NO WEAPONS
The Associated Press surveyed 20 of the country’s busiest airports and found that seven – Philadelphia, Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and San Francisco – allow people with permits to carry guns in the airports’ general public areas and right up to the security checkpoints.
Guns and Airports
Anti-terrorism authorities are at odds on this issue. Some consider this issue a security loophole that is just waiting to be exploited and that can make smuggling firearms onboard a plane that much easier. While others argue that non-secure airport areas are no different from other public areas and should not necessitate special restrictions.
Gun owners who carry their firearms while at the airport claim to do so for two reasons: personal protection and because they don’t want to worry about removing and stashing their gun before entering the airport.
But are these reasons and explanations good enough to warrant possibly endangering airport personnel, fliers and those who come to pick them up and see them off? Especially when considering that in 2002, an Egyptian immigrant used a firearm to kill two people and wounded others at an LAX ticket counter before he was shot to death by an El Al Israel Airlines security guard.
Jason Major, San Diego Marketing Manager