FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2014

TSA Week in Review – 36 Firearms Discovered This Week (33 Loaded)

All discovered in one carry-on bag at IAH

36 Firearms Discovered This Week – Of the 36 firearms, 33 were loaded and sevenhad rounds chambered. See more photos at the bottom of this post.

Inert projectile in checked bag at CVG.

Inert Ordnance and Grenades etc. – We continue to find inert hand 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 resolve the alarm to determine the level of threat. Even if they are novelty items, you cannot bring them on a plane. Read here on why inert items cause problems.

  • An inert projectile was discovered in a checked bag at Cincinnati (CVG).


Artfully Concealed Prohibited Items – It’s important to examine your bags prior to traveling to ensure prohibited items are not inside. If a prohibited item is discovered in your bag or on your body, you could be cited and possibly arrested by local law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where prohibited items were found by our officers in strange places.

  • There has been a growing trend in the number of credit-card knives discovered at checkpoints. 45 credit card knives were discovered just this week at checkpoints. 11 were discovered at San Francisco (SAN), six at Minneapolis (MSP), six at Nashville (BNA), five at Tampa (TPA), three at Grand Rapids (GRR), two at Long Beach (LGB), two at Billings (BIL), two at Colorado Springs (COS), two at Traverse City (TVC), and the remainder were discovered at Cincinnati (CVG), Fargo (FAR), Northwest Arkansas (XNA), St. Petersburg (PIE), Texarkana (TXK), and Tri Cities (TRI). Check out this blog post for more information on credit card knives.

Razorblades concealed behind greeting card (PHF), Comb-dagger (BOS), Credit Card Knife (TPA)

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…

Pepper spray gun (ORD), Throwing Star (SFO), Shiv (BUF), Kitchen Knife (BUF)

Stun Guns – 15 stun guns were discovered this week in carry-on bags around the nation: Two were discovered at Las Vegas (LAS), and the remainder were discovered at Amarillo (AMA), Billings (BIL), Boise (BOI), Dallas Love (DAL), Fort Wayne (FWA), Lubbock (LBB), Manchester (MHT), Raleigh Durham (RDU), Sacramento (SMF), Salt Lake City (SLC), San Diego (SAN), San Francisco (SFO), and Seattle (SEA).

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.

Ammunition in carry-on bag at MDW
Guns Discovered at (L-R /T-B) MEM, ROC, CLT, and SJC
Guns Discovered at (L-R /T-B)DTW, PHX, CRW, and MCO
Firearm discovered in carry-on bag at AUS
Guns Discovered at (L-R /T-B) ECP, ECP, ATL, and SAT

*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.

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 $7,500. 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.

If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure you check out our TSA Blog Year in Review for 2013. You can also check out 2011 & 2012 as well.

Follow @TSABlogTeam on Twitter and Instagram!

Bob Burns
TSA Blog Team

If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us by clicking here.

Posted by Bob Burns (TSA Blog Team) at 6/20/2014 03:44:00 PM

http://blog.tsa.gov/2014/06/tsa-week...-firearms.html