Washington state senator arrested in Hong Kong for carrying a gun through airport
An American politician has been arrested in Hong Kong for carrying a gun into the city, according to a charge sheet seen by CNN, in what he has called an “honest mistake.”
If anyone was wondering about this politician's party, he's a Republican.
(No one was actually wondering. We all knew immediately.)
I wouldn't necessarily make that assumption, I'm a gun toting Democrat myself
The stupidity was the giveaway, not the gun.
As others have pointed out, it's not the gun ownership. It's the stupid, entitled, law-breaking gun ownership. As you're a gun-toting Democrat, I fully expect you to be smart enough not to be packing heat on an international flight.
Do you know many gun toting democrats that are bad gun owners?
Yeah, but you probably aren't going to try to bring a gun to China.
"he did not realize he had packed his pistol in his briefcase while he and his wife were traveling..."It was an honest mistake.""
He thought he could get away with it or he did make an honest mistake with a deadly weapon in an international incident. Either way, he should be held accountable for his actions in both situations.
I am cognizant enough that I search my pockets and any bags taken on the plane for fluids over 100ml so, yes, a gun seems like something you'd want to be conscious of.
Either way, he should be held accountable for his actions in both situations.
He might, since he was caught outside America, where claiming "I lost track of where my gun was" is an insane defense that would get your gun license revoked forever.
Once back in the US though, we worst he'll face is some disappointed tutting in his direction. The pro-gun crowd works very hard to ensure the "responsible" part of "responsible gun owner" stays entirely optional.
How can you have any accountability when accidents happen?
Wilson said in the statement that when the plane landed in Hong Kong, he “immediately went to customs officials and called their attention to the issue.”
If his statement is to be trusted, he did not try to get away with it
Apart from that, the TSA did obviously not notice that he was carrying. Which means they either don't do their job, or they are worthless as such.
Yes, it's been known for a while how useless they are. The FBI had undercover agents smuggle explosives through TSA checkpoints and they succeeded most of the time.
I remember a story from a person that was flying as part of a small group of military training instructors, we can rest assured that the TSA stops at least 2 out of every 3 (inert) claymore mines from entering the airplane
Putting aside for a second how the US should be dealing with the very real threat of gun violence in this country, I'm always surprised by the misunderstanding of the gravity that carrying a pistol in public has.
Its not just about keeping the safety on and making sure it doesn't go off in your pants. When you bring a gun with you, you're introducing a firearm to a situation where in many case there isnt one. That puts you and everyone else around you at significant risk of being shot now, where again, those odds used to be zero. Not only that, you're basically steering the bus now on who gets shot if violence should break out, and not everyone is trained to handle an actual confrontation with the appropriate skills.
That's what's so mind boggling. At the end of the day, carrying a weapon just makes you and everyone around you more likely to be shot, and people feel the need to do that as a state senator in Washington? It sounds pointless. I'll also add that the process of getting a concealed permit is mostly saying you won't commit a crime, and getting fingerprinted, that's generally it.
People who carry weapons around are generally afraid of something, expand that out to an entire nation and you have the USA.
“It was an honest mistake. And I expect the situation to be resolved shortly,” Wilson said in the statement.
Wilson said in the statement that when the plane landed in Hong Kong, he “immediately went to customs officials and called their attention to the issue.”
I hope he doesn't assume his status as an American politician will solve the matter. According to the article he volunteered the information. But according to the linked article at RTHK the weapon was found by a customs agent.
Yeah, China, famous for their understanding of high-profile American “mistakes.”
🙄
China either takes the PR win of gun obsessed Americans to extwitter world wide, or they keep him for a trade later on.
Not a diplomat, but it sounds like a coin flip.
Guy should have wiped the weapon clean and dumped it into the garbage bin on the plane. I get that he's aiming for leniency, but he's in CHINA. They will absolutely use this against the Biden administration.
Who travels to a foreign country without knowing what is in their possession? Answer: Stupid people who should not own a gun.
Holy shit? Really? This is the most brain dead comment I've seen.
Last time I checked hong Kong isn't America and other countries have their own laws that you have to abide by, because you know, it's their country. Your second amendment right in another country is as useful as unicorn farts.
Fuck this guy for being a stupid muppet.
I'm not mad at him. I don't know him. But, I do know he's stupid.
LOL why did he bother leaving the USA?? BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD BRO GUNS GUNS GUNS
Its perfectly valid to call someone stupid if they try to smuggle guns through airport security.
You should go back to Reddit. You're trash
Good job being stupid.
Imagine being dumb enough to write something like this.
"Responsible gun owner"
Coming from someone who carries daily, I get that sometimes you forget it's there and carry into a post office or doctors office. What I don't get is how you forget when going to the airport. Internationally.
