June 3, 2015

How on earth is anyone supposed to be able to tell whether this guy is trustworthy or about to shoot the hell out of the ticketing area at Atlanta Hartsfield airport?

Not that he cares. He's all about proving how he's got rights.

Jim Cooley says he carried his gun through the terminal when he and his wife went to drop his daughter off for her flight. He says he knew he wasn’t breaking any rules because he has a full understanding of Georgia’s gun laws.

“You can carry in unsecured areas of the airport. Past TSA, never,” Cooley said.

That’s exactly what he did. Cooley carried his AR-15 fully loaded with a 100-round drum through parts of the terminal.

That seems like a great reason never to fly into Atlanta airport again.

Cooley says he was first approached by a fire marshal who asked him why he was carrying the gun in the airport. He was then approached by an APD officer, who asked him about the gun and whether he was permitted to carry the weapon.

“I told her I was carrying this for safety when she asked me why,” Cooley posted on Facebook.

Cooley says as he and his wife began to leave the airport the APD officer stopped him again and radioed to others that he was carrying an automatic weapon. Cooley says he was then followed to his car by a police lieutenant and two officers, who took pictures of their car.

“It shouldn’t matter what I carry, just that I choose to carry,” Cooley said. “You never know where something might happen.”

He didn't much care for the cops following him either, although I'm glad they did, if only for the bravery of assuming he was one of the good guys.

Cooley says he doesn’t believe Atlanta police officers should have followed him out of the airport to his car.

An APD police report says, “At no time was Mr. Cooley deprived of his ability to leave property or freely move around the airport with the weapon. Officers followed to assure the safety of all patrons at the airport.”

Yeah, they really should have paid close attention. Good for them. And of course, that means they were not making the best use of their resources, since it turns out Cooley was one of the so-called "good guys."

But for Cooley, this is a STAND FOR FREEDOM. Someone pass the Kool-Aid please. Cooley really didn't like the fact that they were questioning why he might choose to carry one of those death machines in the airport. He explained that it was just all for his personal safety.

“It shouldn’t matter what I carry, just that I choose to carry,” Cooley said. “You never know where something might happen.”

Maybe less would happen if we didn't have people swaggering around airports with semi-automatic weapons on their backs? Just a thought.

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