American idiot found with a loaded pistol at Sydney Airport

They are everywhere.

Even Sydney Airport is not safe from gun-toting American idiots preserving their "freedoms".

An American man carrying a loaded automatic pistol in his carry-on baggage was arrested at Sydney International Airport (above) earlier this year and appeared in Sydney's Central Local Court last week, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) reported.

AFP officers were called to a security screening area of the airport in March after a worker monitoring an X-ray machine detected a suspected handgun in the 47-year-old man’s carry-on baggage.

Police inspected the bag and found a loaded Ruger pistol, which they seized. The man was stopped from boarding a flight to the United States and charged with possessing an unauthorised pistol contrary to section 7(1) of the Firearms Act 1996 (NSW) and carrying weapons through a screening point contrary to section 47(3) of the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004 (Commonwealth).

You have to wonder what style of moron would attempt to carry a gun onto a plane, but....

The man pleaded guilty to both charges was convicted and sentenced on the first charge to a 12-month community corrections order. On the second charge, he was sentenced to a 12-month good behaviour bond with a $500 surety under section 20(1)(a) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Commonwealth).

AFP Sydney Airport Police Commander Superintendent Matthew Parsons said in a statement: “This incident had the potential to have deadly consequences for other travellers and airport customers even if the weapon had been discharged accidentally.”

What is surprising is how little attention the incident attracted.