Friday, August 17, 2012

TSA Week in Review: Comb Dagger Discovered With Body Scanner, 28 Loaded Guns, and More

Non-metallic Comb Dagger Discovered With Body Scanner – A passenger at Portland (PDX) alarmed the body scanner and during the pat-down, a simple everyday ordinary black plastic comb was found in his pocket. No big deal, right? People forget to take things out of their pocket all the time… Wrong. After closer inspection, it was learned that the comb pulled apart to reveal a dagger. (See picture)
Items in the Strangest Places – It’s one thing to forget you had a prohibited item in your bag, but when you intentionally try to sneak it past us, you could be cited or even arrested by law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where passengers tried to sneak items past our Officers.

  • Three-7” throwing knives were discovered concealed in the lining of a bag under the handle at Lihue-Honolulu (LIH).
  • A pocket knife was found concealed inside a pill bottle at Huntsville (HSV).
  • An 18” sword was discovered concealed in a walking cane at Las Vegas (LAS).
  • Four belt buckle knives were discovered this week at Portland (PDX), San Jose (SJC), Seattle (SEA), and Las Vegas (LAS).

Inert Grenades Etc. – In addition to a spike in the number of guns found each day at checkpoints, we continue to find hand grenades and other weaponry on weekly basis. Please keep in mind that if something looks like a bomb, grenade, mine, etc., it is prohibited - real or not. When these items are found at a checkpoint, they can cause significant delays to you and other passengers. I know they are cool novelty items, but again, please do not take them on planes! Read here and here on why inert items cause problems.

  • An inert grenade was discovered at Huntsville (HSV) in a passenger’s carry-on bag. The grenade belonged to a minor who had packed the grenade without his parent’s knowledge. It might be a good plan to check your children’s luggage before getting to the airport.
  • An inert M60 grenade was turned over to an Officer prior to screening at Las Vegas (LAS).
  • A hollowed out detonator was discovered at Denver (DEN).

Ammo! – If properly packed, ammunition can be placed in your checked luggage, but it’s always a no-go in your carry on. 258 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition were detected in a carry-on bag at Long Beach (LGB), and 50 rounds of .25 caliber ammunition were discovered in a carry-on bag at LaGuardia (LGA). From TSA.gov – “Travelers must securely pack any ammunition in fiber (such as cardboard), wood or metal boxes or other packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition. Firearm magazines and ammunition clips must be securely boxed or included within a hard-sided case containing an unloaded firearm. Small arms ammunition, including ammunition not exceeding .75 caliber for a rifle or pistol and shotgun shells of any gauge, may be carried in the same hard-sided case as the firearm, as long as it follows the packing guidelines described above. TSA prohibits black powder or percussion caps used with black-powder.”

Stun Guns – Zzzzzzap! 13 stun guns were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints around the nation at: 2 at Jacksonville (JAX), 2 at Sacramento (SMF), Akron (CAK), Atlanta (ATL), Baltimore (BWI), Denver (DEN), Lubbock (LBB) , San Diego (SAN), New York Kennedy (JFK), Nashville (BNA), and Fort Lauderdale (FLL).

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, brass knuckles, ammunition, batons, and a lot of sharp pointy things. Just to mention a few…

Firearms - Here are the firearms our Officers found in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday.

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.







Bob Burns
TSA Blog Team

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Posted by Bob Burns (TSA Blog Team) at 8/17/2012 04:21:00 PM

The TSA Blog: TSA Week in Review: Comb Dagger Discovered With Body Scanner, 28 Loaded Guns, and More