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Rocket Man
The Los Angeles Times reports today that a Southwest Airlines ticketing lobby in Terminal 1 of LAX was evacuated yesterday when "a man was found to have a rocket launcher in his checked luggage."
Although the man was a defense contractor and the weapon was "only a training weapon" that had "been modified and no longer launched rockets," LAist can't help but send kudos to the security staff at LAX for finally catching something really good via their hi-tech checked bag inspection service.
Up until now, LAX federal inspection services haven't really found anything unusual enough to warrant a newspaper article (although the papers still try). Sure, we've seen knives, sharpened wood stakes and combustible liquid that could potentially be used as a mild explosive...but a rocket launcher!? That's damn good.
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There's only one detail nagging at LAist's soul. If you're a defense contractor going to demonstrate the weapon as a training device and you're a competent defense contractor — you're not going to bring a rocket launcher with you that doesn't work. You'd bring a working rocket launcher, one that can blow up a small city block, and hide it between your briefs and your button-down shirts.
LAist smells something strange here and wonders if, possibly, LAX would rather not tell the public that they found a "working rocket launcher" for fear or some kind of backlash by citizens who think that if a person can make it into Terminal 1 with a rocket launcher, well then, there's something sort of wrong.
Conspiracy theories begin now.
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