Airport security and FORGOTTEN items!!

I have a tie-clip that is shaped like a (two dimensional) Colt revolver. It's a single piece of metal, with some nice detail in the surface, but still a small, less-than-one-inch long piece of metal with a clip on the back. A TSA agent took great interest in it, rotating it so he could "look down the muzzle", only to find, perhaps with great disappointment, that it was, indeed, a single, flat piece of metal. That didn't stop him from unclipping it, and rotating it around in his hands a few times before giving it back. I'm sure he was employee of the month.
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*sigh*

I wish I could tell you they only hired people who showed great common sense, and Intelligence, but then, I'd be lying. Part of the problem is that TSA is one of those places that promotes the idiots. I know this, because my manager had the intelligence of a box of expended brass. The training on identifying guns, is actually pretty good. I can't go into detail, but a lot of time is spent teaching people to figure out what is a gun, and what isn't (including things like cane guns, zip guns, pen guns, etc). But...what you described is so obviously not a firearm. That just makes me glad to not be associated with that organization anymore...
 
Last time I flew was in June 2002.

After checking our luggage, I notice that I had left my Multi-tool in my pants pocket. I wasn't sure if it would be an issue but, as we were running a bit late, I didn't want to take a chance.
I slipped it out of my pocket and dropped it into a potted plant in a corner of the airport. Upon our return, 6 days later, I picked it back out of the same potted plant.

We laughed that, with all the security, nobody noticed the scruffy looking dude hanging out in the corner, diggin around in a plant:D
 
Interesting timing of this thread. Two news updates on my FB page just miuntes ago.

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) – A Virginia Beach man arrested for bringing a gun to Richmond International Airport (RIC) in his carryon luggage.....
http://wtvr.com/2012/02/01/man-gets-100-fine-for-bringing-gun-loaded-magazines-to-ric/--

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) - TSA agents stopped a man trying to carry a gun and bullets onto a plane at Richmond International Airport........
http://wtvr.com/2012/10/09/man-cited-after-handgun-found-in-carry-on-bag-at-ric/

Me? I got in a bit of trouble at Orly back in the 70's openly carrying a shotgun and rifle on board once. Up to then, I thought Interpol was imaginary. Wrong. :D When i was finally allowed to board, all was OK. When I got off at JFK, a stewardess approached and asked if I wanted 2 shopping bags of confiscated switchblades, guns, and other stuff nobody bothered to reclaim. I took it all!:D
 
I went to the Soviet Union in about 1988 with the Friendship Force, a Jimmy Carter deal out of Atlanta. We went through all sorts of customs nightmares, as you might imagine, but I found an almost full box of Remington Golden Bullet .22LR ammuntion in a pocket of a blue jean jacket I was wearing. We were visiting Stalins summer Dacha at the time, and I threw the cartridges out through the woods when no one was looking.

I always wondered if anyone ever found all that American ammuntion there and what they though if they did...
 
Lucky they let you keep it. You've encountered a nice TSA worker (that's refreshing). I've met very anal Take Stuff Away/Touch Sensitive Areas employees.
 
I have carried a round of live ammo through in a carry on (unintentional) without issue, but that was in May 2001. Security was almost an afterthought at that time. Coincidentally, that was the last time I was on an airplane. I prefer not to be trapped defenseless in an aluminum can flying 600 mph with people who want to kill me. So I drive.
 
To the OP, if TSA clocked this incident you may receive a civil penalty and fine in a month or so. That's been reported - if you search on it.
 
I travel a lot for work and about a month ago TSA found a smallish (3.5 inch) folding knife in my laptop bag. The agent was very nice and allowed me to return the knife to my car.

Scary part is that I been looking for the knife for about 18 months and in that time must have flown at least 150 times... Oops.
 
Hard to drive to Europe. Or get places in real time for business travel.

There is something called the 9/11 effect and driving. As people avoided the low probability of another hijacking and increased driving, it has been calculated that quite a few more died in traffic accidents.

The number is out there but I'm not looking for it.
 
