WA Senator arrested for gun possession in HK.

[jeremyp]

Well, since it seems he noticed the gun while on the flight, and declared it when he got to Customs, I'd suspect they'll be fairly lenient. It would have been a lot worse if he'd taken it through security at HK, wittingly or otherwise.

Doesn't look good for the checks at Portland, though. I wonder if he had to take his shoes off before boarding?

I think I probably would have declared it to the cabin crew as soon as I discovered it.

 

[zooterkin]

I think I probably would have declared it to the cabin crew as soon as I discovered it.

I'm not sure I would. The risk of causing alarm by saying I've got a gun on a plane might cause me to wait for a more controlled situation.

 

[arthwollipot]

I'm not sure I would. The risk of causing alarm by saying I've got a gun on a plane might cause me to wait for a more controlled situation.

If I saw someone with a gun on a plane...

Oh come on! Someone had to.

 

[Darat]

Like the average gun owner bothers to remember where they left every firearm.

The current mass shooting in the USA (as if the country might be in doubt) that's just hit the headlines, and that's the one that started in a bowling alley because sadly it won't be long until "the current" will refer to another one, almost made me take a 180 degree swing and say he should have the book thrown at him as it seems that it is impossible to get many in the USA to understand how truly insane their national attitude to personal firearms is and perhaps seeing a politician being subject to sensible gun regulation laws might make some consider that the insanity has to end.

I think that's the longest run-on sentence I've ever posted.

 

[sinnikal]

Once, while were traveling round Australia, we took a really tiny flight from Hervey Bay airport. Had to put my day bag through the X-ray and lo and behold it discovered the Swiss Army knife I had lost weeks earlier.
No worries, the guy just told me to take it back to my car which was parked about 30m from the door at the terminal.

Then I walked across the ramp and boarded my 6 seater plane.

It was nice to get the knife back, had a handy corkscrew on it.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

I think I probably would have declared it to the cabin crew as soon as I discovered it.

I agree. Put the bag down. Ask to speak to a member of the cabin crew privately and start by saying you've realised that you'd left a prohibited item in your luggage and you want to surrender it to them without causing anyone any alarm. I wouldn't even mention the word gun until it was clear that you wanted to hand it over. In his case the fact that he's a Senator & presumably in 1st are both going to make this easier than Joe Schmo in cattle class.

 

[The Don]

Once, while were traveling round Australia, we took a really tiny flight from Hervey Bay airport. Had to put my day bag through the X-ray and lo and behold it discovered the Swiss Army knife I had lost weeks earlier.
No worries, the guy just told me to take it back to my car which was parked about 30m from the door at the terminal.

Then I walked across the ramp and boarded my 6 seater plane.

It was nice to get the knife back, had a handy corkscrew on it.

On a recent holiday to Sardinia I had left both a Swiss Army knockoff penknife and a cycling multitool in my bag because I'm a numpty.

Neither was a problem and I was allowed to take them on board the flight in that same bag.

 

[MRC_Hans]

What a pillock!

Hopefully he will be told off, have the gun confiscated, his visa cancelled and put back on the next plane to the USA and be debarred from HK for a few years.

Agreed. And that will be a likely outcome. After all, he did not actually attempt to take the gun into HK, since he voluntarily reported to the authorities before passing customs.

Hans

 

[jeremyp]

I'm not sure I would. The risk of causing alarm by saying I've got a gun on a plane might cause me to wait for a more controlled situation.

Yes, but presumably he discovered it by opening his brief case. If another passenger saw it, it could also cause alarm. Furthermore, I would be weighing up my likely treatment from the authorities at my destination with my likely treatment by the cabin crew.

 

[jeremyp]

I agree. Put the bag down. Ask to speak to a member of the cabin crew privately and start by saying you've realised that you'd left a prohibited item in your luggage and you want to surrender it to them without causing anyone any alarm. I wouldn't even mention the word gun until it was clear that you wanted to hand it over. In his case the fact that he's a Senator & presumably in 1st are both going to make this easier than Joe Schmo in cattle class.

Oh yes, that's much better than my idea of taking the gun out of the case and waving it at the nearest flight attendant to attract their attention.

 

[zooterkin]

Yes, but presumably he discovered it by opening his brief case. If another passenger saw it, it could also cause alarm.

I think he'd already be aware if another passenger had seen it.

Furthermore, I would be weighing up my likely treatment from the authorities at my destination with my likely treatment by the cabin crew.

He's going to deal with the authorities at the destination regardless; by declaring the gun to them himself he retains control over how the situation is presented to them.

 

[MRC_Hans]

Oh yes, that's much better than my idea of taking the gun out of the case and waving it at the nearest flight attendant to attract their attention.

