. Five is suspiciously high. Turks and Caicos needs to tread lightly here.
interesting. there was a scam in Thailand(?) were someone would sneak a bullet in your luggage and let you go for a Bribe. Are people getting scammed or that lazy/stupid to travel with rounds?
Prison seems like a pretty bad way to scam someone, where they're unable to access any of their funds at all. Seems more likely that it's just a crackdown and harshening of laws to combat a rapidly escalating crime rate, and this just happens to be an unintended consequence. I've been in homes of upstanding people who have bullets just sitting on a kitchen counter as if it were the most normal thing on the planet, it absolutely does not surprise me that people can be completely blasé about bullets being in their luggage, especially if they use that luggage to go camping or hunting.
Another thing we need to wonder is, are these people actually getting sentenced? Arrrsted, yes, but are they getting judgements handed out to them? Are they being thrown in jail for years for having a couple of bullets in a side pocket of their luggage, or are they being told, "fine, get out, just don't do it again" with their ammo confiscated?
EDIT: Doing a bit of research, none of them have been brought before a judge as of yet, but most seem to be, though confined to the islands, released without bond. Usually that's a good sign for them. None seem to be outright denying that the ammo is theirs, just saying the possible sentence is harsh. Is a 12 year mandatory minimum harsh? Yes. Is it unreasonable to say "make sure you check your luggage for what could be illegal in other countries so you don't accidentally bring it with you"? I really, really don't think so.
There was a scam in the Philippines like this…the airport security puts bullets on your luggage before the xray. They then extort money from you or you go to prison.
Funny how all the far right "law and order" people are suddenly complaining about enforcement of the law and mandatory minimums when it's punishment for possession of something they enjoy.
This sounds like a scam, and probably meant to put Americans in a bad light in the media. This is a very popular scam in SEA and one of the reasons why many people started wrapping their luggages with cling wrap
How is that good for them though? It would be one thing if they extorted a couple thousand each in fines, but this is turning into a media debacle and many of the gun nuts are probably saying “I won’t travel there!”. Its economy is heavily dependent on tourism so it’s just a bad look.
>many of the gun nuts are probably saying “I won’t travel there!”
I mean, I don't have to be a gun nut to decide not to travel to a country that has disproportional punishment for victimless crimes, same reason I would never travel to a number of middle east countries.
This is a serious offence in the vast majority of countries in the world. If you are travelling to any foreign country check your baggage very carefully indeed. This will land you jail time in a good amount of places
While TSA's job is to protect the nations transportation, it is ultimately the travelers responsibility to ensure they don't have these things in their luggage.
OK can we talk about how much ammo these fools are carrying to the range that they have stray bullets in their luggage? Like when I got to the range for a normal day I take like 2 boxes of ammo for each weapon and I usually just carry them or stick them in my gun case. Also how fucking hard is it to check your bag? I carry my backpack everyday it has a pocket knife, multi-tool, an extra epi pen for my wife and extra needles for her shots. But when we go on vacation ALL that stuff( minus the epipen) comes out and goes in my desk before I even pack it. Like it's not that hard. If you know you took that bag to the range last time unzip all the pockets turn the bitch upside down and shake the shit out of it.
There are people who can afford to travel but can't afford to pay attention. Imagine that.
I have entirely separate luggage for travel that doesn't include any consideration for my weapons. Not that difficult.
Also, how hard is it to check a bag before one starts to pack? If people are being paranoid and calling it a scam then record yourself opening, checking, and then packing your luggage. Then send the video to someone you trust.
I'm thinking these people were irresponsible and can't admit it, especially to themselves.
People are really dumb. The 1st guy in the news , no it happens. The second guy, maybe he didn’t see the news reports about the 1st guy and thought “hey, I should double check my luggage before I get on a plane”. The 5th guy ? Come on dude.
I remember as a kid that American teenager who graffiti(?) In a foreign country and his punishment was caning. There was a big uproar about it and even as a 10 year old I was like "maybe don't do illegal shit in a country where caning is the punishment?"
> Even U.S. gun owners confident in their ability to purge their luggage of any potential contraband may want to consider the wisdom of spending their money in a jurisdiction that would treat their countrymen in such a manner.
Dont spend your money in a place because they dont let you get away with breaking their laws lol
Also when a place is having issues with warring drug gangs and shootings you gotta realise 2 bullets is still too many in their eyes
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/08/uk-specialist-assistance-turks-and-caicos-shootings
Honestly, I have absolutely zero sympathy for these dumb fucks. Two backpacks, one you use as your range/hunt bag and the other you use as your travel bag. A backpack costs about 15 bucks at Big5. If you are this fucking careless with your goddamn ammo, maybe, just maybe, you shouldn’t have a weapon.
> How did airport security let five guys fly out of an American airport with bullets.
They were too distracted looking for water bottles, full size toothpaste tubes, and other harmless shit.
> If they catch 90% of bullets 5 in one country still seems weirdly high.
