Dennis Farina, famous for playing detective Joe Fontana on Law & Order, was arrested today for trying to take a loaded handgun onto a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago.
Police said the 64-year-old actor, a former Chicago police officer, told them he forgot that he had placed the .22-caliber gun in the case.
Farina was originally arrested Sunday morning on a misdemeanor charge of attempting to take a weapon onto a plane, said airport Police Sgt. Jim Holcomb. After officers learned the gun was not registered, the charge was increased to a felony, Holcomb said.
“He was apologetic and very cooperative, and he said he understood what was going to happen,” Holcomb said.
Farina was booked into a Van Nuys jail. His bail has been set at $25,000.
Has this got to be the most stupid arrest ever – how can you forget that you are carrying a loaded gun? I don’t come from a gun culture (in Australia it is strictly no guns for private citizens, I have never even seen a real gun, but I don’t have a problem with gun ownership) but I am always surprised that someone can forget that they are carrying a gun, or forget that it was loaded. If I had a gun, I would tiptoe around it terrified of setting it off by looking at it. Which is probably why I don’t have one, because I seriously doubt one can be set off using the power of my mind.
Interestingly, Dennis Farina should be licensed to carry firearms, and he certainly has proper firearm training, as he was a police officer for 19 years with the Chicago police. Despite this, the gun was not registered and Reuters reports that the bail was raised to $35,000 after this was discovered.
Dennis Farina is shown at the premiere of What Happens In Vegas on 5/1/08, thanks to PRPhotos.
He should be arrested for showing up at the premiere of that god-awful film too.
I think that in terms of guns and police officers [even retired], sometimes it’s just a matter of being so used to the gun that you forget that you have it or that you don’t.
My father’s a cop, and he once left his weapon in my car after using it for official business. Scared the bejesus out of me, as I was opening the glove box for a completely different reason.
In terms of not having registered, that’s gotta be embarrassing for Farina.
I can understand him forgetting a lot more than other people, considering he was a cop. Cops are allowed to carry their sidearm even on flights, or at least they were before September 11th, and I haven’t heard anything about them changing the law.
Not being registered though? That’s just being retarded.
I agree–while the part where he may have forgotten is plausible but dumb, there’s no excuse for the part where the gun turned out to be unregistered.
Dennis Farina?!? Man thats somebody that doesnt make the gossip rags that often anymore. I used to love that guy in all the cop movies. By the looks of his nose he might be battling rosaecia (sp?)
And in any case–why is he carrying a friggen gun in the first place? Is someone going to jack a 60+ year old guy in the airport? And if so, is he planning on reaching in to his bag, pulling it out, shooting the guy (with a friggen .22???) and hope this all takes place before the guy can grab the wallet from his pocket? Seriously.
He’s not famous for being in Law & Order, he’s famous for being Ray “Bones” Barboni in Get Shorty