I'm a Rocket Man!

I've been meaning to write for a little while now about the huge amount of people who "forget" that they had a gun in their suitcases as they hop aboard a plane bound for Disneyville or other exotic ports of call that feature humanistic animal characters.

The irony is that most gun owners I have known are so in love with their shootin' irons, they don't forget them for one moment of the day. But certainly, you don't think for a moment that any of the 19 gun-toters who have been nabbed at the BWI checkpoints this year were trying to take their guns with them on vacation and just hoped those TSA people were TFD to catch them, do you?  I mean, that just could not be it.

If you're scoring at home, this puts BWI on a pace to far exceed last year's total take of 22 Smith & Wessons.  The lesson is, you can carry on Smith Bros cough drops and a small bottle of Wesson Oil, but no Smith & Wesson guns, ok?

OK.

There are five months left in the year, more than enough time for at least 4 more gun enthusiasts to pack their roscoe in with their whitey tighties and try to get it through, and then, we can play for the bonus round, where the scores are doubled and the fun never lets up.

But just to break up the tedium of all the handguns caught in the net, here's an active duty military member who thought it would be a good idea to bring a missile launcher in his checked luggage.

The man is from Texas (really!?) and was coming home from Kuwait, and apparently took a notion that a rocket launcher would make a good souvenir. Down in his hometown of Jacksonville, TX, this sort of acquisition would make him the king of the local domino parlor, so into his bag it went, as he hoped no one would notice it, I guess.

One wouldn't think this necessary to say, but Lisa Farbstein, a TSA spokeswoman, clarified that "military weapons are not permitted in checked or carry-on bags."

The man was allowed to catch his plane without being arrested. I guess if he wants to drive back up here from the Lone Star State, he can pick up his souvenir WMD and haul it on back home, maybe lob a turnip or two out of it for old time's sake on the way.

Farbstein told the Capital Gazette newspaper that a Florida man tried to get on a plane at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania recently while carrying a rocket propelled grenade launcher.

Used to be, we'd bring home postcards or corncob pipes as remembrances, but not anymore.