FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015

TSA Week in Review: 41 Loaded Firearms, and More Batarangs


55 Firearms Discovered This Week– of the 55 firearms discovered, 41 were loaded and 15 had a round chambered. The firearm pictured above was discovered in a carry-on bag at SDF.

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.

Four batarangs were discovered in a carry-on bag this week at Boise (BOI).
A meat slicer was discovered in a carry-on bag at the Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW). Blades on slicers, blenders, and food processors are razor sharp and are prohibited from being packed in carry-on bags.
Counterclockwise from the top, the pictured items were discovered at: IAH, DEN, IAH, EWR, BOI, ORF, ORF, IAH, SJU, JAC, SNA, ATL, AUS, ORF, LAS and PVD.

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.


  • An inert 81mm mortar round was detected in a checked bag at Great Falls (GFT).
  • Two inert grenades were discovered in a carry-on bag at Salt Lake City.
  • A novelty grenade was discovered in a carry-on bag this week at Ontario (ONT). It resulted in the closure of terminal four. 11 flights were delayed as explosives professionals determined whether the grenade was live or inert.


Stun Guns - 28 stun guns were discovered in carry-on bags this week at airports around the nation. Three were discovered at Dallas/ Fort Worth (DFW), three at San Francisco (SFO), and the remainder were found at Denver (DEN), Amarillo (AMA), Baltimore (BWI), Bellingham (BLI), Bismarck (BIS), Charleston (CHS), Charlotte (CLT), Denver (DEN), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Grand Rapids (GRR), Houston Intercontinental (IAH), Las Vegas (LAS), Lihue (LIH), Mammoth Lake (MMH),Minneapolis (MSP), New York LaGuardia (LGA), Portland (PDX), Sacramento (SMF), San Diego (SAN), Seattle (SEA), Washington Reagan National (DCA) and Wilmington (ILM).

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 here was discovered in a carry-on bag at MDW.
Clockwise from the top, these firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at ATL, OAK, SDF and OKC
Clockwise from the top left, these firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at BNA, BOI and SMF


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 8/14/2015 07:41:00 PM

http://blog.tsa.gov/2015/08/tsa-week...-firearms.html