TSA officers at 263 airports across the nation were kept busy in 2015, confiscating all kinds of weapons, some of them the usual firearms we normally would think of, plus an array of exotic and sometimes strange-looking weapons.
The top five airports for the most weapons found in carry-on luggage were: 1. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport: 153, 2. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport: 144, 3. Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport: 100, 4. Denver International Airport: 90, and 5. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport: 73, according to WTVR Richmond.
The 2015 record haul of weapons is 20 percent higher than the 2,212 firearms found in 2014. However, the numbers have been steadily climbing since the 660 firearms found in 2005. In 2015, over 708 million passengers were screened — that amounts to about 1.9 million people every day.
Additionally, in 2015, 434 million checked bags and 1.6 billion carry-ons went through the screening process. Travelers found with firearms can face criminal charges and penalties by way of fines. Firearms, firearm parts, and ammunition are absolutely illegal in carry-on bags. It isn’t illegal to carry a firearm on a plane, though. It is permissible if the firearm is in a checked bag, is unloaded, and the airline has been informed.
Gizmodo is reporting that guns weren’t the only thing TSA agents found in some carry-ons. besides, black powder and thousands of rounds of ammunition, at an Arizona airport, a live flashbang grenade was found, and in someone’s bag in Georgia, TSA agents found a pair of ninja climbing claws.
The TSA blog-site has a whole list of the unusual items found in travelers bags, from bath salts in containers resembling sticks of dynamite to canes that really are swords in disguise. Here are just a very few of the items confiscated in travelers carry-on bags.
