The spate of Americans charged after they accidentally took ammo to Turks and Caicos follows a string of other arrests of US citizens who carried firearms and bullets to other countries around the world.
A senator and world-renowned boxing coach are among recent cases of Americans who were detained overseas after they carelessly left weapons in their bags before traveling.
The worrying trend comes as airport officials detected a record number of firearms at TSA checkpoints last year.
Experts say that the majority of cases involve licensed gun owners who are ‘simply forgetting’ they left a weapon in their bag prior to traveling. The surge also comes amid an overall rise in gun ownership in the United States.
A father who spent more than two months in Turks and Caicos after he was arrested for accidentally taking hunting ammunition on a family vacation was allowed home to the US on Friday after narrowly avoiding a jail term for the crime.
Washington state Senator Jeff Wilson was arrested in Hong Kong in October after he accidentally traveled there with a pistol in his carry-on luggage by mistake. He is pictured arriving at court in Hong Kong before the charge was dismissed
In September 2023, world-renowned boxing trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre was arrested in Manchester, England, after airport officials discovered a firearm and ammunition in his checked luggage. He received a suspended prison sentence
Bryan Hagerich, who was fined $6,700, is one of five Americans who were arrested in the British Overseas Territory on ammo charges.
But the issue of US citizens being detained after taking firearms or ammo overseas extends far beyond Turks and Caicos.
Washington state Senator Jeff Wilson was arrested in Hong Kong in October after he traveled there with a pistol in his carry-on luggage by mistake.
Wilson was charged with possession of an unregistered firearm but later acquitted on the condition he doesn’t commit any crime for the next two years. Courts in Hong Kong can deal with offenses in this way depending on the circumstances.
The case was particularly egregious because TSA rules prohibit travelers from carrying firearms in carry-on luggage at all, whether on domestic or international flights, indicating airport security in the US failed to properly screen Wilson.
The senator discovered his mistake mid-flight when he reached into his briefcase for a piece of gum and found the weapon, which baggage screeners in Portland, Oregon, failed to detect at the security checkpoint.
Wilson declared the weapon to customs officials upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport and was arrested.
Hong Kong Principal Magistrate Don So accepted that Wilson did not deliberately bring the firearm into the country.
In September 2023, world-renowned boxing trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre was arrested in Manchester, England, after airport officials discovered a firearm and ammunition in his checked luggage.
The items were found as he prepared to depart Manchester following a boxing match involving Chris Eubank Jr., whom McIntyre coached.
McIntyre was handed a 20-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm.
Ryan Watson and his wife Valerie pictured together arriving at their Turks and Caicos vacation. Watson accidentally took ammo to the islands and now faces prison time
Bryan Hagerich (pictured with his wife Ashley and their children, Palmer and Catherine) returned to the US on Friday after he received a hefty fine for ammo possession
The UK has some of the world’s strict gun laws, but Judge Nicholas Dean KC said McIntyre was a ‘thoroughly good man’ and said there were ‘exceptional circumstances’ that meant a non-custodial sentence was appropriate.
Americans have also been detained at airports in other Caribbean nations, South America and Asia after traveling with ammo in their luggage. Most claim they took the ammo by mistake.
In April this year, a man was arrested in Kingston, Jamaica, after 15 bullets were found before he was about to board an outbound flight from Norman Manley International Airport.
The spate comes as a record 6,737 firearms were discovered at airport security checkpoints in 2023, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
About 93 percent of the weapons were loaded.
Experts say that the majority of cases involve passengers who carried the weapons or ammo unwillingly.
Legally-owned firearms can be transported in checked luggage provided they are declared at the check-in counter, unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container.
But passengers must also be alert to firearms laws in the countries they visit.
The record caught at TSA checkpoints, which travelers pass through with carry-on luggage, follows a steady increase in recent years.
TSA Administrator David Pekoske said: ‘We are still seeing far too many firearms at TSA checkpoints, and what’s particularly concerning is the amount of them loaded, presenting an unnecessary risk to everyone at the TSA checkpoint.
