FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

TSA Week in Review: June 17th - 23rd - Sixty-three Firearms and More

Sixty-three firearms were discovered this week in carry-on bags around the nation. Of the 63 firearms discovered, 53 were loaded and 17 had a round chambered. All of the firearms pictured were discovered last week. See a complete list below.

A pocket knife, meat mallet, mountain climbing pick and two throwing knives were all detected in a traveler’s carry-on bag at Austin (AUS).
As the 4th of July gets closer, please remember that fireworks are prohibited in both carry-on and checked bags. These sparklers were discovered in a carry-on bag at Baltimore (BWI).
If you’ve ever wondered why e-cigarettes with lithium-ion batteries are prohibited in checked bags, here’s an example of what can happen. Last Friday at Albuquerque (ABQ), an electronic cigarette with a lithium-ion battery exploded next to an aerosol canister in a checked bag and burst into flames. TSA officers put out the fire with no injuries.Read our blog post on traveling with E-cigarettes.

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 board the aircraft. An inert grenade was discovered in a checked bag at Anchorage (ANC).
L-R, these items were discovered at ABQ, DEN, IAH, PHX, CHS and IAH


In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly in carry-on bags, our officers also regularly find firearm components, realistic replica firearms, bb and pellet guns, airsoft guns, brass knuckles, ammunition, batons, stun guns, small pocketknives and many other prohibited items too numerous to note.

When packed properly, ammunition can be transported in your checked baggage, but it is never permissible to pack ammo in your carry-on bag.

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 2015 Year in Review post!If you haven’t read them yet, make sure you check out our year in review posts for 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.

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Bob Burns
TSA Social Media Team

Posted by Bob Burns (TSA Blog Team) at 6/24/2016 09:23:00 PM

http://blog.tsa.gov/2016/06/tsa-week...3rd-sixty.html