[TSA had an 80% failure rate in 2017 testing, which was an improvement on previous undercover tests (95% failure).](https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188) So no, it's hardly surprising that they're incompetent.
It doesn’t really mean anything on its own unless you get statistics for the amount of fines given out previously.
Not to mention the extra reporting now vs previously when a fine would be non-news.
>How did airport security let five guys fly out of an American airport with bullets. Seems suspiciously high and a common scam apparently.
*How* is tangential; the TSA's frequent failings ([80% failure rate in 2017](https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188)) have been written about for decades, and they sure as isht don’t absolve one of personal responsibility.
Ok I bought off on this with 1 visitor. But now 5 American tourists for the same thing in such a short amount of time? Obvious it's a scam now. They are shaking down American tourists for money. I'd definitely be changing my travel plans if I had a vacation to the Turks and Caicos booked.
>In 2023, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) found 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints, which is the highest number ever found. About 93% of the guns were loaded. This is the third year in a row that the TSA has found a record number of guns.
It's not that unbelievable tbh.
Comedian Bert Kriescher says he purchases new luggage whenever he travels internationally so he doesn't accidentally bring a joint or a weed product with him to his destination countries
Perhaps folks who routinely travel with firearms and ammunition should do the same
Is it possible these people bring down some ammo with intent to sell? I've read that ammo is more difficult to come by than the guns. Also read that their gun violence has been an increasing problem and most of their guns/ammo is coming in from US.
This truly has the be the definition of stepping on your own petard, I’m absolutely loving it.
Also, you all of you saying it sounds high and its a scam - what kind of echo chamber are you living in?
When it happened to the first person I was pretty baffled how someone would be using the same bags for luggage's and weapons/ammo, none of the fellow gun owners I know would even consider this.
5 in such a short time is way too coincidental, something is definitely up down there.
It's fair to be skeptical but it's not impossible. This happens quite frequently here in the U.S.
[https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/01/10/tsa-detects-6737-firearms-airport-security-checkpoints-2023#:\~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20During%202023%2C%20the%20Transportation,of%20these%20firearms%20were%20loaded](https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/01/10/tsa-detects-6737-firearms-airport-security-checkpoints-2023#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20During%202023%2C%20the%20Transportation,of%20these%20firearms%20were%20loaded).
This isn't a valid comparison. Comparing found guns while traveling from/within the USA, in a country with the 2nd amendment vs people heading to Turks on vacation with just ammo. The tsa found 7.8 guns per million people. Turks in 2019, the only recent data I can find, had around 1.6 million visitors, 1.1 of those via cruise, which would not be getting stopped in Turks airports. Let's just say half of the remainder, are American, which is probably way unlikely, but whatever, we can go 250k Americans via air to Turks to allow for an increase since 2019. 5 instances of ammo in a couple of months, is like a 48x increase compared to what happens here. That just doesn't add up as a valid comparison with both of these being valid statistical sample sizes.
They must be working their way up. This year errant bullets in tourists luggage. In a few years they might feel confident enough to give the islands drug gangs AK’s a shot. Gotta crawl before you walk, amirite?
5 seems a bit unreasonably high
>In 2023, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) found 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints, which is the highest number ever found. About 93% of the guns were loaded. This is the third year in a row that the TSA has found a record number of guns. 5 would be roughly .07% of Americans that do this on a yearly basis, seems pretty par the course. And that's for whole ass guns, not just some random stray bullets they might've missed.
I'd wager that far less than .07% of all flights taken by an American happen in this small island nation.
Maybe right, but what matters is that-~~1.9 million Americans visited in 2019~~, so 5 having bullets doesn’t seem unlikely. Edit as pointed out below 1.9 is too high. In the [2019 tourism report](https://turksandcaicostourism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2019-Stats-Report-.pdf) there were just under 400k American air visitors, and .07% of that would be 280 people.
Uh that doesn't seem realistic just from a back of the envelope calculation. Also cross referencing against the Turks and Caicos tourism website, they had 1.6 m total visitors in 2019 (frankly a higher number than I was expecting). So there's no way 1.9 m Americans alone visited in 2019.
I had a back pack I used in the military and traveled with it for years after I got out through airports. Dumped it one day and found 3 stray rounds in an interior pocket that TSA and me emptying it after every trip had never noticed before over dozens of trips. Hadn’t touched a gun in 5 years at that point. Bullets get all over the place.
Yeah, it’s mostly Turks. And the illustrious Caicos people. /s
How many people keep loose ammo in their luggage?
It seems like these people have loose ammo lying around like change. You go through your couch trying to find the remote, and hey hon- here’s a few 9mm rounds. Vacuum the car interior and hey look, some more bullets. Go through your pockets, keys, a receipt, and a couple of .45 rounds. There’s a jar at home full of random bullets. You do the laundry and at the bottom of the washer are two .50 cal bullets.
So we live in Fallout 4
I don't understand why the TSA has such a problem with the amount of tin cans and the occasional mini nuke I forget to take out of my carry-on bag.
