In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Moron Alert: G.I. Joe doll disarmed at airport
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Soldier toy disarmed at airport
GI Joe's gun "had to be taken from him"
A doll caused a security alert at an American airport because its two-inch plastic gun was considered a dangerous weapon.
Judy Powell, 55, from Walton on the Hill, Surrey, bought the GI Joe toy in Las Vegas and packed it in her hand luggage.
But security staff at Los Angeles International Airport refused to let Mrs Powell on board the plane with the replica rifle.
Mrs Powell had to put the gift - minus the rifle - in her suitcase so it could go in the aircraft's hold.
If GI Joe was carrying a replica then it had to be taken from him
Los Angeles International Airport
Mrs Powell said: "I was simply stunned when I realised they were serious.
"Security examined the toy as if it was going to shoot them and looked at the rifle.
"I was really angry to start with because of the absurdity of the situation.
"But then I saw the funny side of it and thought this was simple lunacy."
A spokesman for Los Angeles International Airport said: "We have instructions to confiscate anything that looks like a weapon or a replica.
"If GI Joe was carrying a replica then it had to be taken from him." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2173150.stm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
GI Joe's gun "had to be taken from him"
A doll caused a security alert at an American airport because its two-inch plastic gun was considered a dangerous weapon.
Judy Powell, 55, from Walton on the Hill, Surrey, bought the GI Joe toy in Las Vegas and packed it in her hand luggage.
But security staff at Los Angeles International Airport refused to let Mrs Powell on board the plane with the replica rifle.
Mrs Powell had to put the gift - minus the rifle - in her suitcase so it could go in the aircraft's hold.
If GI Joe was carrying a replica then it had to be taken from him
Los Angeles International Airport
Mrs Powell said: "I was simply stunned when I realised they were serious.
"Security examined the toy as if it was going to shoot them and looked at the rifle.
"I was really angry to start with because of the absurdity of the situation.
"But then I saw the funny side of it and thought this was simple lunacy."
A spokesman for Los Angeles International Airport said: "We have instructions to confiscate anything that looks like a weapon or a replica.
"If GI Joe was carrying a replica then it had to be taken from him." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2173150.stm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
LA Customs Frisk GI Joe
LA Airport Killer Was Egyptian
LA Airport Security Chaos
Security officers at Los Angeles Airport have confiscated a gun in a security scare - from a plastic toy soldier.
The two-inch weapon belonged to a GI Joe toy - similar to an Action Man.
A British tourist told how over-zealous security staff confiscated the two-inch-long plastic rifle from a GI Joe toy soldier she was taking home as a gift for her grandson.
Judy Powell, 55, bought the doll in Las Vegas as a gift for George, seven, and packed it in her hand luggage.
Stunned
But when she passed the bag through an X-ray machine at Los Angeles International Airport, security staff spotted the tiny replica Armalite rifle.
Mrs Powell, from Walton on the Hill, Surrey, said: "I was simply stunned when I realised they were serious."
Security "examined the toy as if it was going to shoot them and looked at the rifle", she said.
They then told her that if she wanted GI Joe to keep his rifle, she would have to check in again and put the toy in her suitcase so it could go in the aircraft's hold.
Lunacy
Eventually, she agreed. Mrs Powell added: "I was really angry to start with because of the absurdity of the situation. But then I saw the funny side of it and thought this was simple lunacy."
A spokesman for Los Angeles International Airport said: "We have instructions to confiscate anything that looks like a weapon or a replica.
"If GI Joe was carrying a replica then it had to be taken from him."
Last Updated: 14:32 UK, Monday August 05, 2002
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12070123,00.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By Jessica Cantelon
CNSNews.com Correspondent
August 05, 2002
(CNSNews.com) - A California high school student's painting, which depicted him shooting a female police officer in the head, does not constitute a threat, according to a recent ruling by a state appeals court in Sacramento.
The case dates back to the winter of 1999/2000. According to court documents, the then-15-year-old sophomore, whom authorities identify only as "Ryan D," painted a large canvas depicting "a person wearing a green hooded sweatshirt and discharging a handgun at the back of the head of a female peace officer."
