TSA says no to rifle; retired judge demands $1K for ruined hunting trip
GRAND RAPIDS, MI Nov 15 2017— After missing his flight to Georgia for a hunting trip last month, retired Kent County judge Steven Servaas demanded he be reimbursed for his loss.
But this was no ordinary refund request.
Servaas wrote Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator David Pekoske, asking the federal agency cut him a $1,000 check.
Servaas’ gripe? That a TSA agent at Gerald R. Ford International Airport rejected the case containing a hunting rifle he planned to check with the rest of his baggage.
“They just screwed me,” Servaas said. “They’re supposed to protect and serve, just like the police. Sometimes they forget the serve part. And I don’t think they do much good at protecting either.”
In a letter to Pekoske, Servaas explained he had previously brought the same gun and case and had it approved by TSA agents at the Grand Rapids airport. He went on to detail his interaction with an agent and, later, a supervisor, during his Oct. 19 visit to the airport.
Servaas has yet to receive a response from the federal agency, though it is TSA policy to formally respond to all complaints received, TSA spokesman Michael McCarthy said.
McCarthy explained the TSA allows firearms and ammunition to be checked with other baggage, but has strict policies for how the items are secured.
“Travelers may transport unloaded firearms in a locked hard-sided container as checked baggage only,” he said. “The firearm must be in a hard-sided container that is locked. A locked container is defined as one that completely secures the firearm from being accessed. Locked cases that can be pulled open with little effort cannot be brought aboard the aircraft.”
The gun case Steven Servaas says he tried to check as baggage at Gerald R. Ford International Airport on Oct. 19, 2017.
In his letter, Servaas writes that the TSA supervisor left the lock on the case, unhooked some of the case’s clips and pulled the two sides apart “about one inch.”
“I can see your gun,” the agent said, according to Servaas’ account.
An online guide to transporting firearms and ammunition states any case “must completely secure the firearm from being accessed.”
“Locked cases that can be easily opened are not permitted,” the guide states. “Be aware that the container the firearm was in when purchased may not adequately secure the firearm when it is transported in checked baggage.”
Servaas contends the gun could not be removed from the locked case and that the agent’s rejection of the item was unfair.
He said he was initially told he needed two locks on the case, but argues his case only provides space for one. Neither the online guide nor an informational video on the TSA website make any mention of a strict two-lock rule, though the video does show a passenger preparing a rifle case similar to Servaas’ with multiple locks and says to “be sure to use all available lock tabs.”
The TSA agent suggested he leave the airport to purchase what he would need to secure the gun and come back to have it inspected again, according Servaas’ letter.
Since he was dropped off at the airport and had only about 30 minutes before his flight was scheduled to leave, Servaas said, making a trip to a store was not a viable option. Though the friend he planned to hunt with in Georgia may have had a spare gun to lend him, he said it was a moot point since he had no way to get his own rifle back to his home in Rockford.
“They just basically blew the vacation off,” Servaas said. “The guy thought he was doing something good.”
He said was particularly upset that the agent’s decision did not align with those made by TSA personnel during previous trips, pointing to luggage tags and broken security seals on the case showing it had been approved in the past.
“I don’t see how you can comply with the regulations unless they are applied consistently,” he said. “How am I supposed to know this isn’t going to go through when it’s gone through six times before?”
A close-up of the lock and previously broken TSA seal on Steven Servaas’ gun case. The former judge takes issue with the rejection of the case as baggage by TSA personnel at Gerald R. Ford International Airport on Oct. 19, 2017.
Servaas said his experience is an illustration of what he sees as an uncessary inconvenience to airplane passengers.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say anything good about the TSA,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll ever do that again. Next time, if I can’t use somebody’s gun, then I’m driving.”
McCarthy said the agency sometimes receives complaints about decisions made at security checkpoints, but that passengers should remember all the rules are in place for the safety of everyone involved.
To reduce the likelihood of an issue, he said, passengers on domestic flights should arrive the recommended two hours early. The recommendation is three hours early for international flights. The TSA also offers travellers pre-trip advice through its @AskTSA Twitter account and by a toll-free hotline: 866-289-9673.
In addition to requesting a $1,000 check from the TSA supervisor he dealt with at the airport, Servaas also asked for better consistency in the enforcement of TSA rules and that the agency takes action to ensure all passengers are “treated fairly.”
“My hope is the agency starts to encourage its representatives to have a more helpful attitude when dealing with flyers who have a problem caused by the TSA itself (my case) or a misunderstanding of its rules,” Servaas wrote. “I think it is too easy for the agents to sometimes forget they work to protect and serve flyers who use the airport.”
The Kent County judge was the longest-serving in state history when he retired at the end of 2014. First elected to the bench at 27, the youngest judge in the state at the time, the now 72-year-old retired judge served for 41 years. At the time of his retirement, Rockford’s municipal center was named in his honor.
During his tenure as judge, Servaas had a reputation as a maverick who sometimes ran afoul of the bureaucracy that oversees state courts.
The high school and college tennis champion gained near legendary status early in his career when he chased an escaped defendant down the streets of Rockford and, as the tale now goes, single-handedly apprehended the suspect. He made national headlines for refusing to fine motorists ticketed for not wearing seat belts and motorcyclists riding without helmets.
In 2008, when Servaas was informed of a Judicial Tenure Commission complaint against him, a state trooper confiscated a loaded .45-caliber gun the judge kept in a box beneath his bench for courtroom safety. The complaint brought by Paul Fischer, then the commission’s executive director, made allegations ranging from Servaas’ faliure to live in the district he serves to inappropriate comments about a female court employee. Servaas was later censured by State Supreme Court, but allowed to keep his job.
MLive
