Friday, February 1, 2013

TSA Week in Review: Loaded Pistol Discovered With Advanced Imaging Technology at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)

Passenger with Loaded Pistol at DFW – Using imaging technology, a .380 pistol loaded with seven rounds and one chambered was discovered in the pocket of a passenger at DFW. After resisting arrest, the Dallas/Fort Worth Department of Public Safety arrested him on a state charge.

23 Firearms Discovered This Week – 18 of those firearms were loaded and seven had rounds chambered. See a complete list and more photos at the bottom of this post.

Suspicious Image At PHL – An ominous image was discovered on the X-ray monitor at Philadelphia (PHL). It appeared to be a possible pipe bomb. While screening the bag, the passenger became upset and stated: “I can bring a bomb through here any day I want and you will never find it.” The item ended up being a GPS watch inside a PVC pipe with two end caps. Philadelphia Police responded and arrested him on a state charge.


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.



  • A knife concealed within an ink pen was discovered in a carry-on bag at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW).
  • A knife was discovered concealed in the lining of a carry-on bag at Columbus, Ohio (CMH).

Thirteen Batons – Thirteen 20” expandable batons were discovered in a carry-on bag at Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA).


Stun Guns –10 stun guns were discovered this week in carry-on bags around the nation: Three at Atlanta (ATL), two at Denver (DEN), two at San Francisco (SFO), and one each at Burbank (BUR), Detroit (DTW), and San Diego (SAN).

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…






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/2013/02/tsa-week-in-review-loaded-pistol.html