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- Security or Freedom: Which do you Want?
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- On April 26, 27, & 28th, I had the privilege of attending
the Annual NRA Meeting in Reno, Nevada. During a break in the action, I
actually had the honor of meeting and shaking hands with President Charlton
Heston. I thoroughly enjoyed the meeting, exhibits and other events, which
were very professionally presented. A real class act.
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- While visiting the various exhibits and booths in the
Reno Convention Center, I visited the Glock display. While browsing there,
I was given a lapel pin in the distinctive shape of a Glock pistol. The
pin is black in color, tiny ( about 1 1/4 inch in length ) and is clearly
intended to be displayed as a piece of jewelry. Under no circumstances
which I can imagine, could the pin be mistaken for a firearm. Being from
Glock, it was of course made of plastic.
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- On Sunday morning as my wife and I packed our luggage,
I placed my Glock pin, along with many other souvenirs, into my checked
luggage in anticipation of the increased screening at the airport. After
passing through the security checkpoint at the Reno International Airport,
I had to pause to tie my shoes and put my belt back on. While doing so,
I observed an airport police officer talking with a passenger who he had
stopped just beyond the check point. ( It was a police officer, not a security
person.
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- After 30 years on the job, I know the difference.) The
stopped man was a Caucasian male adult, senior citizen. The officer was
explaining to the man, that increased security precautions required that
he confiscate any item which appeared to be a weapon. The officer was holding
in his hand one of the tiny Glock lapel pins. The officer explained to
the citizen the need for "zero tolerance" in such matters. The
passenger, obviously an NRA brother, did not seem pleased, but neither
did he argue the point and continued on his way.
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- After taking the offending piece of jewelry, the officer
walked to a nearby colleague and said, "Look what I got from the NRA."
I'd be willing to bet my next pension check, that miniature lapel pin never
made it to the trash bin, or to the police property / evidence room. I'd
wager that pin and others like it, are now in the possession of that officer
for his own personal purposes.
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- For decades it has been standard procedure for police
agencies, when taking possession of private property, to issue a receipt
to the person from whom the property was taken. On that receipt is printed
the procedure for the citizen to challenge the taking, or to file a claim
to recover the property.
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- I have personally issued receipts countless times. When
conducting a search with a warrant of a person's home, a receipt is given
to the resident listing all items taken. I have personally given prisoners
receipts for illegal narcotics which I have taken from them. It is called,
due process. I'm sure I read about that in the U.S. Constitution, somewhere.
It is also called accountability.
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- After some reflection, I realized that I had witnessed
an armed government agent, confiscating legitimate private property without
due process. I witnessed a law abiding citizen being treated in a manner
which not even a felonious drug dealer is treated. The senior, law abiding
citizen, accused of no crime what-so-ever, had his property taken from
him and there is not a thing he could do about it. How do I know the citizen
was law abiding? He is an NRA member, and likely gun owner. As a gun owner
and presumed gun buyer, he would have to get the permission of the FBI
to buy a gun (NICS) and the FBI does not give permission to people who
are not law abiding.
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- I am ashamed to say, that I did absolutely nothing about
it at the time. I had just left 3 days of the Annual NRA Meeting, the theme
of which was "I'll Fight For Freedom," but when faced with loss
of freedom, I did nothing. Like the rest of the sheep at the airport that
morning, I was more concerned with making my flight and my personal convenience.
That is a mistake I shall never make again.
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- Upon arriving in Portland (Oregon), I telephoned a friend
who was still in Reno at the Convention Center. Tom Gresham hosts a nationally
syndicated radio talk show, "Tom Gresham's Gun Talk" ( http://www.guntalk.com/
) and writes a column in Guns & Ammo Magazine ( http://www.gunsandammomag.com/
).
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- I told Tom what I had seen at the airport. Later that
day on his radio show, which was being broadcast from Reno, Tom talked
about what I had reported to him. He had managed to contact the Airport
Security Chief, who told him he knows nothing of the taking of miniature
gun shaped pins, but they are confiscating other jewelry which is shaped
like ammunition.
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- What's the difference? It is only jewelry! They are not
weapons. They are being singled out only because of their appearance and
knee-jerk paranoia resulting from the attacks of September 11th. Once the
authorities determine the object is inert and not a weapon, that should
be the end of it. With present day concerns about the illusion of security,
it would be appropriate and reasonable for an officer to ASK that the jewelry
be removed from public view. That is what I would have done had I been
that officer, or the supervisor of those officers. Oh, by the way, the
cabin crew of my flight on Southwest Airlines, were all wearing metal wings
with sharp points on their shirts, about the size of your average box cutter.
Those metal wings can easily be removed and used as offensive weapons.
Not to mention those pointed, ball point pens and rolled up magazines which
make excellent thrusting weapons.
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- On a totally different issue at the Reno airport, I witnessed
something I had only heard about prior to that day. Airline employees allowing
young, strong, able bodied men walk into the aircraft without a second
glance.
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- Taken from the same line, three mature-to-senior women
were singled out for "wand rape." I have no doubt they were taken
aside so the security personnel could build up their "stats"
and justify taking aside Arab males at a later time. Although I understand
that reasoning, it is wrong. Those women were publicly humiliated for no
other reason, than to satisfy some politically correct notion of "fairness."
Those actions were taken by employees of Southwest Airlines, not the government,
although the SWA employees cited "FAA Regulations." More political
correctness B-- S---. As Tom pointed out on his radio program, "zero
tolerance" equals zero intelligence.
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- I shall address these issues with Reno Airport, Reno
PD, the Mayor of Reno, who had addressed the NRA meeting welcoming us to
Reno two days before I saw this, and with Southwest Airlines.
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- "They that can give up liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
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- Ron Willis, Detective (Ret.) Gresham, Oregon Police
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- Disclaimer: All comments are the personal opinion of
the writer and not intended to represent any government agency, whatsoever.
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- The Second Amendment Police Department (in CyberSpace)
www.2ampd.net Join our Discussion List for cops and cop-friendly citizens
at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/2ampd/
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