Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Airline employee injured when gun being checked with luggage discharges

65-year-old Edward Deubler of Harvey, Louisiana was at Louis Armstrong International Airport in Louisiana, heading out for a safari. While trying to check his hunting rifle the gun unintentionally discharged, injuring a United Airlines ticket agent. The agent, who has not been identified, was taken to a local hospital with a non-critical wound to his lower leg. Deubler was issued a misdemeanor summons for negligent injury.
Passengers are allowed to check guns as luggage as long as the gun is unloaded and stored in a locked, hard-sided container. During the check-in process the owner and the ticket agent must check the gun to ensure it's unloaded, then both initial a red tag that goes inside the case as evidence that the check was performed.
The problem arose because Deubler's gun was loaded. Deubler compounded the problem when he unintentionally discharged the weapon.
Deubler is the former chapter president of Safari Club International and is a national board member of Ducks Unlimited, Inc. Pug Lorren, current chapter president of the Safari Club and longtime friend of Deubler's was surprised when he heard the news. "He's probably been on dozens of hunting trips where he's checked guns at the airport," Lorren said. "If you'd have told me to name 50 people that this could have happened to, he wouldn't have been on the list. I'm just really shocked that this could have happened."
Ohh shoot.

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