Eric Gunderson Arrested: Love and Theft Singer Nabbed for Airport Snafu

Love and Theft will never forget this year's ACM Awards -- though not necessarily because of what went down in Las Vegas. Last Wednesday (March 28), as the duo was leaving Nashville for Sin City, Eric Gunderson was stopped by airport security and arrested by police. His crime? Trying to board the plane with a large hunting knife.

As bandmate Stephen Barker Liles told Taste of Country, it was an honest mistake, and his bandmate is no terrorist. He'd simply been on a hunting trip the weekend before and grabbed the wrong bag for the ACM outing.

"I was waiting for Eric to go through security, and he always gets stopped because he's a diabetic ... he has needles and stuff like that in his bag," Stephen said. "Then, I see them pull out this huge hunting knife with like a 10" blade. The guy looks at Eric like he was going to kill everyone on the plane. So they called the cops right away, and I was like, 'Oh crap! Are we going to make our flight?'"

Luckily, the authorities let Eric go with a misdemeanor, and the pair made it to Vegas without further incident.

Days later, they were beat out by Thompson Square in the category of Vocal Duo of the Year, and while they were likely bummed to miss out on their first-ever ACM, it might have been a blessing in disguise. After all, the award would have been one more thing for Eric to carry through security.