Don't bring ammunition to Turks & Caicos

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

No one is just packing a baggie of bullets for their trip, they are left in the bag from previous times the bag was used. As in my example above when we got to Disney and I found a baggie of ammo in the bottom of my husband's backpack that I was repacking for the park. They got left in there from some other time the backpack was used and I didn't notice then when I was packing the bag for the plane.

I never said he was packing it specifically for this trip. Perhaps you missed the part where I said or toss it in and forget about it. And to be quite frank, if you're finding unaccounted for ammunition in a back pack from a previous outing in the middle of a Disney trip, whoever put it in there needs to be a lot less neglectful. That's not a pair of dirty underwear that was missed.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I never said he was packing it specifically for this trip. Perhaps you missed the part where I said or toss it in and forget about it. And to be quite frank, if you're finding unaccounted for ammunition in a back pack from a previous outing in the middle of a Disney trip, whoever put it in there needs to be a lot less neglectful. That's not a pair of dirty underwear that was missed.

I apologize if I misunderstood your post. So many people in this thread are acting like it’s almost unbelievable that this could even happen and I was pointing out that it happened to us. My husband is in law enforcement and has to switch between duty ammo and range ammo pretty regularly, so, at least for us, it’s not uncommon to have baggies of ammo around. We don’t have any kids, so I’m never too worried about ammo being in a baggie in his work backpack.

 

[VandVsmama]

The idiot who's stuck in Turks & Caicos right now because of his own foolishness could have prevented all of this from happening by just NOT using his range bag as his travel/vacation bag.

(I'm going to go off about this for a sec, just bear with me as I rant for a moment)

Seriously...what new level kind of careless and stupid do you have to be to go through multiple airports, fly to an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT COUNTRY, and have NOT triple checked your gun range bag before leaving home to make EXTRA SUPER DUPER SURE that you don't have guns or ammunition in the bag before you get to the airport?

Makes one wonder how careless is he at home with the rest of his guns & ammo. My kids for sure wouldn't be going over to hang out unsupervised at his kids' house after this, that's for sure. I have a friend who is an NRA-certified rifle instructor and I was telling him about this news story and his reaction? "Totally unacceptable. That guy did something really dumb."

If anybody doesn't like the guns & ammo laws in Turks & Caicos....DON'T TRAVEL THERE! Same thing goes for any laws in other countries that you find stupid, you don't agree with, you don't like, or whatever. Just DON'T GO THERE!

For example, the laws in Singapore are really severe for something as simple as spitting or littering. Do I agree with it? No. But I'm not going to Singapore anytime soon. Even if I was going to travel to Singapore, you better believe that I'd look up some traveler info about the area to make sure that I wasn't going to mistakenly do something to land my sorry butt in a Singapore prison for God knows how long. I'd make sure that all of my prescription medications are legal to bring into another country (some countries are restrictive about stuff like that).

But the whole "Oops, sorry! I didn't know!" excuse? Nope, that's falling on deaf ears.

The basketball marijuana thing in Russia? She was stupid. I don't have any sympathy for her. She's an idiot for assuming that it's ok to bring pot into another country. Don't care that she didn't mean to do it. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

</end rant>

 

[pens4821]

Cases like this are one of the reasons I'm scared to travel some places. (I don't own firearms, so not this problem specifically, but I'm afraid of not knowing
I don't think any one person even could read and understand every law on the books for an entire

Cases like this are one of the reasons I'm scared to travel some places. (I don't own firearms, so not this problem specifically, but I'm afraid of not knowing some obscure law.)

I don't think any one person even could read and understand every law on the books for an entire country.

I definitely think the guy should have read the State Department's warning, though, and checked all the pockets of his bag before using it.

Still, I think 12 years is way too harsh if no nefarious intent can be shown.

I agree with being hesitant to travel to other countries. While I also wouldn’t have to worry about this issue specifically, I just don’t want to take the risk of getting jailed for something stupid in a foreign country. I know it’s extremely rare and probably 99.9% of people have no issues. However it is in the back of my mind and would keep me from traveling out of the US.

