Guns stolen from baggage in airport!

[Jim]

Employee at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport charged with stealing guns from passengers

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/09/employee-at-minneapolis-st-paul-airport-charged-with-stealing-guns-from/#ixzz2Pxj0ThyZ

"A worker at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has been charged with stealing shotguns, revolvers and other weapons from the checked luggage of passengers who had connections through the busy Twin Cities airport.

David Vang, 23, of St. Paul faces 11 felony counts, including 10 counts of theft of a firearm. He will be making his first court appearance April 25 in Hennepin County.

Pat Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, said Monday that Vang was employed by a Texas firm to maintain the belt on which checked baggage traveled. Hogan said authorities learned in September that weapons were being stolen, so they set up surveillance cameras.

A review of footage showed Vang removing items from checked luggage and taking them to an unsecured employee parking ramp where his wife was waiting in a vehicle, the criminal complaint said.

Vang was arrested in October and is no longer working at the airport, Hogan said.

Several boxes containing firearms, a crossbow, iPads, laptops, mobile phones, jewelry and other electronics were removed from Vang's apartment, the complaint said. Authorities said he had 716 stolen items, valued at more than $84,000."

[Ramar]

Just "relocating the wealth".
Ramar

[captaint]

I saw this story on the "news" last nite. The guy has a LOT of guns that he stole. Can't even trust the guys at the airport anymore. Mike

[Swamp Man]

Someone should cut that guy's dingle berries off with a hacksaw.

[joesig]

Items stolen while passing through an airport has been all too common since the TSA started. Between that and the wand rapes, airports make bad neighborhoods look not too bad.

[Doc Highwall]

So much for TSA and Homeland Security working! Just new names for Organized Crime with new crime bosses, and they hate competition!

[wch]

I saw this story on the "news" last nite. The guy has a LOT of guns that he stole. Can't even trust the guys at the airport anymore. Mike


Can't trust them anymore?
I have lost too many things that were in the care of the airport/airlines over the years.
Unlocked or unsecured baggage is a license for the baddies to steal.

[km101]

Someone should cut that guy's dingle berries off with a hacksaw.


Sounds about right to me! I have never lost a gun, mainly because I didn't trust the airlines enough to ship guns via checked baggage. But I have lost a camera, clothes and a watch at various times when passing through Chicago O'Hare or Atlanta. This is not a new thing, it just made the news this time because it involved those evil old guns! They are always newsworthy.

[opos]

Used to travel to Mexico fishing...for years, never a problem...then the "rules" began and things got insane...I've had rods, reels and much tackle stolen in the past 8 years or so...I don't go into Mexico for anything any more and that's just one extra reason.

[Down South]

Saw this on the news a couple days ago. The guy had over 1000 items in his apartment/house. What he was doing with it is beyond me. To still be sitting on this much stolen stuff was stupid enough itself.
I always worry when I have to check luggage. I try to pack all the valuable stuff in my carry on bag.
I have a hunting trip planned to Canada this fall but I will be checking my bow. Maybe that won't be to enticing.

[fouronesix]

Doesn't surprise me at all. All "behind the curtain" don't ya know. Enhanced, universal background checks for firearms transfers between individuals my butt! Like foxes guarding the hen house- who's watching the foxes? TSA/DHS et al, dumping ground for the otherwise unemployed or unemployable to expand mo govmnt bureaucracy, power and the illusion of safety- well designed to keep everyone's eye off the ball.

[Bad Water Bill]

Stuff has VANISHED at airports for more years than I can remember.

And I can remember Back to BEFORE O Hare field was opened.

Unless it is FIREARMS no one cares or prints the story.

[Trey45]

They should make stealing a crime, that way no one will steal anymore......

oh....wait.......

[montana_charlie]

They should make stealing a crime, that way no one will steal anymore......

oh....wait.......
That sounds a little extreme but, they might make the baggage handling area a 'stealing free zone'.
Waddayathink?

[R.M.]

Whenever I've flown to a match, my gun case got checked by TSA, then the locks were re-installed. I know a lock will only stop an honest thief, but still.