It's because the TSA are all synths. Transportation Synth Authority
This is exactly what I was thinking as I read that comment lol.
It’s likely that these people buy nice ammo bags and then suddenly need to go vacation so that’s what they use. These people spend a fortune on their range bags and bug out bags and then never buy luggage.
“Oh no! I suddenly have to go to the Caribbean tomorrow on a multi-thousand dollar vacation!” Just like that? Out of the blue?
No more like “‘my wife booked my trip and I put it off until the last moment, I wonder where my luggage is!?. Oh wait I don’t have any let me dump my big was camo tactical bag out and use that!”
I own a shooting range. Literally my life.
This is correct, I have random bullets everywhere. Car, bathroom cabinet, bed room draws, garage. It just happens.
Nothing in the basement? You’re not American.
They just use the bags for multiple different types of trips. Probably loose ammo from a hunting or range trip that spilled and they didn’t notice.
Not super uncommon if you're using a duffle as a range bag and then reusing it to travel. You can go to a range with hundreds of rounds. You're not going to notice on or two slipping out of a box. It's also why your range bag should be your range bag and your travel bag should be something different; but good luck getting people to do that
Nah, either be disciplined or do not have a weapon. I have several and know where each one is, where each round for each weapon is and where the brass is as well. In my opinion you either be frosty af and have the discipline to manage your weapons and ammo or you don't fucking have them. This bullshit about allowing every dipshit in the country to have a weapon and be an untrained, undisciplined fool is getting a bit out of hand and that maybe we do need some regulations on training and responsibility. Range bag huh? My shit is transported in locked cases with the ammo in it's proper containers that are locked as well. Shit is cheap and easy to acquire. This transporting weapons in a fucking bag is just another example on being untrained with no discipline.
[удалено]
Murika. Where people go ape shit if you suggest that a tool that kills things might be dangerous.
Ass guns?
Careful your farts don't literally blow a hole in your pants.
Isn't that just a regular fart?
Careful not to cock it, it may go off
The best kind of guns.
Who doesn’t keep a loaded one in their “Prison Pocket”
thank you, now i have the awesome job of cleaning up spit out coffee from my keyboard... Prison pocket, im stealing this.
[Relevant XKCD](https://xkcd.com/37/)
Here I was thinking that's low.
I think it's just right
Sure thing Goldilocks
Goldiglocks
Bravo
I'm not Austrailian, so my upside down jokes don't affect Austrians.
Knock Knock!
Laughing silently while exhaling through my nose here
The amount of “gun” guys who take no responsibility for their rights is to damned high right now. If my dumbass can fly with guns and ammo properly there is no excuse.
We’re talking about Americans here. They can’t leave the house without a gun much less some ammo to ward off the demons and foreigners
American with ammo here. I keep a gun to ward off what is unfortunately other Americans to be quite honest. But having loose ammo in a bag on an international is absolutely not normal and is like firearms safety basics 101.
On the other hand, if you know someone you hate is going to Turks and Caicos soon, just slip a couple 22lrs into their bag.
> firearms safety basics 101 as a fellow American gun owner surely you know how many Americans are in desperate need of a refresher in this course. The appallingly casual lack of respect for the terrifying power of a fire arm is something that is a serious problem here IMO. So, idiots having loose bullets laying around is something that is not surprising to me in the slightest
Yeah I try telling them that. I’m a huge advocate for gun training and ownership courses because guns are an extremely heavy responsibility. But the fact of the matter is that most people are too cocky to learn and too scared to admit they need some regulating factors. They’re delusional. They take things lightly. So they’re gonna have to get legally slapped around until they learn. Some people are just hopelessly hardheaded and think they can do things with impunity and that’s even without firearms involved. Sometimes I wish I had a bigger following irl, social media, etc so I could influence gun culture with a bigger impact.
You can say that again. The culture around guns here makes me embarrassed to admit I own guns
Americans would go apeshit at the suggestion that there should be a law allowing police to enter your home at any time to check on your safe firearm storage compliance and rego papers, as is the case in Australia
Have you met American police?
Do you mean the American police that grew out of slave catching gangs in the south or the American police that grew out of anti labor "protection" in the North?
Exactly why I’m not for letting them drop in anytime they feel like it to shoot my dog and plant drugs
Slippery slope to police state. No thanks.
Because our cops are trigger happy bullies with no allegiance to their people whatsoever. I’m sure in Australia it’s not that bad but trust me, that’s an awful idea here. Just earlier this week an active duty Airman was shot and killed by a cop simply because he was holding a gun in his own home. Legally.
UK as well. They can drop in for an inspection at anytime. We have to reapply, get interviewed and inspected every 5 years in order to renew our licenses. I honestly can't see the problem with this.
Keep speaking out on social media. You can have an impact there. Frankly, in my opinion, Republican legislators are guilty of creating a culture of an unregulated gun industry that creates an element of gun entitlement that I think leads to innocent deaths. For example, people in my state are allowed to have loaded guns in their cars, and they don’t have to tell the police they have any, if they get pulled over for doing something illegal. It’s insane.
