theJoKell

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -

A teenage girl’s sense of style got her in trouble at the airport.

Vanessa Gibbs, 17, claims the Transportation Security Administration stopped her at the security gate because of the design of a gun on her handbag.

Gibbs said she had no problem going through security at Jacksonville International Airport, but rather, when she headed home from Virginia.

“It’s my style, it’s camouflage, it has an old western gun on it,” Gibbs said.

But her preference for the pistol style didn’t sit well with TSA agents at the Norfolk airport.

Gibbs said she was headed back home to Jacksonville from a holiday trip when an agent flagged her purse as a security risk.

“She was like, ‘This is a federal offense because it’s in the shape of a gun,’” Gibbs said. “I’m like, ‘But it’s a design on a purse. How is it a federal offense?’”

After agents figured out the gun was a fake, Gibbs said, TSA told her to check the bag or turn it over.

By the time security wrapped up the inspection, the pregnant teen missed her flight, and Southwest Airlines sent her to Orlando instead, worrying her mother, who was already waiting for her to arrive at JIA.

“Oh, it’s terrifying. I was so upset,” said Tami Gibbs, the teen’s mom. “I was on the phone all the way to Orlando trying to figure out what was going on with her. It was terrifying. I don’t ever want to go through it again.”

Vanessa and her mom said it’s hard to believe anyone could mistake the design on the purse for a real gun because it’s just a few inches in size and it’s hollow, not to mention Vanessa has taken it on planes before.

“I carried this from Jacksonville to Norfolk, and I’ve carried it from Norfolk to Jacksonville,” Vanessa said. “Never once has anyone said anything about it until now.”

TSA isn’t budging on the handbag, arguing the phony gun could be considered a “replica weapon.” The TSA says “replica weapons have prohibited since 2002.”

It’s a rule that Vanessa feels can’t be applied to a purse.

“Common sense,” she said. “It’s a purse, not a weapon.”

A TSA official at JIA said it’s not that uncommon for passengers to wear something that could be considered a gun replica, but the official encourages everyone to check the prohibited items list, which can be found online or at the airport before going through security.

I can’t wait to fly this exact same route next week! (via Radley Balko)

So by now you’ve read all about the rally on Saturday, and how it was just white people and extremely liberal (neither of which were true).  But I thought I’d write about my personal experience looking at the event as a conservative/libertarian.  

I had hoped that everyone at the rally would have understood the message that was trying to come across, but I kept my actual expectations pretty low for that.  In reality it was better than I had expected but maybe not as good as I hoped.

I went with my fiancé, Kathryn. We arrived at the mall right around 10:00 am, and thanks to my very generous sister we were able to avoid the metro.  When we got there we were pretty surprised at just how few people were there, and my sister commented on how many more people were at the Glenn Beck rally.  I was honestly surprised, but we still had plenty of time before it started.

When we first got there we walked around and took in the sights, checking out all the signs and looking for the Reddit/DonorsChoose.org booth.  I was surprised at just how popular the signs Kathryn and I had made:

The reaction we got was overall so positive.  There were a couple of naysayers, but they were few and far between.  We got a lot of “Good luck!” and “That’s so cute!”.  So many people asked to take our picture.  

At one point we had made it pretty far up in the crowd, but decided to go back to look for the Reddit tent.  Big mistake.  The Reddit tent was pretty far back in the crowd, and by the time we got there the number of people had risen dramatically.  We got our t-shirts, and then couldn’t move.  At all.  We tried to move to the side to get around the crowd, but the side was packed too.  After having a bit of a freakout moment (I don’t normally mind crowds, but when you literally cannot move an inch in any direction it can start to get to you), we decide to make our way back.  

We got back to an open area, but now we couldn’t hear anything.  At this time it was only around 11:30, so there were still just pre-show videos playing.  But we knew we had to make it to a spot where we could at least here something.  So we made our way forward, and here’s where we ended up:

That jumbotron was the last one on the lawn, and I could barely see it.  Kathryn couldn’t see it at all, since the people around us were pretty tall.  We were only able to hear about half of the rally.  I’m assuming the organizers had no idea this many people would show up.  There were many chants for “louder”, and at one point the volume did go up.  But overall it was hard to make out much of anything.  I really wish we had stayed up closer when we had the chance.

As for the rally’s content, I think it was a mixed bag.  Stewart’s closing speech was brilliant and I thought the best part of the day.  The Roots, who opened the event, were fantastic.  Bringing out John Legend was cool, but on the other hand it wasn’t really an appropriate crowd for some slow jams.  People were excited and wanted some music to fuel that.  The other highlight was Ozzy.  Not sure why anyone would choose Cat Steven’s Peace Train when they can hop on Ozzy’s Crazy Train.  

The lowest point of the show was definitely Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow.  I was already dreading Sheryl Crow, and when they announced the “surprise guest” was Kid Rock you could hear the crowd’s disappointment.  No one around us booed or anything like that, but we all assumed it could have been someone better (a friend was hoping it was Springsteen, and that would have been MUCH better).

Overall as an entertainment event I think it ultimately failed, but that may have had to do more with my frustrations in the back than the actual content.

As for the (a)political aspect of the rally, I was mostly pleased.  The reaction to our signs helped with that a lot.  There were tons of politically neutral signs that just made sense, and really went with the theme of restoring sanity.  There were a few politically conservative signs, and bit more politically liberal signs (maybe more than a bit).  Those tended to get on my nerves.  This wasn’t supposed to be a forum for political views, and most people did get that.

Some of my favorite apolitical signs of the day: Your != You’re, Bring Back Crystal Pepsi, Obama - Restore Arrested Development, I’m Just Here for the Chicks, and I’m Xenaphobic (with a picture of Xena the Warrior Princess).  I’m sure there were more, but those I definitely remember.  There was an I ♥ Boobs sign as well, but I liked it less because it often blocked my view of the jumbotron.  

But like I said before, the highlight was Stewart’s closing speech.  He really nailed exactly what I was looking for when I decided to come to the rally.  I hate that our current political system has only two sides, especially since I don’t neatly fit into either of those sides and neither do most people.  Yes, my view on what government is supposed to be is different from my fiancé’s, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about them without shouting.  And that’s how it should be overall.

I like how Stewart put blame on the 24-hour news media but also pointed out that they’re not the cause.  I think all they do is fuel the partisan fire, and force people to choose between two sides of an issue that may in fact have many sides.  It can be completely frustrating, and it was nice to see so many people who agreed with that out in force on Saturday.

So I had a good time and do not regret going in the slightest.  And as a conservative I did at times feel a bit out of place, but those times were rare and overall I thought it was a very positive experience.