A passenger was detained by police officers at London Stansted Airport yesterday after the man was spotted carrying an iPhone case shaped like a firearm (via BBC News).

iphone gun case
Essex Police shared a picture of the gun-shaped case over Twitter and implied that the individual could have put his own life in danger by carrying the case around an airport terminal.


A second tweet added: "Bringing this to an airport makes it much less likely you'll catch your plane. #dontbedaft."

Police suggested the man could potentially be charged with a public order offense or for carrying an imitation firearm in public.

Gun-shaped iPhone cases appeared online in 2014 and have since come in for criticism from law enforcement on several occasions.


In August of last year, Royal Canadian Mounted Police responded with rifles and tasers to confront a man carrying one of the cases tucked into the waistband of his shorts.

After being approached by armed police, the man, who was at the beach with his family, handed over the offending case and avoided charges.

"Unfortunately some people do not realize the risks associated with openly carrying or displaying these replicas in a public space," said an RCMP sergeant when asked about the incident. "Anyone who owns this type or similar devices should safely dispose of them immediately."


In June 2015, the New York Police Department went public with similar warnings after learning about the availability of the cases, which have since been removed from Amazon and most major online phone case shops.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Top Rated Comments

John Mcgregor Avatar
101 months ago
Idiocy is now a political issue?
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
miknos Avatar
101 months ago
You have to be a moron to use those.

Police or criminals might shoot you thinking you're a threat.

Nobody will be intimidated since they'll realize you're an idiot the moment you remove your phone to answer a call or post a selfie to social media.

Bulky.

Bastard went full retard.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kebabselector Avatar
101 months ago

How could you put people in danger by carrying a case???
Next 50% of people traveling will be arrested because their hair dryer looks like a gun..... and the other 50% will be like :

"It's dumb to bring hair dryer when traveling, you must be a moron to do that!"

and

"Police or criminals might shoot you thinking you're a threat .....to wet hair!

Nobody will be intimidated since they'll realize you're an idiot the moment you remove your dryer to dry your hairs!"
Are you a gun owner? either way the comments are coming over as dumb.

In this instance the 'case' looks like a concealed weapon - walking into an Airport with a concealed weapon you have to concede is dumb and has the potential with heightened extremist alerts to be an issue.

A hair dryer isn't a gun or gun shaped, however hide it under your coat and draw it out in front of an armed police officer might get you shot.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
duervo Avatar
101 months ago
Some prime examples of possible recipients of a future Darwin Award.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
doctorwhofan98 Avatar
101 months ago
I'm interested to see whether anyone will defend the use of this case or not - I can't imagine any scenario when using that case, and especially at an airport, is ok
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fitshaced Avatar
101 months ago
I know what you're thinking, did I make five calls or six? - David Brent
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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