Thread: TSA Week in Review: Loaded Gun Concealed in Carry-on Bag Charlotte (CLT)

Friday, November 30, 2012

TSA Week in Review: Loaded Gun Concealed in Carry-on Bag Charlotte (CLT)

Pistol discovered under lining of carry-on bag at (CLT)

Items in the Strangest Places –It’s important to check your bags prior to traveling. If a prohibited item is discovered in your bag, you could be cited and possibly arrested by local law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where prohibited items were found in strange places.

• A 45. caliber pistol loaded with seven rounds and a round in the chamber was discovered hidden under the lining of a carry-on bag at Charlotte (CLT).
• A two inch knife was detected under the sole of a shoe at Salt Lake City (SLC).
• Two belt buckle knives were discovered this week at Fresno (FAT), and Rapid City (RAP).
• A cane sword was discovered at Baton Rouge (BTR).

Inert Ordnance and Grenades Etc. – We continue to find inerthand grenades and other weaponry on weekly basis. Please keep in mind that if an itemlooks like a realistic bomb, grenade, mine, etc., it is prohibited - real or not. When these items are found at a checkpoint or in checked baggage, they can cause significant delays. I know they are cool novelty items, but it is best not to take them on a plane. Read here and here on why inert items cause problems.

• A live flash bang grenade was discovered in the checked baggage of a passenger at Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS). Along with the grenade were 20 rounds of improperly packaged 7.62mm ammunition. After a 42-minute evacuation, checked baggage operations resumed.
• An inert grenade was discovered in a checked bag at Las Vegas (LAS).

Powder Horn – A powder horn with approximately 3 ounces of black powder was discovered in a carry-on bag at Little Rock (LIT).

DIY Gadgets – Do it yourself (DIY) gadgets can often look like improvised explosive devices both on and off the X-ray monitor. Please take a moment to think about what you’re traveling with and how it might appear to TSA. You can read here and here about why homemade gadgets can cause problems.

• A pair of shoes with wires attached to the heels (see photo) caused some concern at LAX. It turns out the shoes are designed to store energy.
• An odd item was discovered in checked baggage at Newark (EWR). It was a piece of cardboard folded in half with Styrofoam in the middle attached with wires to aluminum foil on the ends. Turns out it was a contact switch for surveillance video.

What Not to Say at an Airport – Statements like these not only delay the people who said them but can also inconvenience many other passengers if the checkpoint or terminal has to be evacuated:

• A passenger at Miami (MIA) told the ticketing representative that he had a bag full of dynamite. Five flights were delayed for a total of 4 hours, 56 minutes affecting 1,027 passengers. The passenger was arrested on a state charge.
• After a gate agent at Orlando (MCO) informed a passenger she could not get her checked luggage out of the plane, the passenger stated: “Well what if I had put a bomb in it? Can I get it back then?”

Stun Guns – Six stun guns were discovered this week in a carry-on bags around the nation: Atlanta (ATL), Harlingen (HRL), Orlando (MCO), Denver (DEN), Baltimore (BWI), San Francisco (SFO), San Jose (SJC), and Jacksonville (JAX)

Miscellaneous Prohibited Items - In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our Officers also regularly find firearm components, realistic replica firearms, bb and pellet guns, Airsoft guns, brass knuckles, ammunition, batons, and a lot of sharp pointy things -- to mention a few…

Firearms - Here are pictures of some of the firearms our Officers found in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday. See a complete list below.

You can travel with your firearms in checked baggage, but they must first be declared to the airline. You can go here for more details on how to properly travel with your firearms. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality. Travelers should familiarize themselves with state and local firearm laws for each point of travel prior to departure.

Unfortunately these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about these finds. Sure, it’s great to share the things that our officers are finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the throughput is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. This is a friendly reminder to please leave these items at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that's for the law enforcement officer to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items.

Bob Burns
TSA Blog Team

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http://blog.tsa.gov/2012/11/tsa-week...concealed.html