A pilot who posted videos on YouTube demonstrating flaws in the American airline security system had his home raided by federal agents who proceeded to confiscate the gun he was permitted to carry while flying. He was also asked to surrender his concealed weapons permit.

The 50-year-old pilot, who lives outside Sacramento, asked that neither he nor his airline be identified. He has worked for the airline for more than a decade and was deputized by the TSA to carry a gun in the cockpit.

He is also a helicopter test pilot in the Army Reserve and flew missions for the United Nations in Macedonia.

Three days after he posted a series of six video clips recorded with a cell phone camera at San Francisco International Airport, four federal air marshals and two sheriff’s deputies arrived at his house to confiscate his federally-issued firearm. The pilot recorded that event as well and provided all the video to News10.

At the same time as the federal marshals took the pilot’s gun, a deputy sheriff asked him to surrender his state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Apparently he refused to surrender his ability to protect himself, because a follow-up letter threatens to revoke his permit pending an apparent federal investigation.

This guy’s crime? Posting videos on YouTube demonstrating the idiocy of making flight crews go through metal detectors when a rescue ax is available to them after the security checkpoint.

The federal government then proceeded to threaten him.

A letter from the TSA dated Dec. 6 informed the pilot that “an administrative review into your deputation status as a Federal Flight Deck Officer has been initiated.”

According to the letter, the review was directly related to the discovery by TSA staff of the YouTube videos. “The content and subject of these videos may have violated regulations concerning disclosure of sensitive security information,” the letter said.

If only the federal government had been as proactive against Wikileaks as it has been against a pilot who points out the idiocy of the current airline security system. Especially since it’s not like the pilot revealed critical security information. Searching flight crews with access to more dangerous tools is idiotic? You don’t say.

The message here is clear: Criticize the federal government in any effective and prominent manner, have your life disrupted. Welcome to Obama’s America, where defending bureaucracies takes precedence over actually ensuring security and civil rights.