A Republic Airlines flight attendant was detained and then charged with disorderly conduct after she attempted to pass through security at the Philadelphia International Airport with a loaded .38 revolver in her purse, triggering an incident in which police accidentally discharged the weapon while securing it, authorities said.
According to officials, at 6:33 a.m. today, the flight attendant entered a Terminal C security checkpoint lane with a loaded .38 caliber Smith and Wesson Airweight revolver in her purse.
A Transportation Security Administration employee discovered the gun on the x-ray machine and notified police.
The flight attendant was taken to secondary screening room, where an airport police officer attempted to unload the gun, and it discharged into a wall.
There were no injuries to passengers, employees or police, officials said.
The flight attendant, identified by ABC station WPVI-TV in Philadelphia as Jaclyn Luby, of West Chester, Pa., had a valid Chester County permit to carry a concealed weapon, police said.
The permit was confiscated and forwarded to the Chester County Sheriff, and the weapon - an Airweight revolver - was confiscated by the crime scene unit and transported to for testing.
She was charged with disorderly conduct, as per Airport Unit policy.
The officer who accidentally discharged the flight attendant's gun is on desk duty pending completion of an internal investigation, police said
The Airweight is a small frame, aluminum alloy, short barrel personal defense revolver and is among the most popular of these.
While "securing" it? No...
"with a loaded .38 revolver in her purse, triggering an incident in which police accidentally discharged the weapon 'WHILE SECURING IT,' authorities said."
While "securing" it? No - to secure a firearm means - not to make "safe" as all guns are ALWAYS presumed UNSAFE - but to merely make "safer." SINCE it FIRED (euphemism: "disharged,") then they made it LESS secure! (I learned all that by the age of 5!)
Sadly, I've personally witnessed police officers completely unfamiliar with firearms in general, and in particular, with the firearms they were particularly handling, (along innumerable other incompetences therewith involved that I shant go into), and I KNOW that being a cop does NOT make one more competent to handle guns NOR deal with an emergency.
Beyond that, the revolver unloading processes are generally a breeze. On Colts you pull the cylinder disengage lever - located by your right thumb - towards yourself; on S&W's, you push it away. However, in NO WAY DO YOU EVER PUT YOUR FINGER ON THE TRIGGER UNLESS YOU MEAN TO SHOOT YOUR TARGET! (I doubt there was a target on, or a deadly assailant in, the 'shot-dead' wall.)(Sarcasm.)
F******g HORRIBLY DANGEROUS IDIOTS! - not merely masquerading as, but actually licensed as - COPS!!! Sad but true! NOT making ANYONE SAFER! Look at all the folks who've dialed 911, only to watch their loved ones, or pets be murdered for "their own protection." (See, e.g., Vietnam U.S. Officer : "We had to destroy the village to save it.", Or, Tacitus: "They made a desolation and called it 'peace.')
What a F******g Farce!
R.C.
P.s., My father (RIP) would have died from apoplexy - as it was once called - upon reading this. I'm trying not to... :-(
RC