No, what you could do is hand your closed suitcase over to a flight attendant and say "I find that I have by mistake brought my gun with me in this suitcase". I assume a flight crew has some procedure for taking care of potentially dangerous baggage. In this case he could probably avoid confronting the HK authorities, and it would also be the best way to show good intentions.

Hans

 

[newyorkguy]

The Hong Kong English language newspaper The Standard reports that Wilson acted out against news media when leaving the court.

According to Sing Tao Daily, the Standard's sister paper, Wilson had some verbal exchanges with reporters who were taking photos of him stepping out of the court. He and his wife, along with some relatives, verbally abused the reporters and asked them to delete the photos. The family later reported the incident to the police with some officers arriving at the scene for mediation, according to Sing Tao's report. The Standard news link

Lucky for the reporters Wilson was no longer armed. Had he felt genuinely threatened by them he might have decided he was well within his rights to have started firing in self-defense.

 

[zooterkin]

The Hong Kong English language newspaper The Standard reports that Wilson acted out against news media when leaving the court.



Lucky for the reporters Wilson was no longer armed. Had he felt genuinely threatened by them he might have decided he was well within his rights to have started firing in self-defense.

What an idiot. Did he have any reason to think photography in a public place would be illegal?

 

[crescent]

Doesn't the Chinese government recognize American religious freedom?

The dude is a gun nut, they treat guns like religious icons. His right to worship the Cordite God is being infringed.

 

[dirtywick]

No, what you could do is hand your closed suitcase over to a flight attendant and say "I find that I have by mistake brought my gun with me in this suitcase". I assume a flight crew has some procedure for taking care of potentially dangerous baggage. In this case he could probably avoid confronting the HK authorities, and it would also be the best way to show good intentions.

Hans

you could also ask for ten million in krugerrand and to land the plane on an unmarked airfield in burma. not a lot of established etiquette on suddenly finding yourself with a gun you forgot about on a plane.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

I'd be interested to know if he went through security or used his position to bypass it. If so, that came back to bite him pretty damn quick.

 

[MRC_Hans]

you could also ask for ten million in krugerrand and to land the plane on an unmarked airfield in burma. not a lot of established etiquette on suddenly finding yourself with a gun you forgot about on a plane.

Well, if you're a Donald Trump class nut, then ... maybe.

Hans

 

[Ziggurat]

No, what you could do is hand your closed suitcase over to a flight attendant and say "I find that I have by mistake brought my gun with me in this suitcase". I assume a flight crew has some procedure for taking care of potentially dangerous baggage. In this case he could probably avoid confronting the HK authorities, and it would also be the best way to show good intentions.

Hans

I don't think that's actually a step up from what he did. The flight crew are not law enforcement. Whatever procedures they have likely consist mostly of contacting law enforcement wherever they're going to land and handing it over to them. They don't want that gun on the plane, they're not going to transport it back to the USA for him, they're not going to try to surreptitiously dispose of the gun for him or hide his identity from law enforcement. I don't think he'd be any better off having told the flight crew than just turning it over to Chinese police directly.

Even in terms of security on the flight, well, he's not going to use the gun, and the chances of someone else using it are HIGHER if he alerts the cabin crew. If there's actually someone on board interested in using a gun (which is a low risk, let's be honest), they're more likely to get hold of it if they overhear him telling the flight crew so he knows where to look than if he remains silent and his bags are indistinguishable from everyone else's.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Doesn't the Chinese government recognize American religious freedom?
The dude is a gun nut, they treat guns like religious icons. His right to worship the Cordite God is being infringed.

Theoretically China is supposed to treat Honk Kong differently and the Honk courts are different from those of the mainland.

Per: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-British_Joint_Declaration

The PRC government declared in the treaty its basic policies for governing Hong Kong after the transfer. A special administrative region (SAR) would be established in the territory that would be self-governing with a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign affairs and defence. Hong Kong would maintain its existing governing and economic systems separate from that of mainland China under the principle of "one country, two systems". This blueprint would be elaborated on in the Hong Kong Basic Law (the post-handover regional constitution) and the central government's policies for the territory were to remain unchanged for a period of at least 50 years after 1997.

However:

Since 2014, the PRC government has stated that it considers the treaty to be spent with no further legal effect, while the UK government maintains that the document still remains binding in operation. Following the PRC's government imposition of a national security legislation on Hong Kong in 2020 and a 2021 National People's Congress decision to approve a rework of local election laws that reduces the number of regional legislature seats elected by the public, the UK has declared the PRC as being in a "state of ongoing non-compliance" with the Joint Declaration.