Friday, January 25, 2013

TSA Week in Review: 30 Firearms Discovered at Security Checkpoints This Week (25 Loaded)


30 Firearms Discovered This Week – 25 of those firearms were loaded and 13 had rounds chambered. Here are pictures of some of the firearms. See a complete list and more photos below.

Knife Discovered With Body Scanner – A switchblade was discovered in the pocket of a passenger after being screened with image technology at Philadelphia (PHL).

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 replica grenade was discovered in a carry-on bag at Wichita (ICT).

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.

  • Three knives were discovered in a passenger’s thermos at Honolulu (HNL). He had traveled through the checkpoint once already and was permitted to take the knives outside of the checkpoint area to check them in his baggage. Instead, he attempted to sneak them through in a thermos.
  • A belt buckle knife was discovered at Los Angeles (LAX).
  • A sword cane was discovered at Memphis (MEM).


Stun Guns – Nine stun guns were discovered this week in a carry-on bags around the nation: Two at Atlanta (ATL), two at Denver (DEN), and one each at Bradley (BDL), Long Beach (LGB) , Minneapolis (MSP), Sacramento (SMF), Seattle (SEA).

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:


  • While preparing to go through the security lane, a passenger at Chicago O’Hare (ORD) asked: “Should I remove my gun and bomb, too?”


  • A passenger at LaGuardia (LGA) going through the checkpoint stated: “It’s not like I have a bomb in my bag, but I could have.”

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 Discovered This Week




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. The passenger can face a penalty as high as $7,500.00. 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, I compile my data from a preliminary report. The year-end numbers will vary slightly (increase) from what I report in the weekly updates. However, any monthly, midyear, or end-of-year numbers TSA provides on this blog or elsewhere will not be estimates.
If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure you check out our post highlighting the dangerous, scary, and downright unusual items our officers found in 2012.

Bob Burns
TSA Blog Team

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http://blog.tsa.gov/2013/01/tsa-week-in-review-30-firearms.html