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Air passenger charged after bullet primer caps ignite

1189 Views 18 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  phantoms, 
Ashe
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/12/28/florida.flight.baggage/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn
A 37-year-old airline passenger was arrested Tuesday in Miami after primer caps for bullets ignited while a baggage handler was unloading a roll-on bag, the FBI said.
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Wonder what exactly he was charged with.

***Later, Edited to add***
From Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/28/police-miami-airport-explodes-bag/
The man was being held on a charge of traveling in interstate commerce without a license to carry ammunition.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/28/po ... z19SX4fj9D
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Much better journalism in the Fox story, It almost seems like the Fox writer has a clue what he was talking about.

How do you prove the charge if he claims he was going to use them himself?
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Fallschirmjäger
Who ever said the point of arresting the traveler was to actually prove the claim? :?
Remember, you can be arrested for eating a ham sandwich on Sunday; no one but the arrestee ever looses anything if it turns out to be non-prosecutable.
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CountryGun
I've never used this emoticon, but I'm calling :bsflag: I don't see a way primers can just detonate. Call me :screwy: if you want. This is all very fishy.
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BG_Atl
I was just wondering how many times the baggage handler had to drop, kick, throw,
crush and slam the bag before the primers actually went bang ???

Nah... I'm sure he handled the bag with the utmost tender loving care... :shock:
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CoffeeMate
Leverock said part of a shirt inside the bag was charred, but the movement of the bag is what set off the explosion.
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Maybe someone from the TSA was groping it?
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A
I dunno, takes some good impact to make primers go boom....I carry mine in a ziplock bag when hunting and in a round tin when traveling...
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NTA
Whenever I conceal carry I have my primers just loose in my pocket.
Better think about a better way to carry them.
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gunsmoker
I'll bet that this dude was NOT carrying his primers in the original packaging.
But if he dumped a bunch of them into a zip-lock sandwich bag, and if he put that bag with some hard objects like the heel of a shoe or the plastic handle of a hair dryer, and some gorilla baggage handler slams the bag down and causes the bag of primers to be compressed between the two rigid objects.... BANG !

Notice, however, how "hazardous" this detonation was: Nobody got hurt. Hundreds of primers going off at once right at the baggage handler's feet, and nothing was injured but the luggage bag itself, which got scorched a bit. Although this would present a fire hazard in the cargo hold of an aircraft, it's not a significant explosive danger.
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JiG
So many thoughts, but first and foremost is this one: How did the primers get past the TSA? They're explosive compounds, why weren't they detected with those fancy, expensive machines?

Dude's a dummy for bringing loose primers on the plane, he deserves to be charged because he should have known that he couldn't do that. Loaded ammunition is safer from accidental detonation than loose primers and I suspect gunsmoker is right, they probably weren't in their original packaging which would have gone a long way to prevent accidental detonation. Even further (and putting aside for the moment that he shouldn't have brought them), they should have been kept in their original packaging and then encased in something stronger to deal with how bags are handled at the airport.

As gunsmoker mentioned too, it wasn't that bad of a thing. The guy had the equivalent of lighter flints without the lighter fuel. If the guy was carrying smokeless powder, it would have been much worse. But if he was carrying smokeless powder, would the TSA machines have caught it then?
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NTA
This was checked baggage

not brought on the plane
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JiG
Ashe said:
***Later, Edited to add***
From Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/28/police-miami-airport-explodes-bag/
Much better journalism in the Fox story, It almost seems like the Fox writer has a clue what he was talking about.
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I guess Fox News goes downhill as the story gets older. When I saw the story this morning on Fox News, it sounded dumber. (I'm using my DVR to replay the report and type it up verbatim)

"In Florida, uh, a suitcase explodes on the tarmac at Miami International Airport, now, and the Feds arrest a uh man who packed hundreds of bullet parts on an American Airlines flight from Boston to Miami. (That means the primers made the flight.) Those bullets eh parts ignited and exploded causing some panic on the tarmac at Miami's airport as you can imagine. The devices in his luggage are said to be key components of bullet cartridges." -- Arthel Neville sitting in for Martha MacCallem.

Did the suitcase really explode?

Key components? Are they trying to make it sound like bomb parts? There's only 4 components to a cartridge. I guess you could say they are all key components because they simply don't work without each other. Wouldn't it have been more proper to say "key components to make ammunition was missing"?
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CoffeeMate
As we all know, "bullet cartridges" are key "gun show loophole" primer components in exploding AK-47 assault rifle suitcases having barrel shrouds.

:roll:
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Savvy Jack
JiG said:
There's only 4 components to a cartridge.
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Typically but not always! 8)
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livesounder
A report I saw said he was enroute to Jamaica. IIRC, just about anything related to firearms is outlawed there. That would explain both the presence, and inappropriate packaging of the primers.

The only explanation for the detonation is the obvious one...have you ever watched the baggage gorillas at work?
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mountainman444
Savvy Jack said:
JiG said:
There's only 4 components to a cartridge.
Click to expand...
Typically but not always! 8)
Click to expand...
Don't leave me in the dark Jack. I've got cartridge case, bullet, primer, and powder. And your missing ingredient would be ...
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N
mountainman444 said:
Savvy Jack said:
JiG said:
There's only 4 components to a cartridge.
Click to expand...
Typically but not always! 8)
Click to expand...
Don't leave me in the dark Jack. I've got cartridge case, bullet, primer, and powder. And your missing ingredient would be ...
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Shotgun wad.
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CountryGun
Or fewer parts in the case of black powder. Powder, wad, ball in the case of a flintlock.
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JiG
Savvy Jack said:
JiG said:
There's only 4 components to a cartridge.
Click to expand...
Typically but not always! 8)
Click to expand...
Hey, we're on GPDO, let's not get too technical. You know the generality in which I was speaking. I'm figuring you knew I was referring to modern metallic centerfire cartridges. Not pinfire, rimfire, or black powder.
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phantoms
JiG said:
So many thoughts, but first and foremost is this one: How did the primers get past the TSA? They're explosive compounds, why weren't they detected with those fancy, expensive machines?
Click to expand...
Maybe that's what set them off. :sly:
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