The painting included the officer's identifying badge number. She also had "blood on her hair, and pieces of her flesh and face were being blown away," according to the court's description of the canvas.
"Not a very nice painting," commented James Webster, Ryan's defense attorney. "But he's not charged with painting a graphic painting; he was charged with a terrorist threat."
Threatening Is As Threatening Does
"Did I feel threatened? Absolutely," said Chico Police Sgt. Lori MacPhail, the officer depicted as the victim in the painting. "It was horrible, horrible, horrible. I can't believe the court saw this [evidence] and drew this kind of conclusion. It's ridiculous," she told CNSNews.com.
"It was clear, demonstrated threat as far as I'm concerned," MacPhail added.
MacPhail was working as a school officer at Pleasant Valley High in December of 1999 when she cited Ryan for marijuana possession. A month later, Ryan turned in his art project, touching off a legal debate that would last for the next two-and-a-half years.
Ryan's art teacher, disturbed by the painting, took it to the vice principal of the school. Ryan was brought in for questioning a few days later, his attorney, James Webster, said. And once MacPhail saw the painting, the police department began investigating and then brought the matter to the state district attorney.
A Butte County Superior Court judge found that Ryan's actions constituted a terrorist threat against MacPhail, but Webster appealed the case. Last week, California Appeals Court Justice Arthur Scotland overruled the county court decision, writing that "criminal law does not, and can not, [sic] implement a zero-tolerance policy concerning the expressive depiction of violence."
According to Scotland's ruling, the fact that the alleged threat was in the form of a painting made it "necessarily ambiguous," due to possible use of "symbolism, exaggeration and make-believe."
To qualify as a "terrorist threat," explained Webster, there not only has to be a specific intent to convey the threat, but "that act must put the person that it's conveyed to - intentionally conveyed to - in sustained fear of their life."
While MacPhail maintained she "had every reason to believe that he was capable of carrying out the threat that he painted," Ryan's attorney said the painting was merely a way to "vent his frustrations."
"He wasn't threatening to do it to anybody," Webster said.
The Matter of Free Speech
"I wonder how that judge would feel if he was the one in the painting," countered Jim Pasco, executive director of the national Fraternal Order of Police. "You know, he might have a different perspective of free speech."
Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, said he and his colleagues are "avid defenders of the free speech rights of students" but he added that, "schools do have a compelling interest to prevent students from planning or carrying out acts that may result in violence or induce students to engage in violent activity."
David Hudson, research attorney for the First Amendment Institute, said he is not surprised by the verdict, because of the problem in trying to "apply the wording of the statute," to a minor.
"It was simply a hard fit to ... apply that criminal law to that student," Hudson said, citing the fact that Ryan did not deliver the painting to the person allegedly being threatened.
"I don't think it would be unreasonable for a school to investigate in light of some of the tragedies we've dealt with," Hudson said. "I'm just not so sure about charging the student under this criminal statute."
"It's not criminal to be offensive," Webster noted. "Anytime anybody says anything that's offensive to a neighbor or a co-worker, all of a sudden we've got a felony terrorist threat charge."
Webster said schools should look for alternatives to litigation when confronted with offensive students.
"Kick the kid out," Webster said. "Get him out of the school, get him away from there ... but you don't throw him in jail."
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200208\NAT20020805a.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
If you will blame gun makers for every shooting then blame car maker for every car accident.
Pack slow, fall stable, pull high, hit dead center.
rodney colson
Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis
When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....
I might not always tell you the truth, but I will never lie to you!
Remember here at DeeDee"s If we can't kill it, it's immortal
D.D.Snavely
~Secret Select Society Of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~
Will270win@nraonline.com
Pack slow, fall stable, pull high, hit dead center.
STUPID< STUPID
"A wise man is a man that realizes just how little he knows"
This takes zero tolerance to a whole new level. The woman should have told the guard to pick on somebody his own size. Poor Joe....
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878