[blackthorn]

Several years ago we were returning home after a week of out of town hearings. One of the guys I was with had 4 cans of beer left over from the week so he packed them in the middle of his suitcase with cloths all around them. When we arrived in Vancouver and reclaimed our baggage there were only 2 beer left! I guess one of the baggage handlers was thirsty LOL!

[TXGunNut]

Pre-9/11 I flew to Houston on an urgent matter. Back then the flight crew could approve a LEO flying armed, no big deal for intrastate. I got a pilot that didn't approve it and I had to check primary and backup weapon. No biggie, it's their plane. My weapons did not show up in Houston, big surprise. Then they told me they weren't responsible and my reply was that I was forced to check them and one weapon was a duty weapon, big heat on the way. They got a good look @ my creds and I gave them a pretty stern talking to, may have been a bit cranky. Both guns arrived two flights later, just time enough for word to get back to D/FW. Go figure.

[MtGun44]

I regularly take CCW weapons with me when I travel for personal reasons to gun friendly states.

I ONLY take stock, ordinary, readily available guns that can be replaced for "mere money", never anything
that I have any sort of personal attachment to or would be hard to get another.

Never had an issue, and have had to check competition guns worth a bunch back when I was competing at the
national level. Hated that, but again, they all arrived OK.

Bill

[montana_charlie]

On the general subject of 'guns and ariline employees' ...

When I rode in on 'The Freedom Bird' from Vietnam, I had a war trophy pistol with me. I can't remember (now) if it was in my checked bags or if I was required to hand carry it, but it came through in fine shape.

However, a lot of guys brought home rifles. Primarily, they were the bolt action commonly called a CKC, and the semi-auto SKS.
I think some guys packed them in crates or cases, but many just checked the rifle, by itself, with a claim ticket attached.

As I was waiting by the conveyor belt for my luggage to appear, I saw at least eight 'bare' rifles come down the pike.
Every one was broken right through the wrist, with the two halves still connected by the sling.

I assumed that was done on purpose by anti-war types working in the Oakland airport.

CM

[Hardcast416taylor]

Was watching an auction show on the tube awhile back that had a Jap Ariska and a samuari sword. They were taped together with some kind of tape used back in `45. The Lt. Commanders address was written on a ship tag taped to the weapons. They arrived in the U.S. to his parents home. He unfortunatly didn`t get back from Okinawa. They were just mailed from the Pacific to the U.S. wrapped in tape! I believe the 2 weapons brought $750 as they were still as they had been sent in `45.Robert

[montana_charlie]

They were just mailed from the Pacific to the U.S. wrapped in tape! I believe the 2 weapons brought $750 as they were still as they had been sent in `45.
I am glad that I do not own them.
Still as prepared by his own hand, and him never surviving to return, I would surely tear up every time I looked at them.

[Ed Barrett]

I retired in 2003 and had to fly a lot for 40 years, I have flown once since then it turned me off on flying again. I have plenty of time to drive any place I want to go and I can carry my guns and I know they will be safe. When I visit my two sons and four grandsons I usually take several hundred rounds of reloads and a couple of k of primers. I would have the anal prob by TSA if I flew with that.

[TXGunNut]

I regularly take CCW weapons with me when I travel for personal reasons to gun friendly states.

I ONLY take stock, ordinary, readily available guns that can be replaced for "mere money", never anything
that I have any sort of personal attachment to or would be hard to get another.

Never had an issue, and have had to check competition guns worth a bunch back when I was competing at the
national level. Hated that, but again, they all arrived OK.

Bill

Traveling with a CCW in checked baggage is probably a pretty safe option, those little red locks seem to attract quite a bit of attention. Had a ticket agent make one silly remark and I stared a hole thru her until a TSA agent straightened her out. My CCW is pretty much stock so it's replaceable.
I always drove to matches but I never went more than further than Des Moines (from D/FW) so flying was never seriously considered. Some guys shipped ammo and other stuff to the host range but would check their guns as baggage. I never was brave enough to do that. A lost match gun would have meant a waste of much more than the cost of a gun. Travel costs, vacation time, match fees often rival the cost of a lost weapon, as would a hunting trip.

[MtGun44]

Yes, flying to a match, hotel, match entry fee and then lose the gun . . . . . That would be bad.
Fortunately, never happened to me back when I was seriously competing.

Bill