Lol I agree, but its hard to explain to people who aren't around guns that you can forget there's a loaded deadly weapon on your belt. It's very uncomfy and seemingly dangerous at first but after a few months or years it's like a wallet but you typically use it 0 times a day. You don't really realize it's there, more than once I started walking to something that doesn't allow guns and had to go back to my car to lock it up.
It happens.
But airports, especially intl terminals is pretty unexcusable.
The firearm is just a tool, it becomes part of your daily routine. You pick it up and holster it like you put your wallet in your pocket and your watch on your wrist.
I check to make sure it's loaded, but other than that there's nothing special or exciting about tucking the holster in my belt. No "OMG A GUN" feeling, no excitement, my heart rate doesn't jump. It's just normal to be armed and you sort of forget about the heavy lump of metal and plastic secured to your belt.
That being said, I've never forgotten about it enough to pack into a prohibited place like a police station or a bar, and CERTAINLY NOT A FUCKING AIRPORT.
Also, we shouldn't be giving TSA a pass here, assuming the congress critter actually went through security like us normal folks.
If you forget about carrying your gun, than you are not handling it with the required responsibility.
Does the average person carry a wallet with their cash, credit cards, and ID? It's pretty important but 99% of the time you don't think about it. Or keys to their house?
If a gun is on you almost all the time, you don't really notice it until it's NOT there, then it's time for concern.
It's an important item to keep track of but like a wallet it's "not there" until you either need it or it's not there when checking for it.
Wilson said he “discovered the weapon mid-flight between San Francisco and Hong Kong.”
The Portland TSA crew is about to get a serious reprimand.
I don't know if this is still the case, but I read a few years back that the TSA had a zero or near zero success rate in catching items deliberately put through their screening by their own auditors. I'd doubt they're too worried about it. Their job is not to stop terrorists, it's to hassle and intimidate innocent travelers to appear as if they're actually doing something in as flagrant and visible a manner as possible. That's why it's called security theater; it's not real, it's just play acting.
But mah Second Amendment rights!
Americans who believe their laws are applicable to the rest of the world are the worst.
Sounds like you're from one of those countries that doesn't have enough freedom deployed to it. Prepare for freedom to be deployed in 3 . . . 2 . . .
Most responsible gun owner
Also part of the US state government.
fucking great
Excited to hear how American security retaliates against a Chinese official for carrying a thing Americans consider dangerous.
So, probably a book.
I mean, by recent censorship it'd be a book with gay people in it, and China would agree with the arrest.
Rather than just pile on with "idiot LOL" comments I will offer this:
Segregate your airline travel bag from your "other stuff" bag. You need a dedicated backpack or case that you only use for air travel and never anything else.
If you multipurpose your rangebag or whatever, of course you could have potential issues even if you remove the weapons before travel (dogs could alert on the powder residue, etc.)
Likewise if you are a druggie or something you don't want to accidentally end up in Singapore or Russia with your weedbag you forgot was in your backpack.
Even something as inoccuous as having a backpack you used for camping could backfire on you if you leave your folding knife or lighter in there.
"Druggie" "Weedbag"
Harsh toke brother
Lol. Americans...
"Ma freedom applies here, right?"
I’m glad they took his gun but they should also take away his briefcase. That vacation is a time for him and his wife to spend together, not for reviewing important briefs. Those can and should wait until he goes back to the office to do whatever 1960’s ass job he has that involves a briefcase and a gun.
Gun violence is very rare in Hong Kong, unlike in the United States where firearms are now the No. 1 killer of children and teens.
O-okay, weird thing to randomly bring up (also not actually true if I remember right)
No, that's actually true. As of this year, guns are the #1 killer of children and teens in the United States.
I'm only skeptical because the last time I heard this claim, when I looked into the study it turned out to only be true if you massaged the data to the point of the headline basically being a lie (it was like, combine all gun homicide, suicide, and accidental deaths but split vehicle accidents and pedestrian collisions into separate categories because vehicle deaths was still larger), but that could have been pre-covid data.
Looking into this one it seems like covid (these are 2021 numbers) might have lowered vehicle deaths and raised gun homicide/suicide enough for it to actually be the leading cause without fudging any numbers, although I'm struggling to find the exact methodology used (the CDC's website isn't exactly the most navigable on a phone)
Legally, you have to register that that car and renew annually. To drive that car in the road, you'd have to have a license that you acquired paying a competency test and possibly perform a driving test. You'd also have to have insurance while driving it in public.
Something something snowflakes and having much sex with their feelings.
Not a weird thing to bring up at all. HK regulators are not likely to view this as the semi-serious faux pas that Americans, particularly his constituents, may believe it to be. Americans have a bizarre acceptance of firearms (compared to the rest of the developed world) and our consistent refusal to regulate them despite numerous atrocities is a big factor of how this incident could even have happened in the first place.
This article has nothing to do with gun violence or children though, the random facts just come a bit out of left field