4 Americans charged with ammunition offenses in Turks and Caicos, accused of bringing live ammo to the islands

[groundloop]

Source: CNN


Four Americans are charged with possession of ammunition offenses in the tropical Atlantic getaway of Turks and Caicos, according to a post from the Turks and Caicos Islands Government.

Carrying firearms in Turks and Caicos is prohibited, according to the TCI Government. Bringing firearms or ammunition, including stray rounds, into the British Overseas Territory without prior permission from police is “strictly forbidden.”

Individuals who violate the law face a minimum 12 years in prison, according to an April advisory from the US Embassy in the Bahamas. A post on X from the island government said judges do have discretion to lower the minimum when there are “exceptional circumstances.”

According to the post from the Turks and Caicos government, the four Americans are: Michael Lee Evans, 72; Bryan Hagerich (no age listed); Tyler Scott Wenrich, 31; and Ryan Tyler Watson, 40.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/travel/turks-and-caicos-americans-ammunition-charges/index.html

[Shellback Squid]

1. I found a 9mm round in my carryon lugagge after I arrived at my destination, just one

and no idea how it got there

[Rebl2]

3. Sounds

like someone is planting ammo in Americans luggage. Would they do that?

[oldsoftie]

8. My wife just said that watching the evening news.

Although this latest guy admits he likely forgot it was in the bag because he uses it for hunting too

[Rebl2]

10. I saw that too

I think he said there were so many compartments in his bag, he likely overlooked that one. Who knows.

[oldsoftie]

16. Yep, thats what we saw. Seems like he'd get SOME leniency since he had no WEAPON

The bullets are pretty useless without one. Levy a good fine on these guys & let them go.
But if this happened to me, I admit I'd be doing my damndest to figure out how to get OFF that island!

[Rebl2]

22. He should buy

a separate bag to take on vacations with the family and have a separate one you use for hunting trips. If he can afford that trip, he can afford a new bag for family trips.

[oldsoftie]

23. I bet he will NOW!!

[IronLionZion]

7. Carry on? That would narrow down the opportunities to slip it into your bag

presumably the one time it's out of your control is when it goes through the security scanner.

[Kennah]

2. Pre-9/11

I talked to two different cops.

One forgot about a full speedloader with 6 rounds of .357 Magnum ammunition on their belt going through airport security. Breezed right through.

Another forgot about a switchblade--which he could legally possess, but not on an airplane--going through airport security. Procedure at the time was security officer perhaps asking you to open the blade and show the length. He held the knife, pressed the switch and held the spine of the blade while opening it, so as to conceal that it was a switchblade. Breezed right through.

[tonekat]

4. TSA at National Airport

Is always catching passengers with loaded pistols about to board planes.

https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/04/08/tsa-officers-detected-two-guns-weekend-reagan-national-airport

[Old Crank]

13. Need to be held for 24 hours

For background checks then on the no fly list for 10 years.

[moreland01]

5. Turks and Caicos, huh?

Add that to my list of no-gun zones that I can potentially move to. Sounds warmer than Canada.

[oldsoftie]

9. They actually have a serious gun violence problem.

One of the reasons they passed this law

[Ford_Prefect]

6. Just how casual do you have to be to miss 20 rounds in your bag???? I can see that 4 loose rounds or only one might be

harder to eliminate at the end of a hunting trip. It does seem to me a rather casual relationship to have with live ammunition that it floats loose inside your gear bag.

It also seems just a tiny bit privileged to take the view that it should not matter how your host country views handling weapons and ammunition differently from wherever you are from.

I don't see this as a life sentence kind of offence, but I'm having a very hard time being sympathetic to fools who presume they are masters of the world because they own personal firearms. Which this sure looks like from the outside. These are certainly not the first Americans to make this kind of error, insulting their host country's laws and conventions.

Recall the story of a certain young American who thought it would be a hoot to commit vandalism in Singapore. His acts were intended insult and harm. In some Arab states he could have received far worse than a caning.

If I take these folks at their word that they intended no harm, I still have the explicit law of Turks and Caicos to consider. What the gun rights crews will make of this seems rather obvious. However any interpretation of the US 2nd Amendment bears no weight in Turks and Caicos. How do we not support a country who views weapons far differently than we do enough to make strict laws about how they are to be controlled?

[Old Crank]

14. Isn't loose ammo dangerous?

I don't know the force required to set a round off but loose in a bag certainly raises the risk of something hard banging into it.

[oldsoftie]

17. Not really. You have to really hit it perfectly

[Old Crank]

18. Thanks

But that would be my luck....

[sir pball]

20. Even then it's really just a firecracker

A loose cartridge doesn't explode, rather the bullet just pops out the end of the shell with a massive BANG, but not with enough force to do any real damage. It would probably put a hole in the bag and you'd need new skivvies, but that's about it.

I may have tried this in my younger, dumber years.

[melm00se]

21. It depends on the round

20 12 gauge shotgun shells are pretty bulky. Ditto for 30-06 and a lot of other deer rounds. Those would be kind of hard to miss but possible.

20 rounds of 22lr, OTOH, can easily fit in the palm of your hand.

Last time I cleaned out my range bag, I found a more than a few 22lr rounds stuck in the corners, in pockets and underneath some padding (to give a gauge of the size, it is 22" x 15" x 10" and has half a dozen or so zippered compartments and a velcro attached padding in the bottom).

[AllyCat]

11. Morning shows kept showing pictures of one of the guy's family

And him admitting wrongdoing, and his plea for leniency.

Poor widdle white guy is all I could think of.

Wonder how many the authorities missed.

[babylonsister]

12. I usually did a bit of research before going

anywhere. And who transported the ammo there?

[Old Crank]

15. Correct me if I am wrong

But aren't there multiple warnings about contraband from when you buy your ticket until you board your plane. Including have you packed your bags?

[Icanthinkformyself]

19. Repealing the second amendment

may have prevented this 'tragedy'. Somehow, I can find no sympathy.