FBI guide warns of hidden knives

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Tuesday, July 8, 2003 | By Paul Sperry

[JohnHuang2]

WASHINGTON -- Since the Sept. 11 hijackings, an FBI lab here has been compiling a database of easily concealable knives -- including long, fixed blades hidden in canes, retractable short blades hidden in keys and lipstick tubes, and others made of nonmetal composites that can escape detection by airport magnetometers and X-ray machines.

Most of the nearly 90 samples photographed in the extensive database of concealable weapons are commercially available for less than $20, the FBI says.

"These knives should be treated as potentially dangerous weapons," warns the "FBI Guide to Concealable Weapons 2003."

The booklet, put together by the Firearms and Toolmarks Unit of the FBI Laboratory Division at Quantico, Va., includes X-ray images of the knives to show how they might look if concealed in a carry-on bag and passed through a scanning device. Those made of plastic composites appear "invisible."

"It got a wide dissemination" in the federal government, FBI spokesman Ed Cogswell said of the booklet.

Transportation Security Administration spokesman Brian Turmail says he is not aware of the booklet, however, and could not say for certain if it has been distributed to all the federal security directors at the nation's major airports.

The hijackers who took control of commercial jetliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon were armed with box cutters.

The foreword to the FBI booklet says it is the "first installment of a continuing effort to collect and distribute information on knives that otherwise may be dismissed as nonthreatening items."

[JohnHuang2]

Tuesday, July 8, 2003

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[LibWhacker]

First identify, then outlaw. Still, the database of concealable weapons is a great resource for those looking for concealable weapons. Each is pictured and they even tell you where to buy 'em!

[Rome2000]

Just goes to show the idiocy of the TSA's refusal to racially profile.

They left out the knives that are concealable in shirt tabs.

Maybe they'll have every fifth person strip naked and do a cavity search, while Mohammed walks onto the plane unmolested with weapons in his shirt tabs, comb, and socks.

Or how about having every lie on the conveyor belt and pass through the x-ray machine?

That would at least make sense.

The illusion of airport security remains the same as before 9-11.

There is no security where you don't profile, case closed.

I only fly now if it is an absolute emergency, its only a matter of time before a multiple hijacking occurs again, the best efforts of Minetta and friends notwithstanding.

[rageaholic]

Hey my dog has to ride in a cage in the luggage compartment, and he never bit anybody. He just got profiled. So why not put arab passengers in cages too?

[ko_kyi]

Frankly, I don't see a knife-wielding terrorist (or even a small group of them)getting into another cockpit again. People know what is up, and will be wielding belts, books, hot coffee, and who knows what else the minute the first guy stands up.

Most people on the flight will realize that if you let them in the cockpit you are dead anyway, so why not be dead in the aisle trying to take them out?

[rageaholic]

I agree. The next one will be "hijacked" by the pilots themselves, like the Air Egypt plane that was flown into the ocean by the Copilot.

This just goes to show you how far behind the power curve the FBI really is. Anyway, MacGuyver could make a knife from a tootsie roll and the toilet paper dispenser onboard.

Airlines from islamic nations need to be banned or at least locked on with missiles when they enter US airspace.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Hey. Bring it. Bring it on. Islamofascist mother=====rs. We will just have to storm the cockpit and rip them to shreds with our bare hands, ala United Airlines 93, or otherwise subdue the bastards ala Richard Reid or those other idiots. Let 'em try another 9-11 with knives. Americans will rip them to fragments.

[Redcloak]

I'm glad that they published this guide. Those 80-year old grannies are getting more and more clever.

[MichiganConservative]

Their security paradigm is wrong. They do not understand what I call the "philosophy of security." Good thing Reagan understood it. There is no USSR anymore because he did. The TSA is full of wimpy girly-men. They ought to just let regular passengers on with a buck knife. Most people have no intention of hijacking airplanes.

[rageaholic]

I'd go one better, the TSA ought to issue a loaded handgun to every passenger at the boarding gate. Try and hijack an airplane then!

[John Frum]

Rule #1: Boycott airlines from muslim nations.

Rule #2: Do not fly on aircraft with muslim pilots.

Rule #3: Always follow the first two rules.

On another note, why don't they ban the plastic forks and knives, because boo! you might buttered to death on a plane (after the butter and roll service) or ban the magazines due to the "death by 10,000 papercuts" torture which a "terrorist" might try.

It would figure the gov't would red flag a dog (which I'd trust implicitly) rather than some total dirtbag terrorist who'd squeak by on the plane even though he's given off all the wrong signals. That's more of murphy's law, in ACTION.

[joesnuffy]

Thats funny...

TSA warns and warns and warns of the terrorist dangers
But when the pilots ask to be armed they pitch a fit
TSA like Homieland Security isnt about controlling terrorism as much it is about "controlling"-.....Period!

imo

BTW outlaw ceramic knives and plastic knives...and chopsticks and shoehorns and those..false teeth ...a person with long arms can take them out and bite people with them..at quite a distance..

The Horror....The Horror.....

[SSN558]

I was in the airport yesterday and noticed a door painted with the following, "Discrete Inspection Area"

We all know what that means don't we ? The days of body cavity search in the airport are fast approaching. It will be the end of Freedom of Movement as we now know it, or once knew it. Males will be the lucky one's since they only have one hole to search.

[aruanan]

FBI guide warns of hidden knives

How soon before all pens and pencils are banned?* After all, a ballpoint or a sharp Faber Castell #2 held against someone's eye could be an effective threat modality. And what about keys on a key ring? A key could be used in the same way as a ball point pen. Just think of what that serrated edge could do to someone's eyeball! And a bunch of sharp metal objects could also be looped onto a belt and made into a dangerous flail.

*I can see the day when airport security goes home carrying loads of pens. "Jimmy, you need a pen for school? Here, take this Mont Blanc. I've got a whole bunch."

[aruanan]

The crucifix knife was pretty cool.

[Bon mots]

They're worried about these:

[Bon mots]

I like the cane sword.

[Bon mots]

Remember the KGB's Umbrella Gun?

[PatrioticAmerican]

The Famous But Incompetents strike again. Someone thinks they are sooo smart showing 1 of 1,000 knives on the market as though they have compiled a comprehensive list of concealable knives or weapons.