I have occasionally mused in this space on the ignorance of persons discovered with weapons at the checkpoint; by far, the default excuse has typically been some version of “I forgot I was packing deadly heat”.  Generally, men prevail, but the statistics don’t differentiate by gender, I see news clips every day about female arrests for guns at airport; it is no longer considered unusual.

Why?  Some discussions try to make a connection between Covid and isolation requiring some higher level of self-protection, which makes no sense at all.  The threat is a germ, although I suppose it is a murderer.  Look at the numbers: TSA discovered 3,257 weapons in carry-on baggage during all of 2020; as of June 2021 –( a half-year) we were already well past 2,400 during a year when traffic was down by 500 million.  I should mention that 83% of them were loaded.  Coupled with the rapidly growing incidents of air rage, often involving mask-wearing non-compliance, it conjures up images of armed conflict among passengers and flight crew.

Nobody argues about the need for security... indeed, it now appears to be even more necessary.  All 50 states now allow people to carry concealed firearms; 45 states require a permit to do so and 5 do not even require a permit. The Crime Prevention Research Center found that over 11 million concealed handgun permits had been issued, much lower than the likely real figure due to the lack of records available from some states, Florida issued the most permits: 1,278,246; at least 5% of the U.S. population has a permit to carry concealed firearms...  not to mention the well-known enormous black market in the criminal arena.

Want some real fun while traveling with Junior? A Utah firm makes a custom modification kit that encases a Glock handgun in Legos. A North Carolina drug raid found a Glock with a 50 round magazine altered to look like a Nerf gun.   Nothing says stupid more than making a real gun look like a toy.   

Having said all that, I have now discovered the close relationship between the ignorance of gun-toters and the ignorance of the common digitally armed businessman/woman; college student, and average American citizen: close to 10,278 laptops are reported lost every week at 36 of the largest U.S. airports, and 65% of those laptops are not reclaimed, according to ComputerWorld and Ponemon Institute surveys.  Around 2,000 laptops are recorded lost at the midsize airports, and 69% are not reclaimed.   Laptops are most commonly left at security checkpoints, but also at bars, restaurants, or left on-board the aircraft in seat-back pockets; some in parked cars. 

About 77% of people surveyed said they had no hope of recovering a lost laptop at the airport, with 16% saying they wouldn't do anything if they lost their laptop during business travel. About 53% said that laptops contain confidential company information, with 65% taking no steps to protect the information.

You know who you are.