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).
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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.
You have a split second decision to make ... #WhatWouldYouDo #joblikenoother #AirportCops pic.twitter.com/qxiq7OxXjQ — Essex Police STN (@EssexPoliceSTN) July 6, 2016
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.
Cell phone case shaped like a gun = terrible idea #rcmpmb #tossthecase pic.twitter.com/ukCwn5GUXJ — RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) August 12, 2015
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."
I would NOT suggest purchasing this cell phone case, which was designed to look like a firearm. #BeSmart #BeSafe pic.twitter.com/swsWzD1sdY — NYPD 112th Precinct (@NYPD112Pct) June 30, 2015
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.
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Top Rated Comments
(View all)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.
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 :
Are you a gun owner? either way the comments are coming over as dumb."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!"
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.