Weapons found in Marine's baggage

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wolf223

[rolleyes] - comment from the globe.

Do any of you gun rights extremists want to try to defend this fellow?
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Weapons found in Marine's baggage
Check at Logan prompts arrest
By John C. Drake, Globe Staff | April 20, 2009

A North Carolina-based US Marine was arrested at Logan Airport yesterday after federal transportation screeners discovered an undeclared semiautomatic weapon, ammunition, and bomb-making materials in his checked baggage, authorities said.

Marine Corporal Justin W. Reed was in Boston on a layover from Las Vegas and was bound for Charlotte, officials said. The materials in his bags apparently eluded detection at the Las Vegas airport and were discovered in Boston only because baggage handlers inadvertently routed his arriving luggage to baggage claim rather than onto his connecting flight, Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Ann Davis said.

"They put it on the baggage carousel as if he was staying in Boston," Davis said. "Because it was placed on the carousel, which introduced it into a public area, that required TSA to screen it before it was allowed back on a flight."

Davis said the TSA was "actively investigating" why the illicit materials, including fuel and explosives, were not discovered during screening in Las Vegas and loaded onto the cross-country flight.

TSA screeners in Terminal B at Logan called State Police at 7:10 a.m. after they said they discovered the following items in Reed's luggage: a locked gun box containing a semiautomatic handgun; a fully loaded gun magazine; several boxes of 9 mm and 7.62 mm ammunition; three model rocket engines containing an explosive mixture; military fuses; electronics kit boxes with various components; and a hand grenade fuse assembly with detonator.

None of the discovered items, aside from the gun, can legally be checked onto a flight, Davis said, because they could cause an explosion in flight.

A handgun can be checked only if it is unloaded, secured in a lock box, and declared by the passenger at check-in, she said.

Reed had not declared the weapon, she said.

Reed was charged with possession of an infernal machine and possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport, said Sergeant Michael Popovics, a State Police spokesman.

He was booked at the State Police barracks at Logan Airport and held in lieu of $50,000 bail. He will be arraigned at East Boston Municipal Court tomorrow.

Davis said she did not know what flight Reed took to Boston, but the only US Airways flight from Las Vegas arriving in Boston yesterday morning was Flight 66, which left Las Vegas at 10:15 p.m. and arrived in Boston at 6:08 a.m.

Davis said he was booked on US Airways Flight 877, which left Boston at 8:08 a.m. and arrived in Charlotte at 10:36 a.m., airline records show. US Airways declined to comment.

Reed is stationed at Camp Lejeune and was returning to the base, State Police said.

Davis said all checked baggage is screened by TSA at the point of origin. Checked baggage on connecting flights is only screened during a layover if the flight originated outside the US, she said.

"TSA will work with management in Las Vegas to ascertain how these items were not identified during the screening process at the McCarran International Airport," she said.

Calls to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and to the Marine Corps press office were not returned.

The Department of Defense referred questions to the Marine Corps.

Globe correspondent Matt Collette contributed to this report. John C. Drake can be reached at [email protected].
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/04/20/weapons_found_in_marines_baggage/
 
I think we need to start watching all soldiers, clearly anyone that would join the military is a potential treat to the country.
 
discovered in Boston only because baggage handlers inadvertently routed his arriving luggage to baggage claim rather than onto his connecting flight
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ya they probably opened his bag to steal stuff and saw that and passed it on. friggen baggage thiefs
 
Don't you love that phrase "infernal machine?"

This is like one of those puzzles in the comics pages -- How many things are wrong in this picture? Marine screwed up. TSA in Vegas screwed up. Baggage handlers at Logan screwed up.
 
TSA completely dropped the ball on this one, and now theyre playing "hide behind the criminal" game so our soldier (who was probably just trying to bring his toys to the base to play with) gets the heat and they get to slide away from their HUGE mistake unscathed.
 
I am REALLY trying to not go tinfoil on this but I'm having a very hard time.

I see three options

1) The guy's a baddie and the Vegas TSA sucks

2) the guy's a total idiot, the stuff's innocent (the fuses are demilled souvineers) & the Vegas TSA sucks

3) Set up. The bag was 'accidentally' put on the carusel in Boston where it went out among the public & was then rescreened - where they caught a gun, ammo and alleged 'bomb making supplies' that were missed in Vegas?

Unless the gun's registered to him and the stuff has his prints all over them his atty has a slam dunk on chain of custody.

Either way, DHS is going to be doing a big ole 'See, I told you so.'
 
Bob P: I'm going to go with choice 2, but what DHS is calling "bomb making material" are model rocket engines, with just enough explosive to send a little cardboard flying... OK hes a nitwit for putting a gun in his luggage undeclared, but he probably didnt even think it wasn't OK (not defending, just saying it probablywasnt malicious, just a nitwit). I mean, wouldn't you bring something to "play with" if you were heading out for months?
 
Bob P said:
I am REALLY trying to not go tinfoil on this but I'm having a very hard time.

I see three options

1) The guy's a baddie and the Vegas TSA sucks

2) the guy's a total idiot, the stuff's innocent (the fuses are demilled souvineers) & the Vegas TSA sucks

3) Set up. The bag was 'accidentally' put on the carusel in Boston where it went out among the public & was then rescreened - where they caught a gun, ammo and alleged 'bomb making supplies' that were missed in Vegas?