‘Firearms and ammunition are strictly prohibited in carry-on baggage. Passengers are only allowed to travel with an unloaded firearm, and only if they pack it properly in a locked, hard-sided case in their checked baggage and first declare it to the airline at the check-in counter.’
Sheldon H. Jacobson, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor and aviation security expert, said the majority of passengers who fall foul of firearms rules ‘are not doing it with malicious intent’.
‘They are simply forgetting,’ he told the New York Times.
The TSA has said that ‘the most common reason’ given by passengers caught with firearms at checkpoints is they either forgot the weapon or ammo was there, or that somebody else packed the bag for them.
Passengers can face fines up to $15,000 if they are caught taking a weapon through a TSA checkpoint. But the maximum fine is rarely issued, leading some experts to call for greater punishments.
Recent polling indicated a record number of Americans now own firearms following a surge in purchases during the pandemic.
Some 52 percent of American voters said either they or a member of their household own a gun, according to the NBC News national poll, the highest amount since the survey was first conducted in 1999.
Separate figures found that one in five households bought a firearm from March 2020 to March 2022. The data includes new gun owners and others who were adding to their collection.
Experts have linked the increase in ownership to distrust in society and a feeling among many Americans that they need protection as they go about their daily lives.
Sharitta Grier, center, moved into a rental home in Turks & Caicos with Ryan Watson, left, and Bryan Hagerich, right, after they all faced ammo charges and were unable to return to the US
Tyler Wenrich, 31, pictured with his wife Jeriann, is also facing 12 years in prison after two 9mm bullets were found in his luggage on April 20 as he departed a bachelor party cruise
Dr. Matt Miller, a professor at Northeastern University who has researched gun ownership trends, said: ‘Sometime between 2016 and 2019, the new gun owners were more likely to be female and black than prior to that and, whether it’s in response to feeling as though things are going out of control, the country is really divided, that’s a tempting speculation to make.’
A definitive link between ownership and arrests at airports or overseas has not been observed.
Michael Allan Grim, 26, from Indiana, was recently released from an eight-month sentence in Turks and Caicos after airport officials found a 9mm magazine in his luggage as he prepared to leave the islands following a family vacation.
Grim was initially told he would only be fined but a judge instead decided to jail him.
Ryan Watson, 40, Tyler Scott Wenrich, 31, and Sharitta Shinse Grier, 45, all remain trapped on the island, while Michael Lee Evans, 72, was bailed and allowed to fly back to the US as he has a serious medical condition.
They claim they didn’t know any bullets were in their bags – saying they could have been left there after hunting trips or by mistake – and asked for mercy.
But a recent delegation of two US senators, three members of the House and embassy and state department representatives were ‘not able to find a path forward’ to secure their release, meaning they are still facing 12 years in prison.
Wenrich pleaded guilty last week and will be sentenced on May 28. Watson and Grier are yet to plead.
Hagerich, Watson, and Grier have been sharing an apartment while bailed on the Caribbean island while they awaited their fates.
Ryan Watson, 40, an avid hunter, said loose hunting bullets were found in his luggage as he and wife his Valerie left their vacation. He still remains on the island
The delegation was hoping to bring the Americans home, but Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma told the Miami Herald: ‘Despite our willingness to work with Turks and Caicos officials to get our constituents home, we were not able to find a path forward today.’
He added: ‘We went in respectful of their sovereignty, and with an open mind looking to find common ground.
‘At this point, well-intentioned American citizens are facing a dozen years in prison all for unknowingly having one or two bullets in their luggage.
‘The unintended consequences of TCI’s law have been at the expense of well-intentioned American tourists, including a grandmother, who had no intention of breaking the law.’
If the tourists are not released and are jailed, Mullin said: ‘We will need to consider additional actions to safeguard American citizens.’
Following the meeting the Turks and Caicos Governor’s Office said the government has ‘clear laws prohibiting the possession of firearms and/or ammunition and strict penalties are in place to serve and protect all who reside and visit the Turks and Caicos Islands.’
