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Friday, September 19, 2003
HOMELAND INSECURITY
Screener's wife caught
with gun at airport
But TSA manager's spouse won't be charged with law
violation
Posted: September 19, 2003
5:00 p.m.
Eastern
� 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
The wife of a Transportation Security Administration manager at Denver
International Airport won't be charged with a crime after screeners
discovered a handgun in her purse.
The Denver Post reports 35-year-old Helene C. Nance was arrested
Tuesday after screeners discovered a .380 semi-automatic handgun, seven
live rounds and a magazine in her purse as it made its way through an
X-ray machine.
Though such finds have often resulted in federal gun charges, Nance �
an on-call secretary for the airport's human resources department � won't
be charged because, state attorneys said, she did not appear to have
intentionally violated the law.
"One of the elements we have to prove is mental state. We do not feel
we could prove intent," Lamar Sims, chief deputy district attorney of
Denver, told the Post.
Her husband, the paper said, is J.B. Nance, one of 20 TSA screening
managers at the airport. Critics believe she wasn't charged because he is
a senior TSA official.
Oftentimes � mistake or not � felony charges are leveled against
perpetrators, said the Post. But records show in many other cases, charges
have not been filed against people who have brought guns into airports
The Virginia-Pilot reported in March that five people had been caught
carrying guns into Norfolk International Airport, but none had received
jail time.
The Pilot said federal prosecutors had declined to push for
incarceration, ostensibly to keep pace with similar cases around the
nation.
While one suspect received penalties of up to three years probation and
a $4,000 fine, the Pilot said, others of the five paid fines of as little
as $75.
Guns are permitted inside airports and can be transported aboard
planes, as long as they are stowed in the cargo hold. But weapons must be
declared to ticketing agents, transported in hardened, locked cases,
unloaded and subjected to inspection by TSA personnel.
Mrs. Nance told police she usually carries her gun in her car. However,
she had placed it in her purse the day before when she put the car in the
shop for repairs.
As to disciplinary action, airport officials have confiscated her
employee badge indefinitely, the paper said. She can't work at the airport
without one, say officials.
Airport spokesman Steve Snyder said she will undergo a review by
security officials and could face further personnel action.
The Post said the TSA has seized about 1,500 guns since the agency took
over responsibility for airport security last year.
