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TSA Takes Nail Clippers From Gun-Toting Soldier
Newser ^ | 11/19/10

Posted on 11/19/2010 10:46:33 AM PST by My Favorite Headache

Another day, another tale of the seeming absurdity of airport security. This one comes from a soldier coming home from Afghanistan on a military charter plane. The troops aboard the plane all went through security at Baghram Air Field, the soldier says in an email to RedState, passing through full-body scanners and having their bags inspected by bomb-sniffing dogs.

Yet when the plane stopped in Indianapolis to let 100 National Guard members off, the TSA insisted on re-searching all the passengers. “It’s probably important to mention that we were ALL carrying weapons,” the soldier writes.

“All of us were carrying actual assault rifles, and some of us were also carrying pistols,” though they weren’t loaded, and everyone had already been searched for ammo. Yet when the TSA found nail clippers on one of the soldiers, they insisted on confiscating them. “You can’t take those on the plane,” the TSA official said. “They can be used as a weapon.”

When the solider replied that he was permitted to take an actual weapon on the plane, the agent replied, "Yeah but you can’t use it to take over the plane. You don’t have bullets." Asked the soldier, "And I can take over the plane with nail clippers?" Apparently. He reboarded without them ... but with his weapon, along with 232 other gun-toting fliers.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: tsa; tsapervs
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To: My Favorite Headache
All of this sudden panic makes me think they are looking for something big at any moment that they know is coming down the pike...

Yes, several "Reichstag fires" will likely be popping up soon to put us back in our place.

Uppity citizens, trying to tell our masters "No."

This just won't be tolerated.

41 posted on 11/19/2010 12:17:24 PM PST by JOAT
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To: I see my hands

How about “keep your policies off my penis” for a shirt?


42 posted on 11/19/2010 12:19:15 PM PST by Clump (the tree of liberty is withering like a stricken fig tree)
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To: zot; Interesting Times

Politeness refrains me from saying where the TSA employees and supervisors who did this had their heads embedded to have done such a stupid thing. One swift butt stroke from the weapon is more of a threat than nail clippers or a “Leatherman multi-tool”.


43 posted on 11/19/2010 12:22:14 PM PST by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: My Favorite Headache
It seems that this sort of thing happened with a pilot shortly after the government allowed them to carry handguns in the cockpit.

While going through a security checkpoint, a pilot CARRYING A LOADED HANDGUN had his nail clippers confiscated as a safety hazard.

Mark

44 posted on 11/19/2010 12:27:56 PM PST by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: Nevadan

“I am really surprised that the TSA didn’t charge that soldier with a crime. Afterall, he questioned a TSA agent’s authority. You can’t do that anymore.”

Had he been traveling alone I’ve no doubt those cowards would’ve arrested him or at least detained him until he missed his flight. But in the company of 200 of his fellow soldiers? I don’t think those Burger King rejects would dare take on an entire company of combat troops.


45 posted on 11/19/2010 12:30:33 PM PST by MeganC (January 20, 2013)
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To: Jim Robinson
Can the pilots carry nail clippers? I mean, a pilot with nail clippers might try to take control of the plane.

No, they can't! I just posted on this topic. Un-frigging-believable! They actually confiscated nail clippers from a pilot who was carrying a loaded handgun!

Mark

46 posted on 11/19/2010 12:30:46 PM PST by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: SouthDixie

They don’t search muslims because they dont clip their nails. All that dangerous nail clipping on the plane could shoot across the cabin and injure someone.

Real simple.

TSA is fast outpacing the IRS as the most intrusive govt thugs.


47 posted on 11/19/2010 12:31:10 PM PST by Texas resident (Hunkered Down)
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To: My Favorite Headache

TSA = Too Stupid for Arby’s.


48 posted on 11/19/2010 12:32:40 PM PST by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: ZULU
So why the hell are soldiers on a military transport being screened for weapons at all???

It wasn't a military transport, but a civilian charter. Civilian charters have been used by the military for a very long time. When my buddy got out of the army in 1989, he flew from Germany to an airport in NJ near Ft Dix on a civilian charter, along with a whole bunch of other "former" soldiers.

Mark

49 posted on 11/19/2010 12:34:19 PM PST by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: My Favorite Headache


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

50 posted on 11/19/2010 12:36:19 PM PST by The Comedian (I enjoy progressives, especially in a light cream sauce.)
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To: MarkL

Same thing happened to then-Sacramento Police Chief Albert Najera a few years ago. He was getting on a plane, in uniform, with a loaded pistol and the ever-diligent Thugs Standing Around took his nail clippers.


51 posted on 11/19/2010 12:37:13 PM PST by MeganC (January 20, 2013)
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To: My Favorite Headache

“Do what I say, or I’ll go for the cuticle!”


52 posted on 11/19/2010 12:39:01 PM PST by Hoffer Rand (There ARE two Americas: "God's children" and the tax payers)
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To: Gator113
With each passing day I become more convinced that TSA only hires Obama voters..... my G*d these people are stupid.

They look like a branch of the SEIU.

53 posted on 11/19/2010 12:40:43 PM PST by Vinnie
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To: gov_bean_ counter
Funny, the soldier knows about a hundred different ways to kill you with either (not counting the bullets).

It's not just the soldiers. Those of us who train in martial arts know a number of ways to accomplish the job with our bare hands. Are they going to start screening for that?

54 posted on 11/19/2010 12:48:12 PM PST by Hoffer Rand (There ARE two Americas: "God's children" and the tax payers)
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To: Clump
Not bad but I prefer anger to cute or clever.

55 posted on 11/19/2010 12:55:50 PM PST by I see my hands (How's that ballot box working out for you?)
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To: My Favorite Headache

Power corrupts.


56 posted on 11/19/2010 1:52:06 PM PST by fortheDeclaration (When the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn (Pr.29:2))
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To: MarkL

Troops are generally forbidden from personally carrying weapons on civilian planes (charter or not) coupled with the fact that nail clippers are not prohibited items on the TSA checklist, this story sounds like Bravo Sierra.


57 posted on 11/19/2010 2:07:32 PM PST by XRdsRev (New Jersey - Crossroads of the American Revolution)
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To: ZULU

Exactly. I would be honored to sit next to a GI with a loaded .223 - Hell, it would be the safest place on the plane.


58 posted on 11/19/2010 4:08:34 PM PST by majormaturity
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To: GreyFriar

This isn’t accidental. It is to condition people for subservience.


59 posted on 11/19/2010 7:44:33 PM PST by zot
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To: My Favorite Headache

He should have butt stroked the guy into next week.


60 posted on 11/19/2010 9:00:05 PM PST by LouD ("against all enemies, foreign and domestic...")
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