There is something called the 9/11 effect and driving. As people avoided the low probability of another hijacking and increased driving, it has been calculated that quite a few more died in traffic accidents.
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It's a fascinating reaction.

In 2001, there were 37,299 people killed in car accidents in the USA, with a further 3,031,000 injuries, an average of 1.5 deaths per 100 million miles driven.

In the last 5 years, there have been 45 airline fatalities and 11 serious injuries in the USA and something like 4.5 BILLION miles flown.
 
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The really funny thing about using 9/11 as a reason not to fly is that by the numbers, you're far more likely to die from a terrorist attack sitting at your desk than on a plane.

Of course there is the control factor. A lot of people are more comfortable with death (everybody does eventually) than they are in letting others have control over their lives. Perfectly understandable in a society that promotes and values individualism.

For me, the aversion to flying is mostly rooted in the invasiveness of being searched, the hassle of sorting and packing, limited amount of gear I can bring, and the time it takes to get to the airport and through security.

Unfortunately, the profession I chose has required that I travel by air. Anything more than a 10-12 hour drive and I have to get on a damned plane.
 
There's a reason I don't EVER use my travel luggage as range bags. That reason is because I'm way too pretty for prison.


I agree with Gaerek... there's just nothing to be gained by trying to make the bags do double duty. If you get a screener or airport police who want to raise a stink, I expect it won't take too many lawyer hours to cover the cost of a set of quality travel luggage (I know what I paid for our Victorinox Werks 2.0 stuff, and it wasn't cheap, and even then it would probably only scratch the surface of legal fees for a very minor misdemeanor case).

Better to spend the money up front, have separate bags for each purpose, and never worry about a rogue magazine (or worse, pistol) getting found at the worst possible time.
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Agreed!

the hassle of dealing with TSA and all that is just not worth it. I don't know how some people "forget" that they still had that loaded pistol or pocket knife in their carry on. :eek:

I have one or 2 bags specifically for range use. I never use them for travelling at all. As responsible adults we need to set a distinction between your luggage and your range bags. Its really not that hard. Buy separate bags for different purposes. NEVER MIX THEM UP! My 2nd range bag/Bugout bag is $40 at WallyWorld. In this day and age of airport security its nothing to mess with IMO.
 
Hard to drive to Europe. Or get places in real time for business travel.
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Agreed, but I'm too broke to vacation in Europe, and I'm a farmer, so no business travel for me. I would like to go to Pearl Harbor one day so I guess I'll have to suck it up and fly or take a really long cruise:p.

As wayneinFL said, a big part of it is control. I don't even like to ride with other people in a car.
 
I had a loaded magazine for my P32 in my computer bag when I went to AL for some training. Funny thing is it made it through TSA at SeaTac:rolleyes:
 
Wow. I read an awful lot of accounts of people going through SeaTac with prohibited items and not getting stopped.:rolleyes:
 
Outch, I wouldn't even want to think about them finding any kind of firearm issue. They about had a heart attack over some keychain trinkets that had a knife blade in it. I dident even relise that they had a blade (about 1/2 inch) they were "flashing vegas" keychains.
 
Wow. I read an awful lot of accounts of people going through SeaTac with prohibited items and not getting stopped.
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I have lots of stories of SeaTac, but I'm pretty sure the little agreement I signed before leaving TSA makes it illegal to mention most of them. You can find quite a few using Google.

Lucky they let you keep it. You've encountered a nice TSA worker (that's refreshing). I've met very anal Take Stuff Away/Touch Sensitive Areas employees.
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The thing is, most TSA officers are actually nice, and want to help people. It's the bad eggs that get the most press. For most of my time in TSA (when I first started, I wanted to tow the party line...that changed pretty quickly) I really liked being helpful. I wouldn't break any rules (since my job was on the line) but I wanted to make people's experience good. Security sucks, we all know it. My goal was to get as many people through security with at least a neutral perspective of the process, and positive if I could. And, at least with the people I worked with, this was a common thing.
 
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