Greetings @unablesalt,
Looking at the official Docker documentation: docker run | Docker Docs
As per the note it really seems the --device option is not to be used with ephemeral devices that may be plugged/unplugged at a moment’s notice. Now for USB devices that act as a drive device like a typical USB drive there’s a workaround described here: Automatic mounting of sdcard on boot
But your USB device seems like it’s not a drive type device, correct? So perhaps this other solution may not work for you.
That said, if your goal is just to notify that something is not plugged in and therefore something is wrong. Maybe if the device doesn’t exist you launch another container showing some kind of error/failure screen or something similar?
Best Regards,
Jeremias