American tourist is held in the Turks and Caicos after ammo found in his luggage. He is facing a 12 year mandatory minimum.
How much ammo do you have in your life if you simply forget it’s in your suitcase when packing for vacation?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/turks-and-caicos-ammo-prison-sentence-american-tourists/
@evamarie
You have to keep your range bags/hunting bags separate from your travel bags.
@mikeflstfi @evamarie you do have a point here — the planning could have been better
Yes. And preferably check your bags for ammo before packing for your out of country vacation. Most Americans are blissfully ignorant of the fact that the rest of the world has very stringent firearms laws.
@evamarie
There's also a notion by some Americans that because they are Americans, other country's laws don't apply to them. I know a few. I've traveled to foreign countries with a few. It's hard to convince them otherwise, sometimes.
We almost got arrested in Hong Kong airport as dogs found grapes in my travel companion’s bags. She stashed them off the plane. Scary couple of hours.
Hawaii has very strict laws about bringing any fruit or vegetables to the islands. They do have an “innocent mistake” bin where you can toss your fruit after getting off the plane. I would imagine Hong Kong is a little stricter.
Those are the ugly Americans who make us wish we had Canadian flags on our back packs 😂
@evamarie to be fair, while I’m pretty much on the “guns are largely unneeded, gtfo of here with your mutilation of the 2nd amendment “ side of the fence — I will say that very innocent mistakes happen. I highly doubt this dude took 4 rounds with him hoping to find a weapon laying around so he could shoot up some Turks and Caicos-ians. I forgot a knife in my backpack once and it got taken at the airport. Just, forgot it was in there. Take the dudes ammo and let him go home to his kids
I am sure it was an innocent mistake, but Americans live in their own little bubble not realizing that other countries have strict firearms/ammo laws. It shows how casual people are with their ammo that they don’t even check their luggage when flying overseas.
It sounds as if the Turks and Caicos is tired of hearing that Americans made an innocent mistake when bringing ammo to their country. The U.S. certainly arrests anyone bringing in drugs to the U.S. innocent mistake or no.
@evamarie I 100% agree. We are a situationally unaware group. And I completely understand needing to make an example — and like you said, be aware of the laws when you’re traveling — just feel the punishment may be a bit excessive for the crime imo. I’d feel the same way were it someone stopped in the US trying to go home, wherever that may be
@evamarie
People will literally drop $3000 on ammo at the local Academy Sports like it's no big deal, so I think the answer is some people have a lot of ammo in their lives. For no good reason.
@evamarie: Not to put two fine point on it, but…
Fuck him.
@evamarie
Too damned much.