Unless the gun's registered to him and the stuff has his prints all over them his atty has a slam dunk on chain of custody.

Either way, DHS is going to be doing a big ole 'See, I told you so.'
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I tend to think number 2 is the winner here. Whether or not you agree there are rules to what you can pack and what you can't. The guy should know this.

It also sounds like the gun was not declared.
 
dagwag77 said:
Bob P: I'm going to go with choice 2, but what DHS is calling "bomb making material" are model rocket engines, with just enough explosive to send a little cardboard flying... OK hes a nitwit for putting a gun in his luggage undeclared, but he probably didnt even think it wasn't OK (not defending, just saying it probablywasnt malicious, just a nitwit). I mean, wouldn't you bring something to "play with" if you were heading out for months?
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I'd like to think that, but he also had pull fuses and part of a grenade fuse (not sure which part and whether or not it was de-milled).

IIRC model rocket engines can be used as the ignitor for a fertilizer bomb.

If he just had the gun and the engines I'd go with opton 2 no question.
 
My bet is the guy's an idiot. A very good friend of mine shipped a footlocker home from Iraq with 2 40mm HE rounds in it. It was a complete accident and he was scared shitless about it when he found out. Another friend...more of an acquaintance as I wasn't too fond of him, bought a Springfield XD while home on leave and flew back with it (I was stationed in Hawaii) to check it into the armory. He didn't declare it or anything because he didn't know he was supposed to. My point is, given the level of desensitization to weapons and munitions that you find in the military, this kid probably didn't realize what he did was wrong. Not saying that makes it okay, and his command should fry him for being a 'tard, but I highly doubt any criminal intent was involved.
 
ochmude said:
My bet is the guy's an idiot. A very good friend of mine shipped a footlocker home from Iraq with 2 40mm HE rounds in it. It was a complete accident and he was scared shitless about it when he found out. Another friend...more of an acquaintance as I wasn't too fond of him, bought a Springfield XD while home on leave and flew back with it (I was stationed in Hawaii) to check it into the armory. He didn't declare it or anything because he didn't know he was supposed to. My point is, given the level of desensitization to weapons and munitions that you find in the military, this kid probably didn't realize what he did was wrong. Not saying that makes it okay, and his command should fry him for being a 'tard, but I highly doubt any criminal intent was involved.
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+1. I read the article and thought to myself "what a dumbass".
 
Given the level of poor reporting I have seen in the Globe in the past I would guess the story is half true and if it turns out to be something other than the first report, to be sure they will kill the follow up.
 
ochmude said:
My bet is the guy's an idiot. A very good friend of mine shipped a footlocker home from Iraq with 2 40mm HE rounds in it. It was a complete accident and he was scared shitless about it when he found out. Another friend...more of an acquaintance as I wasn't too fond of him, bought a Springfield XD while home on leave and flew back with it (I was stationed in Hawaii) to check it into the armory. He didn't declare it or anything because he didn't know he was supposed to. My point is, given the level of desensitization to weapons and munitions that you find in the military, this kid probably didn't realize what he did was wrong. Not saying that makes it okay, and his command should fry him for being a 'tard, but I highly doubt any criminal intent was involved.
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I'm with you on this.

First of all this stuff was in his checked bag which means he really had no intention of using it while on the plane.

An MIT girl was arrested at logan for wearing a shirt with wires on it. (She was in a robotics competition)

So my guess it the TSA saw some wires in his bag and assumed he was making a bomb out of small rocket engines which are legal to own.

The only thing he did wrong? He didn't declare his firearm which could be from him not knowing about the law.

Is it really that bad? It's locked in his checked baggage. What harm is it going to do to anyone?
 
None of the comments I make on boston.com are posted anymore. they all get caught by the filter.

Arsholes.
 
The only thing he did wrong? He didn't declare his firearm which could be from him not knowing about the law.
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If the reports of transport of model rocket engines and explosive detonators are accurate, he violate a lot more serious regulations than failure to declare a firearm in luggage.
 
What harm is it going to do to anyone?
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Only harm I see is turning the already messed up TSA people in Vegas into a bigger bunch of jerks cause they screwed up. And having to fly out of there tomorrow night, I am expecting a nightmare at the airport now.
 
ochmude said:
My bet is the guy's an idiot. A very good friend of mine shipped a footlocker home from Iraq with 2 40mm HE rounds in it. It was a complete accident and he was scared shitless about it when he found out. Another friend...more of an acquaintance as I wasn't too fond of him, bought a Springfield XD while home on leave and flew back with it (I was stationed in Hawaii) to check it into the armory. He didn't declare it or anything because he didn't know he was supposed to. My point is, given the level of desensitization to weapons and munitions that you find in the military, this kid probably didn't realize what he did was wrong. Not saying that makes it okay, and his command should fry him for being a 'tard, but I highly doubt any criminal intent was involved.
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I agree.
 
The gun laws keep changing every day. The rules for what is restricted and what is not keep changing too. It is quite possible that a 22 year old marine who does not fly commercial airlines much does not know the rules!

After a marine passes basic, he is allowed to keep his own personal handgun on base. If you pick the right calibre, you can get all the free ammo you could ever dream about! Maybe that led to some compacency as he left the confines of the military base.

The article does not give us much info. Was he being reassigned to a new location? If so, he would be moving his "stuff", and probably just did not realize that common citizens have trouble bringing toothpaste along with them on an airline!
 
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