U.S. State Senator Arrested in Hong Kong After Carrying Gun onto Flight | Hacker News Reader

U.S. State Senator Arrested in Hong Kong After Carrying Gun onto Flight

wsj.com

10 pointsimpish920820 comments

Being unaware if you even have a gun in your luggage is the most American thing ever.

Happens all the time. They have signs up all over the place at every airport in most states warning you not to pass a certain point if you're carrying.

I have recurring nightmares about it.

...but how would you accidentally be carrying a gun or have one in your luggage? I don't own a gun, but I don't see how, if I did own any firearms, I would not be explicitly aware of their locations at all times, especially when it comes to having one on my person or in luggage.

Many gun owners keep their guns in a bag, purse or backpack that’s full of other things.

Many people don’t clean out and repack their bags before traveling.

Many people are absent minded.

Combine all these and you get a pretty large intersection of people who accidentally bring their gun to the airport. I think most people have accidentally brought a water bottle, scissors etc to the airport or even accidentally through security. For many Americans, a firearm is just another item like those.

You wouldn't be carrying it accidentally. If you carry one every day then you typically forget about it.

Having one in the luggage is a bit different. In all likelihood he used that bag for a car trip and just left the gun in there. That's a bit harder to explain imo because I generally start with an empty bag when I pack for a flight but it could happen if it's in a separate compartment or something. Some people own a lot of guns and knowing exactly where they are at all times is just not feasible.

> Some people own a lot of guns and knowing exactly where they are at all times is just not feasible.

If that's the case, they need to own fewer guns. I cannot think of many things more important to keep track of at all times than where one's guns are.

Eh, if people can forget their kids in the backseat of a car they can easily forget theres a gun in their backpack.

When someone forgets their child in the backseat of a car there is usually a serious criminal investigation.

And the state senator got arrested!

I'm really not sure what you're trying to argue here. I'm saying its pretty believable that people forget they're carrying guns because people also forget they have a kid with them. And then you counter with an admission that people do forget their kids.

To some people, it's as natural as carrying a water bottle, breath mints, toothbrush. When it's not on their person, it's in the briefcase, backpack, glove compartment. I've forgotten water bottles in backpacks more than once.

My gut reaction is similar to yours, but then I've lost a couple pocket-knives over the decades when I accidentally had it in my day pack that gets used in the outdoors as well as for flights.

I wonder if there are folks out there who would be just as shocked at the idea of not knowing where my knife was, because of more strict rules in their home jurisdiction...?

Can't read the article, but I wonder how he got caught if it was in his carry on luggage. Do they screen that again in HK after you land?

in stopovers they do

The article says he self reported it after realizing mid flight it was in his bag.

It is the Wild West in Washington DC, defunding the police and all that.

PS. I am not American, but do state senators hang out in Washington DC or do the operate only in their own states?

State senators, like all US citizens, are free to travel just about anywhere, including Washington DC, and Hong Kong, for that matter. "Operating" in any of these places is a different matter. State legislators are typically not full-time legislators, since legislatures are usually only in session part of the year. They have jobs or (more often) own businesses as well. They typically don't have any legislative business in the nation's capitol.

The same people who want to "defund the police", which doesn't necessarily mean what it sounds like, are not typically the same people who own firearms. Nor is "defund the police" relevant to Washington, DC, as such funding fights are mostly at the state and local level.

Typically, "state senator" refers to senators at the state government level, and thus they are in their own states.

If you're not an American, you may wish to refrain from glib comments on American politics.

Uh, americans and non-americans: the article says Washington state; there are no senators representing DC

The politician in this article is not a senator in the US federal government, who would work in Washington DC, but a senator in the Washington State government, whose capital is Olympia. He represents a heavily forested rural district whose largest city has 38,000 people, very much the kind of place where carrying a gun is common. You joke about the Wild West but that is exactly what this is about; frontier mentality has not yet vanished in rural parts of the American West.

If I put my drink in an unloaded handgun can I have it on a flight now? /s

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