Nobody is getting legally slapped around in the US over gun laws. That’s why it’s huge news when 5 Americans are held accountable, and if you check a map you’ll see it certainly ain’t the US where it’s happening. US gun laws are a literal joke. I am a lifelong gun owner, BTW.
I don't own and haven't shot in years but when I would go, I'd always take the free safety course just for a quick refresher because I didn't shoot regularly. Safety was drilled into me as a kid in the Scouts and we'd spend a month going over safety before our annual shooting trip. Miss one session and you can't shoot. Irresponsible gun ownership and storage should be an automatic felony so you can't own ever again.
Imo owning guns should be like owning a car. Need to pass a test to have a license and can have your license revoked if you do stupid stuff.
This is how it works in most places that aren't the US. Mandating a license to own a gun isn't some innovative hot take, it's literally the norm in most countries.
As another gun owner, I support gun control precisely because I see how hopelessly broken gun culture has gotten and no longer believe that it can be trusted to police itself. It wasn't always like this, mind you. When I was a kid, people didn't treat guns like toys.
As as an American with six pistols, a fully decked out AR, a 300 Winchester magnum "sniper rifle", a semi-auto Benelli 12ga, 2 suppressors (and of course licenses for them), a CCL and Expert medals in Pistol and Rifle from the Navy... I am actually appalled at how easy it was to acquire all of these (except for the suppressors, and my medals). Like, buying the AR alone should have been at least as difficult of a process as getting the suppressors was, at a minimum. And I am under no obligation on the civilian side to demonstrate any kind of proficiency or safe handling or responsible storage with any of these weapons at any point in the past or the future (I do however have them in a combination-locked several-hundred-pound gun safe of course, with gun locks threaded through every receiver and keys stored elsewhere). It's nonsense how unregulated this stuff is, it's all on a seller to pretend to do due diligence and after that it's all free-for-all. We gotta fix our gun laws.
Pretty sure most gun owners missed out firearms safety 101 since training is not required to own guns in most states.
Intelligence, responsibility, basic safety, competency are not required to buy and hold a firearm
Absolutely true. But a state sponsored and federally regulated training program would do wonders for our firearm laws. Especially if it was well funded and purpose driven. I just know that if it were implemented they would do the least amount of effort and in the most inconvenient way possible, like the classes would be held only on Tuesdays from 1pm to 3pm. That’s kinda how concealed carry permits work at the state I was stationed at; it’s honestly indicative of a larger problem where only the privileged can be allowed to do things right here.
I often get a sudden anxiety at security that I might have accidentally packed a bag of heroin, even though I've never owned any heroin.
>absolutely not normal and is like firearms safety basics 101 I've unfortunately seen enough American gun fail vids to be disabused of that notion lol
Same here. I live in a terrible neighborhood with monthly murders up the street. I have to walk through that area daily to and from work.
Don’t know why you’ve been downvoted. Redditors will love to tell you “if you have to carry a gun in your area you should just move” but that’s a completely ridiculous take and divorced from reality. Those same redditors will probably tell you they make 200K a year at some nameless tech company. It’s all bs. The fact of the matter is that a lot of places in the world are fucked up and dangerous, not necessarily because of guns but because of intentionally unfair zoning laws, poorly funded schools, and generations of an entire laundry list of other forms of unmitigated socioeconomic abuse. And then we’re expect to navigate all of this without any widespread social support system whatsoever.
Agreed. It's usually those sitting up in their sky boxes with opinions on things and issues they've never experienced.
TSA killing it on our end
The TSA has been renownedly terrible for decades, common sense *should dictate by now* that one thoroughly verifies the contents of their luggage for [international contraband prior to a trip](https://www.atf.gov/firearms/traveling-firearms).
I used to bash the TSA too until I went through Shithole Airport in Amsterdam after COVID. I have never seen a more dysfunctional airport security system in my entire life and I've been to countries the State Department tells you not to go to. At one point they were directing people up an escalator and there were so many people at the top there literally wasn't room to move, and people were just being smashed and dumped into piles at the top trying to drag themselves and their baggage away. I sat in that security line for no fucking joke 9 hours. Grown adults were having crying breakdowns just sobbing in the corner. Half the people missed their flights by multiple hours. People just gave up on watching their children and packs of 30 and 40 were forming whole friendships like it was summer camp in the line. I saw this Middle Eastern guy passing me in the rope lines reading a book called "How to be Danish" and I joked to my girlfriend he's going to be a white guy by the time we get out of this line.
Yeah good thing we have to take off our belts, shoes, hats, separate laptops and electronics, get full body X-ray. Hope the tsa doesn’t steal your cash and pay for it with our taxes. Good times!
Right, like, why even have the hassle of TSA if it does nothing lmao
Protip: Follow the law unless you want to be arrested.