 

[Donaldswife]

Maybe we need more laws like these in the states. Just saying.

We need something here.....maybe if we had some common sense gun laws with mandated training before purchasing a firearm or ammo the people using them would understand better the consequences of what can happen when you don't take storage of said items seriously. We own a gun, keep it locked in a safe and know it is there at all times. When we take it our for use at the range it comes back and is stored properly. The attitude about gun safety in this country is bonkers.

 

[Imzadi]

A FOURTH American man, from PA, has been discovered to be imprisoned there for the same ammo charge. He's been imprisoned already for 80 days. He had a court hearing today, but the judge made no determination on how long his sentence will be. ABC news said it will likely be determined at the end of this month.

 

[sk!mom]

Regarding the bolded, I get it, but they caught him as he was leaving. If it was something he was trying to sell and didn't, or use for some other reason and didn't, why wouldn't he have thrown them in the ocean?

I'm not excusing him, and he should suffer whatever consequences are on the books. But I do think 12 years is extreme for having ammunition in a piece of luggage. A fine? A year or two in jail? Yea, I can get that. 12 years seems like a lot to me.

“Extreme” by US standards. Many other countries are over and done with our gun culture and Americans who seem to think that, we run the world.

We were in Ireland in June 2022. Shortly after the Uvalde school shooting. Whenever we mentioned in conversation that we are from Texas, it was met with, “I’m so sorry,” And true bewilderment that Americans would allow children to be murdered at school over and over rather than pass gun laws.

I had no explanation. I applaud other countries that will not stand for it and will send a strong message that it isn’t acceptable.

 

[sam_gordon]

“Extreme” by US standards. Many other countries are over and done with our gun culture and Americans who seem to think that, we run the world.

We were in Ireland in June 2022. Shortly after the Uvalde school shooting. Whenever we mentioned in conversation that we are from Texas, it was met with, “I’m so sorry,” And true bewilderment that Americans would allow children to be murdered at school over and over rather than pass gun laws.

I had no explanation. I applaud other countries that will not stand for it and will send a strong message that it isn’t acceptable.

Ammunition isn't any good without a weapon to fire it. Countries can do what they want and I'm free to give my opinion of their laws.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Ammunition isn't any good without a weapon to fire it.

And a gun isn't any good without ammunition.

 

[sam_gordon]

And a gun isn't any good without ammunition.

True, but guessing its easier to smuggle ammunition than the gun.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

True, but guessing it's easier to smuggle ammunition than the gun.

Absolutely. So they want to make it just as much a crime to supply the ammunition to the illegal gun holder, and reduce the number of people who might chance it.

 

[sam_gordon]

Absolutely. So they want to make it just as much a crime to supply the ammunition to the illegal gun holder, and reduce the number of people who might chance it.

Again, that's fine. The country can do what it wants. I think this is the third time I've said that. I still feel 12 years is harsh.

 

[sk!mom]

Again, that's fine. The country can do what it wants. I think this is the third time I've said that. I still feel 12 years is harsh.

You are absolutely correct. It is very harsh. I think that’s Turks and Caicos’ point.

 

[QueenIsabella]

It's kind of like that teen who got sentenced to caning for putting graffiti on buildings in Singapore. The crime would hardly raise an eyebrow in the US...but he wasn't IN the US, and Singapore is very strict on that. 54 strikes seemed excessive to most outsiders, but the kid committed the crime.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Absolutely. So they want to make it just as much a crime to supply the ammunition to the illegal gun holder, and reduce the number of people who might chance it.

Again, that's fine. The country can do what it wants. I think this is the third time I've said that. I still feel 12 years is harsh.

I liked both of these posts because I do applaud a country wanting to keep guns and ammo out if it's borders, and if a person was caught trying to sell either of those things there, I'd expect them to throw the book at him!

But intent matters. If this guy was trying to distribute the ammo, it wouldn't have still been in his bag when he was leaving. I understand some penalty (because there is always the danger of someone fining it in his bag and stealing it from him, so it is still a risk to the country) and they do want the effect to be tourists learning about this and checking their bags in the future. - I just think a shorter sentence would have been enough to do that.