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| Loaded Firearm (ATL) |
43
Firearms Discovered This Week –Of the 43 firearms, 36 were loaded and 13 had rounds chambered. See a complete list and more photos at the bottom of this post.
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| Inert Claymore Mine and Grenade (SJC) |
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 - real or not. When these items are found at a checkpoint or in checked baggage, they can cause significant delays in checkpoint screening. I know they are cool novelty items, but you cannot bring them on a plane. Read
here and
here on why inert items cause problems.
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| Grenades Discovered at (L-R) MGM, ROC, CRP, LAS |
- An inert Claymore mine was discovered in a checked bag at San Jose (SJC).
- Two inert M60 timed blasting fuses were discovered in checked baggage at Savannah (SAV).
- Five inert/novelty/replica grenades were discovered this week. Three were in carry-on bags at Las Vegas (LAS), Corpus Christi (CRP), and Montgomery (MGM). Two were discovered in checked baggage at Rochester (ROC), and San Jose (SJC).
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| Inert M60 Timed Blasting Fuses (SAV) |
Stun Guns – 11 stun guns were discovered this week in carry-on bags around the nation: Two were discovered at San Diego (SAN), and the others were found at Birmingham (BHM), Denver (DEN), Grand Rapids (GRR), Jacksonville (JAX), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), Reno (RNO), San Juan (SJU), and Sacramento (SMF).
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| Stun Guns Discovered at (L-R) LAX, DEN, JAX, LAS |
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| Starter Pistol (BUF) |
On your mark, get set, stop! – A starter pistol was discovered in a carry-on bag at Buffalo (BUF).
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| Bang Stick (KOA) |
Bang Stick - A .44 caliber
bang stick was detected in the carry-on bag of a Kona (KOA) passenger. For anyone who uses these, please note that they are prohibited in carry-on bags.
Items in the Strangest Places –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, 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 in strange places.
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| Knife in Hard Drive (BHM) - Razorblade in Shoe (HNL) |
- Three cane swords were discovered this week. Two were discovered at Los Angeles (LAX), and the other at Long Beach (LGB).
- A multi tool was discovered concealed inside of a computer hard drive at Birmingham (BHM).
- A razorblade was discovered concealed in the shoe of a Honolulu (HNL) passenger.
- Pepper spray designed to look like a lipstick case was discovered in Phoenix (PHX).
- A small knife was discovered in a shoe at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW).
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| Sword Canes Discovered at (Top to Bottom) LAX, LGB, LAX |
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:
- After alarming advanced imaging technology, a Houston (HOU) passenger stated: "I am packing a bomb." She wasn't.
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| Knives Discovered at (L-R) EWR, SJC, LAX, EWR, LGB |
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| Pepper Spray Lipstick (PHX) |
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…
Firearms Discovered This Week in Carry-On Bags
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| Discovered at (L-R) FLL, ATL, AUS, BNA, IAD, LAX, PVD, FAT |
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| Discovered at (L-R) HOU, JAX, MIA, JAX, SDF |
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| Discovered at (L-R) BWI, ATL, AUS, DAL, DEN, TLH, DEN |
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| Discovered at (L-R) CHO, TUL, LAS |
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| Discovered at (L-R) ABQ, TPA, AUS, FAY, LAX, TPA |
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. The 2011 list can be found
here.
Bob Burns
TSA Blog Team
