Thread: TSA Week in Review: Firearm Found Concealed in Lining of Carry-on Bag at Phoenix

Friday, July 20, 2012

TSA Week in Review: Firearm Found Concealed in Lining of Carry-on Bag at Phoenix


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 wind up being cited or even arrested by law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where passengers tried to sneak items past our Officers.

• A loaded .32 caliber pistol with 7 rounds was found concealed in the lining of a carry-on bag at Phoenix (PHX).
• A cheese knife was discovered inside a teddy bear at Minneapolis St. Paul (MSP).
• A razorblade was discovered concealed in a shoe at Seattle (SEA).
• A dagger concealed in a hairbrush was discovered at Rapid City (RAP).
• And yet another brush dagger… A dagger concealed in a hairbrush was discovered at Omaha (OMA).
• A comb dagger was discovered at Baltimore (BWI).
• A pocketknife was discovered wrapped in aluminum foil and taped to the bottom of a bag at Houston (HOU).

M147 Firing Device - While resolving a checked baggage alarm on a bag at Reno (RNO), Officers found an initiator, an M147 firing device with the words, “Danger Blasting Cap Explosive” stenciled on the side, and two propane canisters. As I’ve said before, we’re all too familiar with instructors and other people in this type of business needing these sorts of items for their jobs. As with all inert training items and replicas, we don’t know they’re not real until we’ve gone through all the motions. This can include evacuated baggage areas and closed checkpoints which lead to delays and missed flights. People that need to travel with INERT items should plan ahead and contact their preferred shipper about mailing the training aids to their destination. Read here and here on why inert items cause problems at checkpoints.

Body Scanner Discoveries This Week – There were a total of 8 illegal and prohibited items discovered this week with the body scanners at: Fresno (FAT), 2 at San Francisco (SFO), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Tampa (TPA), Seattle (SEA), Orange County (SNA), and Ontario (ONT). Items were found in hands, pockets, and concealed in the groin area. Among the items was a tube of toothpaste a passenger at SNA had concealed behind their belt and tucked in front of his waistband.

Stun Guns –7 stun guns were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints around the nation at: Columbia (CAE), Ft. Lauderdale (FLL), San Juan (SJU), Baltimore (BWI), Los Angeles (LAX), Denver (DEN), and Gainesville (GNV).

People Say the Darndest Things – Here is an example of what not to say at the airport. Statements like these not only delay the people who said them but can also inconvenience lots of other passengers if the checkpoint or terminal has to be evacuated:

• A gate agent at Rochester (ROC) asked a passenger if he had any firearms to declare and he replied: “ no just a couple of bombs and a little dynamite, but it’s no big deal.”

Miscellaneous Prohibited Items - In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our Officers also found firearm components, realistic replica firearms, stun guns, brass knuckles, ammunition, batons, and a lot of sharp pointy things.

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.

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. 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.

TSA Blog Team

The TSA Blog: TSA Week in Review: Firearm Found Concealed in Lining of Carry-on Bag at Phoenix

Man with ‘world’s biggest penis’ stopped at SFO security

Posted on July 20, 2012 by ehuet@sfchronicle.com (Ellen Huet)


Courtesy Jonah Falcon

A New York man known for his unusually large penis was patted down by airport security at San Francisco International last week after they questioned him about the bulge in his pants, he said.

Jonah Falcon, 41, who has been featured in several documentaries about the world’s biggest penises, was returning from a trip in San Francisco on July 9 when he was stopped at security by TSA agents who spotted something out of the ordinary hanging to the left in his pants, he said.

“They wanted to know if I had something in my pockets, and when I said no, they asked if I had some sort of growth,” he said.
When he replied that it was just his penis, they “checked the area around it” but didn’t frisk him too severely, he said. They also wiped his hands to check for explosive powder.

Falcon said the delay was mostly amusing to him and only delayed him for about 5 minutes. He said it was the first time his penis had caused a security concern.

“I”ve gone through the (airport scanner) before, and I wasn’t worried,” he said. “What was the worst that was going to happen — I was going to have to whip it out for them? I’m used to that.

Sometimes when people ask me about it, if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll just show them.”

Falcon’s penis has been reported as 9.5 inches when flaccid and 13.5 inches when erect, according to Rolling Stone. He has been featured in documentaries on HBO and overseas and has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He works as a video game journalist and as an actor with small roles in movies and television shows, according to his Internet Movie Database profile.

Falcon tweeted about the airport delay and the Huffington Post was the first to report on the incident.

A spokesman for the TSA at SFO was not immediately available for comment. Falcon said the agents were “professional” about the security check.

“It was probably harder on them than it was on me,” Falcon said.

Man with