Man with 'assault rifle' brings pistol-packing 12-year-old son to Phoenix airport

Police in Phoenix say that a man carrying a rifle who gave a pistol to his 12-year-old son and brought him to the airport did nothing wrong.

Just two days after TSA agent Gerardo I. Hernandez was killed by a gunman with an assault rifle at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, witnesses said that they saw the armed man and his son show up at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

"I was outraged by it and others around me were outraged," one woman told KNXV. "The gentlemen had what looked like -someone said it was an assault rifle, I don't really know that, but it was definitely a long gun and he had it holstered on some kind of a shoulder harness."

The woman also observed a semi-automatic pistol holstered on the 12-year-old boy's hip.

"About six police officers came into the area and they gathered about 10 feet away from this fellow and his son," she said.

The Phoenix Police Department confirmed that the man and his son were at the airport waiting for a passenger on one of the flights. The man reportedly told police that he brought the weapons because he feared for his family's safety while at the airport.

"The vibe that I received from them was that they were rather smug about what they were doing that they knew the law. They knew what they could and could not do," the woman who witnessed the incident explained. "I think there are circumstances where people should be able to carry guns and have guns, but I don't think this is one of the good ones."

Police escorted the two out of the building after their passenger arrived. Authorities said that no laws were broken because Americans have the right to carry guns in unsecured areas of the airport.

Watch this video from KNXV, broadcast Nov. 4, 2013.

[Photo credit: Man and his son with a shotgun via Shutterstock.com]