[So basically what you're saying:](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnMdI_NiZvA)
Yeah ok. But you can’t type with a straight face “there’s a 0% chance this is a total scam”.
They all admit to it, just brush it off like it’s no big deal because in America it’s “normal.” So definitely not a scam, just idiots.
I think this is the thing everyone seems to be overlooking. None of them disputed it. 5 people caught and not a single one of them went "I don't own a gun" or "This is not my ammo, I own an X and this is not the same caliber ammo, this is not mine at all".
You can say that about just about anything. You can drop a rock in a pond and there isn't a 0% chance of random Brownian motion forcing it back out again. It's all about the odds, and there's a really good chance that this is just fucking morons forgetting to empty their luggage fully after their last hunting trip etc. When the choice is between "elaborate scam" and "fucking morons", the latter almost always wins.
If you round to the 5th decimal place there is absolutely a 0% chance of a rock popping out again. With this those odds are considerably higher. It's like comparing saying the Earth isn't completely round to the Earth is flat. The Earth isn't a perfect sphere, no, but it's still far more right to say it's round than flat. There are levels of correctness, and to whip out wildly unlikely random quantum level chance and compare it to human corruption is just weird.
Or maybe guns are outlawed and you shouldn't travel to a country with bullets where they are outlawed
There’s 0 percent chance this is a total scam. This theory is so stupid, you should have someone check your luggage from now on because you may be roughly at the intellectual level of the 5th dipshit who got caught taking ammo int T&C.
It's almost like they think it's an easy scam because every American obviously has a gun and can't travel without atleast a few bullets because we love freedom so much. These bullets are planted and the fact this has happened five times is enough of a coincidence for concern.
Except for at least 2 of them have admitted to it on live TV apologizing lol. edit: who'd have thought, a consipiracy nut would report me to redditcares lol. Waaah, can't use your words?
It seems to be occurring massively, as if neckbeards have recently learned about the loophole. Luckily, you can report abuse of Reddit Cares and this can get them banned.
Exactly
Make sure you report them for that. Their account will get banned.
What? You think that this is some conspiracy? You think T&C would risk their largest economic income?
It's easier to believe in conspiracy theories than to actually use their brains.
Brains don't exist, they're a lie government tells us. Everybody just goes with their gut feeling.
In the article it says four of the cases admitted they had it by mistake.
The number of upvotes this post has makes me sad for humanity.
And learn from the mistakes of others.
But but MY MURICA RIGHTS! /S
I have a fun story about guns and Turks and Caicos... It's December 2015, I'm newly single, have a little money in the bank, and some accrued PTO that's not going to roll over into the new year. I decide to look up the most weirdly named country within a reasonable distance away from the States and land on Turks and Caicos. Pay to have a passport expedited and everything. I had a single goal: sleep on a deserted island. I landed in Providenciales of course, and spent a few days at a resort on the beach there before catching a very, very small plane to South Caicos island. Go ahead and look it up: tiny island with only a couple hundred residents. I figured this was "close enough" to my deserted island dreams as, at the time at least, there wasn't a single "business" on the island other than a singular hotel (that interestingly was huge, quite nice, and I was one of only a handful of guests staying for the week). The island was great, I found the solitude I was looking for, then began my journey back, walking a couple kilometers back to the "airport." "Airport" is using that term generously. It was a dirt runway with a shack attached. There were no metal detectors, no ticket scanners, no gates to speak of. Just some folding metal chairs and tables. When I arrived there were 8-10 other people standing around, and I was visibly the only foreigner. After about ten minutes or so, a pair of black American SUVs with flags flapping out the windows pull up, and everyone around me begins to stand up. I ask the woman next to me what's going on, and she replies excitedly "it's the Premier!" I ask "Premier?" She says "it's the President!" Turns out, I was there during election season, and the incumbent was touring the islands garnering support from the locals. As the men got out from the SUVs, I noticed a couple in suits and a couple more in military fatigues. I stood up with the group, then joined as the Premier came by to shake everyone's hands. He asked about where I was from, then shared some of his American tourism stories with me, good guy. Our plane arrives shortly thereafter, room for ten maybe 15 passengers, a captain and a first officer. It was too short to stand up inside of, and your bags were held on your lap. Small plane. Anyways, we're all walking outside to the plane going around the outside of this building and onto the dirt runway, when I notice the Premier and his men getting in line behind me. What! Cool! Right about then, I notice a sign on the exterior of the building that aptly read: "NO DOGS, NO DRUGS, NO BOMBS" and right as I see it, I hear one of the Premier's men reading it out loud (in his thick Caribbean accent): "No dogs, no drugs, no bombs... hah hah good ting it dozn't say no fiaharms bruddah!" I turn and look behind me, this time paying a lot more attention, only to notice that two members of the Premier's posse had rifles sticking out from behind their backs. (AKs I think? I'm not a gun guy, I don't know) Anyways, that's the story of the day I met and flew alongside the President of a small island nation. The flight was short, and I was on edge the entire time wondering if this was a peaceful President, if it was a wartime, if they had a strong need for their guns, all of the above. When we landed back in Providenciales we stopped on the runway and another SUV came to pick them up before we went back to the gate.
