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| Confiscated Guns at Auction |
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| Items confiscated by the TSA |
Has an authority figure ever used their power to steal something from you? I have seen it most commonly with guns and knives, where people often do not know the precise law, and allow the theft as a form of low level extortion. The trade off is clear: the authority figure ends up with your item, and they do not charge you with a crime. My first experience with this occurred at about age 14. I wasn't the victim. I received some of the spoils, but I was shocked by the blatant injustice of it.
My sister had started teaching at an intern position in Milwaukee. It was a bad part of town. She taught grade school to a mostly minority population. The school policy was no knives, and she confiscated quite a few. I ended up with a couple, all of which have long ago disappeared. I asked her how she could justify the theft of this property. I routinely carried a knife to school, as did every other boy that I knew. I did not yet understand where dystopian "progressive" policies were leading the country. As I recall, "policy" was her only answer.
As a firearms instructor, I heard numerous complaints about firearms being confiscated for no legal reason in Southern California. One student said that his brother, who was with the LAPD, had an amazing collection of guns that people had "just given him".
I nearly lost a nice Swiss Army knife that I routinely took on business trips, when I inadvertently left it in a briefcase on the way to catch a plane out of Denver. TSA routinely confiscates thousands of knives when it is more trouble and expense for the owner to get out of line and ship them home than it is to give them up. I had enough time to take the knife and briefcase back to the ticket counter and check it as luggage, an option that may cost you more than the knife is worth today.
My neighbor had a nice pocketknife confiscated as he re-entered the United States from a day trip to Mexico. It did not matter that it was legal and that he had carried it in with him. This was before Knife Rights lobbied to have the U.S. law clarified. At international borders, your rights are severely curtailed.
I suspect that this low level of tyranny is widespread. Has it ever happened to you?
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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5 comments:
When I was returning from Iraq in 2006 I had two small pocket knives taken at the military terminal at al-Udied. They were afraid I would hijack the plane taking me and 200 other military personnel home. Idiots.
I have an old RG .22 pistol that was given to my mother for protection. She worked as a dispatcher at the police dept. The story was that it was taken off an illegal alien by one of the cops she worked with. He kept it and gave it to her. It does happen.
No, but on 2 occasions I've left the security area and walked back out to my truck to leave a pocket knife/multitool there rather than have it confiscated or thrown away by the security personnel. The multitool was a very nice Gerber, the pocket knife was a 2" bladed folding knife from my grandfather, so in both cases, I was willing to walk out and go back through security rather than give them up.
My colleagues make fun of me for checking a bag on an overnight airplane trip. Too bad. I WILL NOT be disarmed, and separated from my multi-tool, knife, and flashlight.
I have not had people make fun of me for checking a bag, but I notice that not many do for short trips. We have made the same choice.
I seldom fly anymore.
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