After a relaxing, week-long summer vacation in Florida with their 10-year-old son, Robert and Angela Barry of Grove City, Ohio, left for the airport to return home to Ohio. Just before they left, a young girl staying at the Barrys' hotel showed up at their room and gave their son a teddy bear as a gift. As they went through security at Orlando International Airport, the teddy bear went through the x-ray machine like the rest of their luggage, and the Barrys learned that appearances can fool you. A Transportation Security Administration worker noticed the outline of a gun inside the bear. Opening up the bear, airport security workers found a loaded .22 caliber handgun stuffed inside.
The Miami Herald later reported that the gun had been reported stolen in California. Robert Johnson, a TSA spokesman in Washington, D.C., said the incident "underscores the need to screen everyone and everything no matter how innocent the people or their belongings may appear."
