You'd expect airport security screeners to screen everything going to board a plane, but they're so busy trying to protect the American public from imaginary threats that they're missing accidents that could very easily turn into real threats.

Take the case of Mr. Farid Seif, who took a commercial flight from George Bush International Airport in Houston. TSA screeners made him take his laptop out of his carry-on bag, then they ran him through the full-body scanner.  While they stood there ogling his penis, they let his carry-on effects through, and then he was on his way. When he landed, he discovered that had mistakenly travelled with a loaded .40 caliber pistol in his carry-on baggage during the flight.  Allow me to repeat that: He travelled with a conspicuous handgun, loaded, in a nearly empty carry-on bag.

Allow me to state what should be obvious: TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, whose sole duty is to protect the travelling American public from itself, and who routinely boasts how effective the suspension of our Fourth Amendment rights is, missed a bloody obvious handgun in a carry-on bag!

"I mean, this is not a small gun," Seif said. "It's a .40 caliber gun."

Seif says it was an accident which he didn't realize until he arrived at his destination. He says he carries the glock for protection but forgot to remove it from his bag. He reported the incident as soon as he landed, shocked at the security lapse.

"There is nothing else in there. How can you miss it? You cannot miss it," Seif said.

And this isn't an isolated incident, either.

Authorities tell ABC News the incident is not uncommon, but how often it occurs is a closely guarded government secret. Experts say every year since the September 11 attacks, federal agencies have conducted random, covert tests of airport security.

A person briefed on the latest tests tells ABC News the failure rate approaches 70 percent at some major airports. Two weeks ago, TSA's new director said every test gun, bomb part or knife got past screeners at some airports.

Gee. Thanks, TSA.  Thanks for not enhancing our transportation security at all.  Stupid stuff like this is why I won't ever fly commercial again, and it's just a part of why everything I've ever hated about flying has only gotten worse since That Day.

Sources:

• TSA misses enormous, loaded .40 calibre handgun in carry-on bag - Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing, 2010-12-17.
• Man passes through TSA security with loaded gun in carry-on bag, boards plane - Kevin Quinn, KTRK-TV/DT Houston, ABC News, 2010-12-17.

Also, let's not forget what one of our nation's founding fathers wrote:

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

No government before or since has ever made good on the offer to exchange essential liberties for public safety.

Source: Memoirs of the Life and the Writings of Benjamin Franklin - Page 270, as cached by Google Books, accessed 2010-12-20.