Airline employee smuggles 153 guns through Atlanta to New York

Those arrested moved up to 20 or more guns at a time via Delta flights in the passenger cabin. There are a couple questions you should think about when reading this story. First, why are guns being smuggled to New York? (Hint, it has absolutely nothing to do with restrictive gun laws in New York.) Second, where are the holes in airline security?

This proves the point many people make about the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) security theater. While the rest of the traveling public go through long lines and procedures to “ensure we are safe” the back door seems to be wide open at the busiest airport (by a landslide) in the United States.

Two men — one employed by Delta Air Lines and another a former employee — worked together to smuggle guns and ammunition on at least 20 flights from Atlanta to New York from May to December, New York officials said Tuesday.

“We have an egregious breach of security” at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport because airport employees “are not required to go through screening,” said Kenneth Thompson, the district attorney of Kings County. [Video report below.]

That’s right. The busiest airport in the country does not require employees – who have access to airplanes, the tarmac and passengers in the terminal – to go through any type of security. They are trusted employees. Now, I have no idea if this is the right or wrong thing to do, but I’ve just about had it with TSA employees patting me down even after removing every piece of metal and paper from the clothing on my back. “Ensuring my safety” my ass.

I’ve said it more than once and I’ll say it again. I feel no safer traveling by air today than I did prior to Sept. 11, 2001. This story proves my case.

Back to the headline and my abstract referencing smuggling. So why are people moving “illegal” guns from one place to another? “Everyone Against Guns” or whatever the name of that group is will claim the problem is the easy accessibility of firearms in states with “lax” gun laws. Chicago politicians routinely blame the violence in their own community on other states.

That makes no sense what-so-ever. The question they should be asking is rarely spoken. Why is there a demand for “illegal guns” in my city? In my community? By definition, the people who can legally own firearms have no need for guns to be smuggled in illegally. So all of the people looking for the smuggled guns are criminals. Living in their cities. In their communities.

The problem cities with “high gun violence” have is directly related to: local social structure, economic conditions, the level of education, criminal recidivism, pervasive drug and alcohol issues, broken families and gang activity. Those are the hard things to deal with. Since they don’t want to deal with the hard stuff, they blame the gun culture in other states.

That’s pretty weak.