Lethal Teddy Bear Gets Nabbed at Security Checkpoint

Remember that question the screeners asked for years, without catching anyone: "Has anyone unknown to you given you anything to carry on this flight?" It's unclear just how to answer that one (Did you know the store clerk? the street vendor? the department-store Santa?), but the question is no longer asked.

If it had been, would the 10-year-old boy have even remembered, much less ratted out the 13-year-old girl who gave him the teddy bear?

The good news is, the dangerous toy got stopped before boarding the Southwest Airlines flight in Orlando (FL) last week.

The bad news is, the TSA is making it sould like the agency just saved the world. "It could have gone off in the child's lap at 30,000 feet," Robert Johnson, director of communication and public information for the TSA, told reporters. Or at 2000 feet; or in the trunk of the car -- or any time since the .22 cal deringer was stolen in 1986 -- any time someone pulled the trigger. The dangerous part of disarming this "toy" would be pulling the gun out of the bear -- pulling on the barrel (the easiest part to get ahold of) could snag the unprotected trigger. If the gun were cocked and the bear's stuffing didn't get in the way of the hammer, the person doing the pulling could easily shoot himself. [Just why the gun should randomly go off "in the child's lap at 30,000 feet" is something only a 'highly-trained firearms expert' like Mr. Johnson could explain --ed.]

Anyway, there seems to be no clear trail back to the girl who gave the boy the bear with the loaded gun inside; nor is there a motive coming to light. Since the boy does not seem to have any criminal intent, it is hard to see how, outside of a freak accident (and they do happen, we know), the bear could have posed a flight risk. If the girl herself knew of the gun, may remain a question for a long time, as well.

We're as glad as anyone, though, that that bear didn't make the flight!

FMI: www.tsa.gov