You can’t get on a plane with a gun unless you’re an air marshal or one of the pilots approved to carry. For the rest of us? We either have to leave the gun at home or check it in our luggage.

This, however, should not be breaking news to anyone. We should all have a firm grasp on this fact by now.

Unfortunately, it seems way too many people haven’t gotten the memo. Why else would the TSA have a record number of guns confiscated for 2019?

TSA officers say they confiscated a record high number of guns across the U.S. in 2019.

They found more than 4,400 guns at checkpoints, a five percent increase from 2018 with an overwhelming majority — 87 percent of those guns — loaded.

…

A TSA administrator says the increase of handguns found at checkpoints is troubling.

I’m about to say something I never thought I’d say: I agree with the TSA administrator.

Now I need a shower.

Regardless, though, this is a problem. It’s a big problem for the gun rights community as a whole, really, but not for the reasons the TSA administrator may think.

While I don’t believe guns should be prohibited on planes–I happen to think 9/11 would have gone down very differently with armed passengers, though I suspect not everyone agrees–the fact is that they are. If you try to carry a gun on a plane, you’re going to lose your gun at a minimum. We all know this by now.

So why are people doing it?

The most likely answer is that many are just forgetting they have their gun on their person somehow. Yet that’s a bit of a problem too. You see, we like to use the phrase “responsible gun owners” when arguing against gun control laws. However, things like this make us all look pretty damn irresponsible. I mean, if we can’t even remember we’re carrying guns, how can we really be trusted with them?

Now, I know this is a BS argument. It’s not that we don’t remember, it’s that we’re comfortable with the guns and it simply isn’t part of our regular thinking. It’s like remembering you have a wallet on you. You know it’s there when you need it, but it’s otherwise just a part of your everyday carry.

The problem is, we know this, but the public at large doesn’t necessarily. They don’t get why we’re even carrying guns, much less how we can “forget” to remove them before getting on a plane.

Look, there’s a lot going on right now as anti-gunners try to demonize us. They’ll paint us however they can and use that tarring to justify whatever draconian measures they can think of in the process. The last thing in the world any of us need to do is given them ammunition to make it that much easier, and that’s precisely what’s happening.

So take a few moments before you head to the airport and make sure you’re not carrying your gun. You get to keep your gun that way and not make life difficult for the rest of us.