TheTman
12-02-2011, 05:21 PM
17-year-old barred from flight - because she had a DECORATIVE gun on side of her purse
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Daily+Mail+Reporter)
Last updated at 12:28 PM on 2nd December 2011
A teenage girl was stopped from boarding a flight because she had a gun - drawn on the side of her handbag.
Vanessa Gibbs, 17, was stunned when Transportation Security Administration officials stopped her at the security gate because of the design of an old wild west handgun.
Gibbs said she had no problem going through security at Jacksonville International Airport, in Florida, but rather, when she headed home from Virginia.
Controversy: Vanessa Gibbs holds up her purse, which TSA officials flagged up as a security risk. The 17-year-old ended up missing her flight
She said: 'It's my style, it's camouflage, it has an old western gun on it.
But staff at Norfolk airport were not keen on it and stopped her getting on board.
Gibbs said she was headed back home to Jacksonville from a holiday trip when an agent flagged her purse as a security risk.
'She was like, "This is a federal offence because it's in the shape of a gun",' Gibbs said. 'I'm like, "But it's a design on a purse. How is it a federal offence?"'
After agents figured out the gun was a fake, Gibbs said, TSA told her to check the bag or turn it over.
By the time security wrapped up the inspection, the pregnant teenager had missed her flight, and Southwest Airlines sent her to Orlando instead, worrying her mother, who was already waiting for her to arrive.
Design: Gibbs said she was told it was a federal offence to take the purse through security because of the gun design on the front. She had got through Jacksonville airport okay but was stopped as she tried to fly home from Virginia
'Oh, it's terrifying. I was so upset,' said her mother Tami Gibbs.
'I was on the phone all the way to Orlando trying to figure out what was going on with her. It was terrifying. I don't ever want to go through it again.'
Vanessa and her mother said it's hard to believe anyone could mistake the design on the purse for a real gun because it's just a few inches in size and it's hollow, not to mention Vanessa has taken it on planes before.
'I carried this from Jacksonville to Norfolk, and I've carried it from Norfolk to Jacksonville,' Vanessa said. 'Never once has anyone said anything about it until now.'
TSA isn't budging on the handbag, arguing the phony gun could be considered a 'replica weapon'.
The TSA said: 'Replica weapons have been prohibited since 2002'.
It's a rule that Vanessa feels can't be applied to a purse.
'Common sense,' she said. 'It's a purse, not a weapon.'
A TSA official at JIA said it's not that uncommon for passengers to wear something that could be considered a gun replica, but the official encourages everyone to check the prohibited items list, which can be found online or at the airport before going through security, reports News4Jax.
See the purse: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2069023/Vanessa-Gibbs-17-barred-flight-gun-handbag.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2069023/Vanessa-Gibbs-17-barred-flight-gun-handbag.html)
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Daily+Mail+Reporter)
Last updated at 12:28 PM on 2nd December 2011
A teenage girl was stopped from boarding a flight because she had a gun - drawn on the side of her handbag.
Vanessa Gibbs, 17, was stunned when Transportation Security Administration officials stopped her at the security gate because of the design of an old wild west handgun.
Gibbs said she had no problem going through security at Jacksonville International Airport, in Florida, but rather, when she headed home from Virginia.
Controversy: Vanessa Gibbs holds up her purse, which TSA officials flagged up as a security risk. The 17-year-old ended up missing her flight
She said: 'It's my style, it's camouflage, it has an old western gun on it.
But staff at Norfolk airport were not keen on it and stopped her getting on board.
Gibbs said she was headed back home to Jacksonville from a holiday trip when an agent flagged her purse as a security risk.
'She was like, "This is a federal offence because it's in the shape of a gun",' Gibbs said. 'I'm like, "But it's a design on a purse. How is it a federal offence?"'
After agents figured out the gun was a fake, Gibbs said, TSA told her to check the bag or turn it over.
By the time security wrapped up the inspection, the pregnant teenager had missed her flight, and Southwest Airlines sent her to Orlando instead, worrying her mother, who was already waiting for her to arrive.
Design: Gibbs said she was told it was a federal offence to take the purse through security because of the gun design on the front. She had got through Jacksonville airport okay but was stopped as she tried to fly home from Virginia
'Oh, it's terrifying. I was so upset,' said her mother Tami Gibbs.
'I was on the phone all the way to Orlando trying to figure out what was going on with her. It was terrifying. I don't ever want to go through it again.'
Vanessa and her mother said it's hard to believe anyone could mistake the design on the purse for a real gun because it's just a few inches in size and it's hollow, not to mention Vanessa has taken it on planes before.
'I carried this from Jacksonville to Norfolk, and I've carried it from Norfolk to Jacksonville,' Vanessa said. 'Never once has anyone said anything about it until now.'
TSA isn't budging on the handbag, arguing the phony gun could be considered a 'replica weapon'.
The TSA said: 'Replica weapons have been prohibited since 2002'.
It's a rule that Vanessa feels can't be applied to a purse.
'Common sense,' she said. 'It's a purse, not a weapon.'
A TSA official at JIA said it's not that uncommon for passengers to wear something that could be considered a gun replica, but the official encourages everyone to check the prohibited items list, which can be found online or at the airport before going through security, reports News4Jax.
See the purse: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2069023/Vanessa-Gibbs-17-barred-flight-gun-handbag.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2069023/Vanessa-Gibbs-17-barred-flight-gun-handbag.html)