Gun on a plane: Screening for airline employees more lenient

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Officials say more lenient screening procedures for airline employees at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport enabled a Delta Air Lines flight attendant to carry a gun onto the first leg of round-trip flight from Atlanta to Indianapolis.

Airport screeners in Indianapolis found a handgun in Amber Robillard’s purse when she showed up for her assignment on a return flight to Atlanta on June 4. The 39-year-old woman was detained and charged with a misdemeanor for having a 9 mm Glock, with a full magazine of 10 bullets and a holder, in her carry-on luggage.

According to records, Robillard told police in Indianapolis that she had put the gun in a bag that she placed in her car. When she got to the Atlanta airport  for her assigned flight to Indianapolis, she accidentally picked up the wrong bag – the one containing the gun – and boarded a plane to Indianapolis. She stayed in Indiana overnight. The Glock was discovered when she passed through the security checkpoint at the Indianapolis airport on June 4.

In Atlanta, however, airline employees do not pass through the same security checkpoints that passengers use, and in many cases, their luggage and carry-on items are not scanned, several officials said. The backgrounds of those employees, however, are checked before they are given credentials that allow them access to "secure areas through controlled access points other than the [passenger security] checkpoint, including at Hartsfield-Jackson.

"Under the Aircraft Operators Security Program, aircraft operators are responsible for the integrity of their employees who fly while on business and the materials they carry on board," Hartsfield-Jackson spokesman John KennedyKennedy said in an e-mail. "To receive airport identification credentials, employees must pass a security threat assessment, an extensive background investigation and ongoing vetting. Appropriate action is taken if employees fail to follow proper procedures in accessing secure areas.”

TSA spokesman Jonathan Alen said each airport develops its own security systems for airline employees that allow those with credentials access to secure areas through alarmed doors or gates.

Delta's response to questions was similar to the airport's and TSA's. "Our airport security programs are developed in cooperation with the local airport and TSA and are approved by all relevant local and federal security authorities," Susan Chana Elliott wrote in an e-mail.  "We take our airport security programs very seriously and will thoroughly investigate any potential violations of our policies."

Contact information for Robillard could not be located.

Robillard is the second Delta employee in three weeks to be discovered with a gun before boarding a flight.

On May 15, off-duty pilot Matthew Lamar McDaniel, 32, of Atlanta, was arrested when screeners at Hartsfield-Jackson spotted a loaded Taurus .38 special in his carry-on luggage.

According to a report on that incident, Daniel, who had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, told police he had "cleaned out his girlfriend's vehicle and forgot he placed [the] weapon in [his] bag."

Generally, only federal air marshals -- and pilots in limited circumstances -- are allowed to carry weapons on planes. All other guns are prohibited beyond TSA security checkpoints. Legislation is pending in Congress that would make it illegal to carry a firearm into any non-federally-regulated area of an airport, including baggage claim and ticketing areas.

Yet earlier this week, Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a bill overhauling Georgia laws concerning firearms and public gatherings to allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry guns at airport pickup and drop-off points.