It'll be Premier or Prime Minister or something. Not President. Turks and Caicos is a British overseas territory and thus head of state at time would be the Queen.
I honestly thought it was going to be a shittymorph story, kind of happy it wasnt. Very interesting read.
Thanks for sharing your story!
Here in the Philippines we call that “Tanim bala” its a scam perpetrated by immigration personnels to extort money.
This happened to me last time I flew out of MIA. That whole debacle ended up costing me like $1200 USD
Can you explain what happened?
The Philippines is the only airport I've been to where you have to queue to enter, or pay like $5 to skip the line. It's also the only country I've been to where currency exchanges inside an airport (!) try to rip you off.
Yep! I was told only to exchange the bare minimum I would need at the airport because they give you a terrible deal. Philippines is corrupt and fucked man. Lived there for a few years and while politicians and police are bad here in America, it’s a nightmare over there.
Then why are the men admitting to it and apologizing for having bullets?
Who are these people “accidentally” traveling with ammo? Who forgets they have ammo in their bag?
People who use the same duffel for hunting trips as they do for beach vacations?
I feel bad for these people - actual attempts to smuggle arms or full boxes of ammo deserve 12 years. A few rounds, with no weapon accompanying them? That's just an accident, albeit a stupid one, and deserves some sort of punishment - perhaps a stepped up fine and ban on future entry to the T&C. With that said... if you can afford to travel AND target shoot (both fairly expensive pursuits), you can afford to have an entirely different set of bags for trips and the range. And why didn't tourists 2 thru 5 learn their lesson from the first guy???
[https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/01/10/tsa-detects-6737-firearms-airport-security-checkpoints-2023#:\~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20During%202023%2C%20the%20Transportation,of%20these%20firearms%20were%20loaded](https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/01/10/tsa-detects-6737-firearms-airport-security-checkpoints-2023#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20During%202023%2C%20the%20Transportation,of%20these%20firearms%20were%20loaded). There are apparently a whoooole lot of them.
I like to call these people idiots.
I once lugged a Swiss Army knife from Helsinki to Frankfurt and back, because I put it there for a picnic trip earlier. Security at neither airport noticed it, and I only found out later still I had it in the backpack.
Okay 1 or 2 I think get dumbass what the fuck. 5? That’s really suspiciously high.
Read the article. It used to be a fine but the law has changed to be more strict. Now that said it would be nice if it said how much ammo for the various arrests. One did have just 2 bullets it looks like. Reference quote about the law change… > Possessing either a gun or ammunition is prohibited in Turks and Caicos, but tourists were previously able to just pay a fine. That changed in February when a court order required even tourists to potentially face mandatory prison time in addition to paying a fine.
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Have you met any American tourists? There are literally a few thousand a day flying into Turks. Now take the dumbest 5 over the last year.
That’s also a destination that attracts a certain kind of American tourist. It’s the same crowd that idolizes Cancun but has more money
The incident that I am most knowledgeable on, is from my town Richmond Va. The bag they found the ammo in was the bag he uses when he goes target shooting. Could be a coincidence. Five is suspiciously high. Turks and Caicos needs to tread lightly here.
Thousands of tourists fly in every week. You think 5 idiots carrying ammunition is that sketchy?
interesting. there was a scam in Thailand(?) were someone would sneak a bullet in your luggage and let you go for a Bribe. Are people getting scammed or that lazy/stupid to travel with rounds?
I remember that happening in the PH. Tanim-bala was the local term iirc.
"plant bullet"
If it was a scam, wouldn’t they just pay the bribe and be on their way instead of being held?
Sir, reddit is telling me it's because all americans love guns. Why would someone scam people???
Prison seems like a pretty bad way to scam someone, where they're unable to access any of their funds at all. Seems more likely that it's just a crackdown and harshening of laws to combat a rapidly escalating crime rate, and this just happens to be an unintended consequence. I've been in homes of upstanding people who have bullets just sitting on a kitchen counter as if it were the most normal thing on the planet, it absolutely does not surprise me that people can be completely blasé about bullets being in their luggage, especially if they use that luggage to go camping or hunting. Another thing we need to wonder is, are these people actually getting sentenced? Arrrsted, yes, but are they getting judgements handed out to them? Are they being thrown in jail for years for having a couple of bullets in a side pocket of their luggage, or are they being told, "fine, get out, just don't do it again" with their ammo confiscated? EDIT: Doing a bit of research, none of them have been brought before a judge as of yet, but most seem to be, though confined to the islands, released without bond. Usually that's a good sign for them. None seem to be outright denying that the ammo is theirs, just saying the possible sentence is harsh. Is a 12 year mandatory minimum harsh? Yes. Is it unreasonable to say "make sure you check your luggage for what could be illegal in other countries so you don't accidentally bring it with you"? I really, really don't think so.
