Flying The Friendly Skies

Oh my:

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.

Ya don't say. While I don't think this guy falls into "right-wing extremist" category, I'm really curious as to why this guy felt the need to bring Rambo's gear on a plane, and how an airline could be so sloppy in spotting guns but has not missed an opportunity to stop me from bringing a bottled soda on a plane.