FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014

TSA Week in Review – 36 Firearms Discovered This Week (29 Loaded)

Loaded Firearm Discovered in Carry-on Bag at Amarillo (AMA)
36 Firearms Discovered This Week – Of the 36 firearms, 29 were loaded and 11 had rounds chambered. See a complete list and more photos at the bottom of this post.
Grenades Discovered at (L-R) BWI and MCI

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 realistic bomb, grenade, mine, etc., it is prohibited. When these items are found at a checkpoint or in checked baggage, they can cause significant delays in checkpoint screening. While they may be novelty items, you cannot bring them on a plane. Read here on why inert items cause problems.

  • Three inert grenades were discovered this week at Baltimore (BWI), Minneapolis (MSP), and Kansas City (MCI).


Knife Concealed in Bag of Chips (LBB), Knife Under Pull Handle (BTR), Knife Sewn Into Lining of Purse (IAH)

Artfully Concealed Prohibited Items – It’s important to examine your bags prior to traveling to ensure no prohibited items are inside. If a prohibited item is discovered in your bag or on your body, you could be cited and quite 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.

  • Nine credit card knives were discovered this week. Four at Kansas City (MCI), two at Albuquerque (ABQ), and the remainder were discovered at Colorado Springs (COS), Cincinnati (CVG), and Fresno (FAT).
  • A belt buckle knife was discovered at Los Angeles (LAX).
  • A belt buckle knife was discovered at Boise (BOI).
  • A knife was detected in the lining of the carry-on bag at Baton Rouge (BTR).
  • A knife was discovered sewn into the lining of a purse at Houston (IAH).
  • A pocket knife was discovered rolled up in a potato chip bag with a lighter at Amarillo (AMA).


Belt Buckle Knives Discovered at (T-B) BOI and LAX
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…


Throwing Stars and Knives (ANC), Bullet Knife (FLL), Dagger (OMA)

Arrows (PHX), Starter Pistol (ONT), Credit Card Knife (MCI)

Stun Guns – 20 stun guns were discovered this week in carry-on bags around the nation. Four were discovered at Las Vegas (LAS), two at Oklahoma City (OKC), two at San Francisco (SFO), and the remainder were discovered at Atlanta (ATL), Burbank (BUR), Detroit (DTW), Dawson (GDV), Washington Dulles (IAD), Jacksonville (JAX), Lubbock (LBB), Kansas City (MCI), Melbourne (MLB), Oakland (OAK), Punta Gorda (PGD), and San Jose (SJC).

Firearms Discovered This Week in Carry-On Bags

Firearms Discovered at (L-R / T-B) BTR, HOU, PHX, SAT, TRI



*In order to provide a timely weekly update, date 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 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.

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. The 2011 list can be found here.

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.

http://blog.tsa.gov/2014/02/tsa-week...-firearms.html