If your basketball player, of who we all know we're talking about, accidentally carried it into the border of Russia and then surrendered it to customs saying I brought this illegal substance accidentally I would be on the same side of showing a leniency to encourage this kind of voluntary surrender of contraband.
As would any reasonable person because getting people to voluntarily follow the rules is much better than doing it through force of terror which encourage this in them to hide the fact they are doing it such as your basketball player example did.
Do you lock the door to your home at night?
In Boy Scouts, we have a motto, "Be prepared." Why do anti-2A people regularly belittle people who carry guns? How is it any different than carrying a pocket knife or locking your doors? You are preparing for any situation the world might throw at you. The likelihood that someone will break into your home is low, so why lock the door? Is it an emotional support lock?
I've managed to fly on airplanes for 45 years now without packing anything that would go against the TSA rules. Surely an actual legislator, who should be held to a higher standard anyway, can handle the same amount of responsibility. I'm sure this Republican state senator would have felt the same way if it was a basketball player getting busted for a vape pen in a Russian airport instead.