Checking in for a flight with a gun? 153 instances at DFW this past year

On average, slightly more often than every 2.5 days last year, Transportation Security Administration officers found a firearm in somebody’s carry-on bag at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. The total was 153 firearms found at DFW, more than any other airport in the U.S.

Nationwide, TSA found 2,653 firearms in carry-on bags, up 20 percent from 2014. Almost 83 percent were loaded.

DFW boards more than 30 million passengers a year, so 153 packing guns is not a big share. But what possible excuse could there be for trying to take a gun on a commercial aircraft?

Perhaps some knuckleheads carry a weapon on board similar to their normal routine of packing underwear, toothpaste or whatever.

They’re sure not to take a Swiss army knife or tweezers, but a gun is OK.

Oh, I suppose some of them do it for protection because they keep thinking about when William Shatner had a pistol on him in that Twilight Zone episode in which he sees a gremlin guy on the wing of the plane he was flying in and they believe it could happen.

But seriously, if you really do worry about someone carrying a gun on board, even though the odds of it happening are a couple hundred thousand to one, I suggest the next time you fly, take the logical approach to reduce the odds and take your own weapon on board.

I’m an octogenarian raised in a large northeastern city. I remember gangs in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Usually, the outcomes of fights were determined by the tough leader of the gang and, if necessary, gang help. Fights were with fists!

Since then, gang fights went to knives, brass knuckles, etc. Today it’s guns for fights and protection by gangs and others. Now, guns are not just for gangs and criminals but thousands of fearful U.S. citizens for their protection.

Maybe people try taking a gun on a commercial aircraft for all of the above-mentioned reasons?

It’s hard to understand why anyone would attempt to take a gun onto a plane, unless they’re delusional and think they’ll take out some hijackers like the action heroes do in the movies, or then again maybe they just really want an aisle seat.

But whatever the reason, there’s only one explanation as to why some individuals are so obsessed with guns that they’ll carry them into bars, churches, schools and airports: Those people simply aren’t too bright.

I think that most guns found at airports are due to the fact that people are so used to having them in their possession all of the time that they forget about removing them.

There are really no excuses for possessing guns at that time.

Most of these occurrences are accidents, but it takes only one person with harmful intent to cause major damage in a confined space with so many people around.

On an aircraft, if a minor discussion escalates into guns being pulled, it could be even worse if the plane were breached and depressurized, resulting in a potential crash.

This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Checking in for a flight with a gun? 153 instances at DFW this past year."