Post by EXO on Oct 27, 2011 7:13:49 GMT 8
On one of my trips post 9/11, I carried home the very rusty body of a hollow hand grenade; there was no way any mechanism could have been attached to it.
Customs clearly knew there was something inside my bag when they called me aside. They asked me the "evidentiary questions" to set me up, and then asked "And is there anything you wish to declare?"
The face on the gal was priceless when I responded, "Yes, I have a hand grenade in there. Do you want to open my bag or shall I?"
Long story short, they took the item to the supervisor who was very sensible about it all, and then advised me that they had decided that the item was no longer in such a condition that it could be considered any part of a hand grenade, that they would return it to me, and that I was free to go.
I suppose they got the last laugh, for I was singled out every year for the next three or four years. The lesson is that bureaucracies have computers, and computers never forget. Neither can computers distinguish between a harmless collector and a munitions or drug courier. Governments sure have taken the little pleasures out of so much, these last few years. Beware the Nanny State, they are worse than Big Brother.
This does go off topic a little, but more recently, our "with honour we serve" cops detained a fellow who they said was carrying a gun in his vehicle. They ultimately had to put their tail between their hind legs, but they never apologized for the incident - which I memorialized for our gun club as follows:
This indicates that there are no limits to which a bureaucrat will not go in order to make you recognize that he is your lord and you are his vassal.
Customs clearly knew there was something inside my bag when they called me aside. They asked me the "evidentiary questions" to set me up, and then asked "And is there anything you wish to declare?"
The face on the gal was priceless when I responded, "Yes, I have a hand grenade in there. Do you want to open my bag or shall I?"
Long story short, they took the item to the supervisor who was very sensible about it all, and then advised me that they had decided that the item was no longer in such a condition that it could be considered any part of a hand grenade, that they would return it to me, and that I was free to go.
I suppose they got the last laugh, for I was singled out every year for the next three or four years. The lesson is that bureaucracies have computers, and computers never forget. Neither can computers distinguish between a harmless collector and a munitions or drug courier. Governments sure have taken the little pleasures out of so much, these last few years. Beware the Nanny State, they are worse than Big Brother.
WARNING
This does go off topic a little, but more recently, our "with honour we serve" cops detained a fellow who they said was carrying a gun in his vehicle. They ultimately had to put their tail between their hind legs, but they never apologized for the incident - which I memorialized for our gun club as follows:
This indicates that there are no limits to which a bureaucrat will not go in order to make you recognize that he is your lord and you are his vassal.