Security officials at Orlando International Airport have found a loaded handgun hidden inside a 10-year-old traveler’s teddy bear, reports CNN.
 Teddy bear stopped by security. (Photo: TSA) |
The report quotes officials with the Transportation Security Administration saying the boy had been on vacation in Orlando and was returning home to Ohio Friday when the gun was discovered.
“The family reported it had been given to the child at a hotel in Orlando two days earlier,” TSA spokesman Robert Johnson told CNN.
The .22-caliber Derringer, according to another TSA official, was “artfully hidden” inside the bear.
According to the report, officials are investigating the party that gave the bear to the child. The boy’s family was questioned and allowed to continue their trip.
The firearm found had been reported stolen in 1996 in Barstow, Calif., after a residential burglary, CNN reported.
“We are criticized a lot for screening grannies and babies: ‘Why are they checking this? My 2-year old isn’t a terrorist.’ This underscores the need to screen everyone and everything,” Johnson told the network.
“It’s lucky that we kept it off the flight,” he added, noting the gun could have fired mid-flight while the child was playing with the bear.
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