Wilson, R-Longview, said he discovered the unloaded pistol in his carry-on bag after it passed through airport security in Portland without notice.

A Washington state senator was arrested at the airport in Hong Kong and charged with possession of an unregistered firearm, his office said.

Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, was detained at Hong Kong International Airport on Friday night after he found a pistol in his carry-on bag and reported it to customs officials.

He was released on bail Sunday and faces a hearing Oct. 30.

  • Pons_Aelius
    205•1 year ago

    he passed through security at the airport in Portland, Oregon, where it was not detected by baggage screeners.

    Tonight on TSA’s security theatre

    • @Treczoks
      34•1 year ago

      As long as you can buy all the ingredients to build an IED from the duty-free shop after the screening, you’ll know how much TSA’s “security” is worth.

      • @[email protected]
        32•1 year ago

        Had a razor taken off me at security. Went through, bought a magazine with the same one taped to the cover as a free gift

      • Alien Nathan Edward
        13•1 year ago

        What’s ironic here is that this isn’t a matter of incompetence, it’s a matter of efficiency. There isn’t much of a threat of hijacking airplanes, and there never has been. It’s just that after 9/11 the spectacle of that even has caused the average person to overestimate the threat of terrorism in airports by several orders of magnitude. Therefore, while we’re in no more danger than we were on 09/10/2001, people believe that there is a danger and if someone doesn’t perform security, they won’t fly. So, in order to appease these people who don’t actually understand the situation but have the power to affect it, we all have to go through a little dance that’s designed to look very much like security. Take your shoes off. Throw out your water bottle. Has anyone asked you to put anything in your bag for them? Put your shoes back on. Take your shoes back off. 95% of weapons in carry-on luggage make it through TSA screening and onto the plane. Put your shoes back on. Take your belt off.

        • @ShunkW
          6•1 year ago

          To be fair, the number of incidents was much higher in the 60s and 70s. Usually in the high 60s low 70s oddly enough, per year. Not really relevant nowadays, but an interesting fact.

    • Alien Nathan Edward
      15•1 year ago

      https://fee.org/articles/tsa-fails-95-of-the-time/

      An internal investigation of the Transportation Security Administration revealed security failures at dozens of the nation’s busiest airports, where undercover investigators were able to smuggle mock explosives or banned weapons through checkpoints in 95 percent of trials, ABC News has learned.

      In one test an undercover agent was stopped after setting off an alarm at a magnetometer, but TSA screeners failed to detect a fake explosive device that was taped to his back during a follow-on pat down.

    • @sramder
      9•1 year ago

      And yet my hands get swapped 10 years later for bringing a pair of sumo robots in my luggage.

        • @sramder
          3•1 year ago

          LOL they just pick on a few of us so we spread the word that they’re vigilant.

        • @afraid_of_zombies
          3•1 year ago

          My bag is almost always flagged because almost every flight I am on is for work travel and I have my tools in it. I found stuff gets stolen less often if I put a checklist on the top. At least by America. The Canadian security stole a whole mess of cables as well as the checklist.

    • @[email protected]English
      2•1 year ago

      I know federal Congress doesn’t have to go through airport security. I’m guessing it’s the same for state?