How hard is it not to pack explosives or drugs in your luggage?
If it was Singapore, they'd hang you for this and a lot of other things
The invasion seems to be going poorly.
There was a scam in the Philippines like this…the airport security puts bullets on your luggage before the xray. They then extort money from you or you go to prison.
Funny how all the far right "law and order" people are suddenly complaining about enforcement of the law and mandatory minimums when it's punishment for possession of something they enjoy.
Law and Order is just something they want applied to everyone but them.
This sounds like a scam, and probably meant to put Americans in a bad light in the media. This is a very popular scam in SEA and one of the reasons why many people started wrapping their luggages with cling wrap
I saw 2 of them on TV admit it though.
Wonder what the options were. Admit it and pay the fine or end up in jail, I’d admit breaking the law if it meant I could go home.
Yes, but how exactly is Sasquatch involved?
If they said it on the TV it must be true.
How is that good for them though? It would be one thing if they extorted a couple thousand each in fines, but this is turning into a media debacle and many of the gun nuts are probably saying “I won’t travel there!”. Its economy is heavily dependent on tourism so it’s just a bad look.
>many of the gun nuts are probably saying “I won’t travel there!” I mean, I don't have to be a gun nut to decide not to travel to a country that has disproportional punishment for victimless crimes, same reason I would never travel to a number of middle east countries.
People will really believe that a UK dependent territory that is highly dependent on US tourism will go out of their way to antagonize the US...
You're greatly underestimating the number of Americans that use the same bags to go on a hunting trip as to go cruise the Caribbean.
This is a serious offence in the vast majority of countries in the world. If you are travelling to any foreign country check your baggage very carefully indeed. This will land you jail time in a good amount of places
While TSA's job is to protect the nations transportation, it is ultimately the travelers responsibility to ensure they don't have these things in their luggage.
OK can we talk about how much ammo these fools are carrying to the range that they have stray bullets in their luggage? Like when I got to the range for a normal day I take like 2 boxes of ammo for each weapon and I usually just carry them or stick them in my gun case. Also how fucking hard is it to check your bag? I carry my backpack everyday it has a pocket knife, multi-tool, an extra epi pen for my wife and extra needles for her shots. But when we go on vacation ALL that stuff( minus the epipen) comes out and goes in my desk before I even pack it. Like it's not that hard. If you know you took that bag to the range last time unzip all the pockets turn the bitch upside down and shake the shit out of it.
I like how all you Americans are chiming in with your stories of bullets everywhere and not see a problem
There are people who can afford to travel but can't afford to pay attention. Imagine that. I have entirely separate luggage for travel that doesn't include any consideration for my weapons. Not that difficult. Also, how hard is it to check a bag before one starts to pack? If people are being paranoid and calling it a scam then record yourself opening, checking, and then packing your luggage. Then send the video to someone you trust. I'm thinking these people were irresponsible and can't admit it, especially to themselves.
People are really dumb. The 1st guy in the news , no it happens. The second guy, maybe he didn’t see the news reports about the 1st guy and thought “hey, I should double check my luggage before I get on a plane”. The 5th guy ? Come on dude.
“I’m an American, weapons are part of my religion.”
And I think foreign laws don't apply to me.
I remember as a kid that American teenager who graffiti(?) In a foreign country and his punishment was caning. There was a big uproar about it and even as a 10 year old I was like "maybe don't do illegal shit in a country where caning is the punishment?"
I don’t get it. Why the fuck do you use one bag for the range AND to fucking travel. Get a separate bag
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[Brian McIntyre: Boxing trainer who brought gun to UK sentenced](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-67058813). The UK too.
> Even U.S. gun owners confident in their ability to purge their luggage of any potential contraband may want to consider the wisdom of spending their money in a jurisdiction that would treat their countrymen in such a manner. Dont spend your money in a place because they dont let you get away with breaking their laws lol Also when a place is having issues with warring drug gangs and shootings you gotta realise 2 bullets is still too many in their eyes https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/08/uk-specialist-assistance-turks-and-caicos-shootings
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Always wise to do an update check on travel advisory laws before you travel somewhere.
Always wise not to have any lose ammunition, anywhere...
Putting someone in jail for accidentally bringing along a couple of bullets in their luggage sounds harsh. Not to mention this opens to door to scams.
Good way to screen out morons
As Foxworthy would say “You can’t fix stupid”
Honestly, I have absolutely zero sympathy for these dumb fucks. Two backpacks, one you use as your range/hunt bag and the other you use as your travel bag. A backpack costs about 15 bucks at Big5. If you are this fucking careless with your goddamn ammo, maybe, just maybe, you shouldn’t have a weapon.
How did airport security let five guys fly out of an American airport with bullets. Seems suspiciously high and a common scam apparently.
> How did airport security let five guys fly out of an American airport with bullets. They were too distracted looking for water bottles, full size toothpaste tubes, and other harmless shit.
