Passenger's weapon accidentally discharged at the Atlanta airport, causing panic and halting flight

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

65. This info is about 4 years old but...

...I worked in Atlanta for a bit over 2 years and flew there almost every week. As I remember ATL chechpoints the domestic terminal TSA is on ground level at end near the T concourse. The hard barriers are after the screening area to segregate the uncleared out of the secure gate spaces. At the point where a bag would be getting searched, this person would be beyond the body scanners and at the end of the carry-on clear/suspect conveyor. Any airport security and regular police staff would roving and generally not within arm's reach of any particular person. There are 3 TSA scanner locations there and both the central and South side checkpoints have few obstacles between the checkpoint and the S2 and S1 doors to the parking area.

The screener at the bag viewing station should be electronically tagging a bag with a firearm as "high threat" requiring the bag inspector to move it manually off the conveyor to the inspection area. It sounds to me like both the screener and inspector did their jobs and that the overall system prevented an armed person from gaining entry to secured area.

As far as the police rationale explanation, I suspect pursuits of all types frequently become dangerous both to LE and bystanders. Better to defuse that by not giving the individual a reason to begin shooting or engage in a high speed chase if he is or becomes mobile. That airport has numerous cameras and lots of video monitoring around the exits. Entering the checkpoint requires photo ID that is electronically checked and validated. Any such person will be recognized electronically and have warrants issued.

TSA is currently upgrading standard X-ray scanners to higher resolution CT based equipment.

ATL is a very busy airport and a hub for a major carrier. The city of Atlanta is very Democratic and part of a large metro area that includes some very red towns. Kennesaw in Cobb County IIRC still has a law on the books requiring homeowners to own a firearm. While the law has no prescribed punishments and isn't enforced, it does characterize the area. The local joke is that the highway through Cobb County has ONLY A FAR RIGHT LANE.

Air travel dangers are currently mostly from the virus. Armed aggressors are much lower as probable threats.