Guns, Chain Saws Seized from Air Passengers

Reuters ^ | 08/28/03 | Staff Writer

[bedolido]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. airport baggage screeners, displaying seized chain saws, machetes and knives, warned travelers to check their luggage for offensive objects before boarding a flight.

Officials of the Transport Security Administration, speaking ahead of this weekend's Labor Day holiday -- a busy travel time -- said that since February 2002 more than 7.5 million prohibited items had been seized.

They included 50,000 box cutters -- a weapon said to be used by the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackers -- and 1,437 firearms as well as 2.3 million knives.

The TSA officials told a news conference most people with such items in their bags intended no malice but advised passengers to consult the Web site www.tsatraveltips.usa for advice on what to leave behind when making a trip.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks screeners have confiscated seemingly harmless items like nail clippers and cigarette lighters from passengers.

But some carry more obviously dangerous items. Chain saws, a weed cutting machine, hand saws and machetes, steak knives, bottles of camping stove fuel and perfume bottles shaped like hand grenades were among items displayed as a sample of objects seized at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

While some carry-on items may have been innocent -- a hockey stick or a child's plastic sword -- other discoveries by TSA have yielded razor blades in tennis shoes and a bayonet hidden in a hollowed-out artificial leg.

[SpyGuy]

U.S. airport baggage screeners, displaying seized chain saws, machetes and knives, warned travelers to check their luggage for offensive objects before boarding a flight.

"Honey, what do you mean you forgot to take the chainsaw out of the carry-on luggage?"

[Spruce]

I would like two tickets to Pittsburgh, please.

[Redcloak]

Yeah... I can just see it now... A gardener with a weed whacker yelling "TAKE ME TO CUBA!".

[4mycountry]

LOL...what a vivid picture.

[GingisK]

But some carry more obviously dangerous items...perfume bottles shaped like hand grenades

This is one one my worst fears. A photo of a hand grenade would even be worse. Do they permit newspaper or magazine photos of combatants under arms? If so, they sure aren't doing their jobs.

Folks, we are led by utter fools!

[bedolido]

Hold Muh Weed-Eater!

Ping!

[mhking]

Is duck tape banned yet?

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[afraidfortherepublic]

This would be funny, except that my husband has packed various tools in his baggage at various times. Years ago it was because he was installing prototype drilling equipment in various parts of the world. More recently it was because were are always working on one of our kid's houses in some far-flung part of the country. Now we drive.

[Free Trapper]

I've got enough metal in me to set off my own metal detector.

I don't think I'll even try to take any commercial flights again.Who needs the hassle?

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

...and a bayonet hidden in a hollowed-out artificial leg

Hehe.

We have a family friend who lost his leg during military combat duty and hides his favorite semi-automatic along with 'who-knows-what-else' in the exact same fashon.

[xJones]

I know I'm singling out just one item seized from carry-on since 2-02, but 50,000 box cutters?!

I had no idea box cutters were so popular for plane flights, and the people involved couldn't all be terrorists, could they? What were the rest, a bunch of back alley podiatrists?

[RightWhale]

It's easy to forget what's in the carry-on bag. One time I left a 28" chainsaw AND a five gallon can of mixed gasoline for it in there. Only reason it was noticed at all was the gate attendant asked why there was black grease all over the boarding pass and why it was kind of cut up.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Yeah- I wondered about that, too. I used to carry a knife and/or a LEATHERMAN-type tool pre-911, but a BOXCUTTER??? Why would 50,000 people be carrying boxcutters around?

I'm sure it makes sense, but I don't see it.

[RightWhale]

but a BOXCUTTER???

It's to open the stupid bag of peanuts they give you on the flight instead of dinner.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

"friend who lost his leg during military combat duty and hides his favorite semi-automatic...

Give me the Mfr and model of the pistol, and I will be glad to send him a holster for it. It's a lot easier to get to than having to take off your leg to draw...

[xp38]

Any knife or sharp edged instrument properly sheathed in checked baggage isn't going to be any threat to an airplane during flight. We are indeed being ruled by idiots.

[xp38]

Nevermind...I see this was all confiscated from carryon. I must have Lazamataz disease today.

[Amy4President]

Or they could be moving. My best friend's mom had forgotten to take it out of her purse. They just took it from her and let her "move on down the line."

[annyokie]

I got yanked out of line when the person "frisking" my purse found about a dozen lighters. (I get them as freebies at the smoke shop and toss them in my purse.)

I "got permission" to walk back through the metal detector and give eleven of them to my husband. The nail clippers made it through inspection.