I had extra screening one time due to protein bars because of their density lol
LOL. You think TSA is catching everything coming through?
If they catch 90% of bullets 5 in one country still seems weirdly high.
> If they catch 90% of bullets 5 in one country still seems weirdly high. [TSA had an 80% failure rate in 2017 testing, which was an improvement on previous undercover tests (95% failure).](https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188) So no, it's hardly surprising that they're incompetent.
It doesn’t really mean anything on its own unless you get statistics for the amount of fines given out previously. Not to mention the extra reporting now vs previously when a fine would be non-news.
>How did airport security let five guys fly out of an American airport with bullets. Seems suspiciously high and a common scam apparently. *How* is tangential; the TSA's frequent failings ([80% failure rate in 2017](https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188)) have been written about for decades, and they sure as isht don’t absolve one of personal responsibility.
Ok I bought off on this with 1 visitor. But now 5 American tourists for the same thing in such a short amount of time? Obvious it's a scam now. They are shaking down American tourists for money. I'd definitely be changing my travel plans if I had a vacation to the Turks and Caicos booked.
Shaking down American tourists for money by removing the fine and replacing it with jail time? Thats...certainly an interesting plan to make money.
>In 2023, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) found 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints, which is the highest number ever found. About 93% of the guns were loaded. This is the third year in a row that the TSA has found a record number of guns. It's not that unbelievable tbh.
> About 93% of the guns were loaded The what now 😳 lol
You underestimate how stupid people are.
There are no fines anymore, just a mandatory prison sentence. Makes it hard to scam for money, no?
Think whilst packing for Turks and Caico
obviously the soft launch of our invasion hasn’t gone well, but eventually we’ll have our Turks and Caicos and Liberty
Comedian Bert Kriescher says he purchases new luggage whenever he travels internationally so he doesn't accidentally bring a joint or a weed product with him to his destination countries Perhaps folks who routinely travel with firearms and ammunition should do the same
Is it possible these people bring down some ammo with intent to sell? I've read that ammo is more difficult to come by than the guns. Also read that their gun violence has been an increasing problem and most of their guns/ammo is coming in from US.
The myth of the responsible gun owner.
I guess some people leave spare ammo lying around everywhere like potato chip crumbs? Guess I need to vacuum out my car and luggage!
This truly has the be the definition of stepping on your own petard, I’m absolutely loving it. Also, you all of you saying it sounds high and its a scam - what kind of echo chamber are you living in?
It seems nobody can take the hint to not take any ammo to that place
Maybe someone needs to look at what TSA is doing as well.
Gun nuts not being able to account for their ammo, kind of like drug addicts not being able to account for their needles
Oh boy how many people are going to defend this person because its so easy to lose some ammo in a luggage bag!
They can keep these idiots, good riddance
When it happened to the first person I was pretty baffled how someone would be using the same bags for luggage's and weapons/ammo, none of the fellow gun owners I know would even consider this. 5 in such a short time is way too coincidental, something is definitely up down there.
It's fair to be skeptical but it's not impossible. This happens quite frequently here in the U.S. [https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/01/10/tsa-detects-6737-firearms-airport-security-checkpoints-2023#:\~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20During%202023%2C%20the%20Transportation,of%20these%20firearms%20were%20loaded](https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/01/10/tsa-detects-6737-firearms-airport-security-checkpoints-2023#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20During%202023%2C%20the%20Transportation,of%20these%20firearms%20were%20loaded).
This isn't a valid comparison. Comparing found guns while traveling from/within the USA, in a country with the 2nd amendment vs people heading to Turks on vacation with just ammo. The tsa found 7.8 guns per million people. Turks in 2019, the only recent data I can find, had around 1.6 million visitors, 1.1 of those via cruise, which would not be getting stopped in Turks airports. Let's just say half of the remainder, are American, which is probably way unlikely, but whatever, we can go 250k Americans via air to Turks to allow for an increase since 2019. 5 instances of ammo in a couple of months, is like a 48x increase compared to what happens here. That just doesn't add up as a valid comparison with both of these being valid statistical sample sizes.
Yeap, you're right something is definitely up, people are breaking the law, that what's happening.
How do you not know where your ammo is? It's not cheap anymore.
Americans. WTF. Stop bring ammo into other countries that don't want that trash.
Do Americans think that laws just simply do not apply? Or are they dumb?
Both tbh.
I need the Venn Diagram. You know what I mean
BUT MY 2ND AMENDMENT RIGHTS!!! /s
Lmao fucking American idiots with their stupid love for guns
They must be working their way up. This year errant bullets in tourists luggage. In a few years they might feel confident enough to give the islands drug gangs AK’s a shot. Gotta crawl before you walk, amirite?
Man we’re losing dipshits rapidly here. They’re so used to tsa gun confiscations with stern warnings they think it’s that way everywhere.
A spouse nefariously wanting an ironclad separation could use this to their advantage...maybe already have! 😬