FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015

TSA Week in Review: 48 Loaded Firearms, Million-Volt Stun Cane, Cane Swords and More


53 Firearms Discovered This Week – Of the 53 firearms discovered, 48 were loaded and 19 had a round chambered.This firearm was discovered in a carry-on bag at (IND).
Have you visited the TSA Instagram account? Not only did we just hit 300K followers, we were ranked #4 out of the top 100 Instagram Accounts by Rolling Stone Magazine. Be sure to check it out.
A butane camping tank was detected in a carry-on bag at Sacramento (SMF) and a camping stove with white liquid fuel was discovered in a checked bag at University Park (UNV). Camping fuel is prohibited in both carry-on and checked baggage. Be sure to read our travel tips post on flying with camping gear.
A variety of fireworks were discovered this week at Baton Rouge (BTR), Charlotte (CLT), San Francisco (SFO) and Orlando Sanford (SFB). With Independence Day around the corner, please make a mental note that all fireworks are prohibited in both carry-on and checked baggage.
Artfully Concealed Prohibited Items – Artfully concealed is a term used to describe an item that was intentionally hidden. It could be anything from a knife sewn into the lining of a bag to a sword hidden inside of a walking cane. If a concealed prohibited item is discovered in your bag or on your body, you could be cited and possibly arrested by law enforcement. Here are some examples from this week where artfully concealed items were discovered by our officers.

This concealed disassembled .22 caliber firearm was discovered at Daytona Beach (DAB).

  • A concealed disassembled .22 caliber firearm was discovered at Daytona Beach (DAB). The frame of the gun was concealed in saw blades and the cylinder was mixed in with socket wrenches in a checked bag. The grip and firing pin were discovered in the carry-on bag inside a shaving kit.
  • A small pocketknife was discovered taped to the end of a disposable razor at Arcata-Eureka (ACV).
  • Pepper spray was found concealed in a feminine hygiene product at Baltimore (BWI).
  • Two cane swords were discovered this week at Baltimore (BWI) and San Francisco (SFO).
  • A concealed knife was discovered in a hollowed bottom of a laptop bag at Phoenix-Mesa (IWA).
  • A million-volt stun cane was discovered at Fort Lauderdale (FLL).



Million-volt stun cane. (FLL)
Inert Ordnance and Grenades etc. – We continue to find inert grenades and other weaponry on a weekly basis. Please keep in mind that if an item looks like a real bomb, grenade, mine, etc., it is prohibited. When these items are found at a checkpoint or in checked baggage, they can cause significant delays because the explosives detection professionals must respond to resolve the alarm. Even if they are novelty items, you are prohibited from bringing them on the aircraft.


  • Four inert/novelty grenades were discovered this week. Two were in carry-on bags at Seattle (SEA) and Las Vegas (LAS). The other two were discovered in checked baggage at Aguadilla (BQN) and Cleveland (CLE).



Inert grenades discovered at (L-R) (BQN), and (LAS).
Miscellaneous Prohibited Items – In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, officers also regularly find firearm components, realistic replica firearms, bb and pellet guns, airsoft guns, brass knuckles, ammunition, batons and many other prohibited items too numerous to note.

(Left - Right, Top - Bottom) Items discovered at: SWA, HNL, PHX, IAH, SJC, LAS, AEX, DTW, DAL, ANC, LAS, EWR, RIC, and IAH.
Ammunition – When packed properly, ammunition can be transported in your checked baggage, but it is never permissible to pack ammo in your carry-on bag. The ammo pictured was discovered at (IAH).

Stun Guns - 21 Stun Guns were discovered this week in carry-on bags. Four were discovered at Las Vegas (LAS), two at Dallas Love (DAL), two at New York Kennedy (JFK) and the remainder were discovered at Atlanta (ATL), Detroit (DTW), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), LaGuardia (LGA), Lubbock (LBB), Minneapolis (MSP), Oklahoma City (OKC), Palm Beach (PBI), Reno (RNO), Sacramento (SMF), San Diego (SAN), Seattle (SEA) and St. Louis (STL).

(Left - Right, Top - Bottom) firearms discovered at: RSW, PDX, DAL, MIA, ATL, RSW, CLT, FSD, PHX, EWR, MDW, and FWA.


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 line is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. The passenger can face a penalty as high as $11,000. 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.

*In order to provide a timely weekly update, this data is compiled from a preliminary report. The year-end numbers will vary slightly from what is reported in the weekly updates. However, any monthly, midyear or end-of-year numbers TSA provides on this blog or elsewhere will be actual numbers and not estimates.

Read our 2014 Year in Review post! If you haven’t read them yet, make sure you check out our year in review posts for 2011, 2012 and 2013.

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Bob Burns
TSA Social Media Team

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Posted by Bob Burns (TSA Blog Team) at 6/19/2015 09:15:00 PM

http://blog.tsa.gov/2015/06/tsa-week...-firearms.html