Guns, Knives, Grenades: TSA Confiscates Record Number of Weapons

It may sound crazy to the average traveler worried more about whether than bottle of shampoo is small enough to put in the carry-on bag, but believe it or not, some people apparently think it’s okay to travel the friendly skies loaded up with clearly unfriendly items. And not just some people, if you take a look at numbers from the Transportation Security Administration. 

The TSA confiscated a record number of weapons last year, taking more than 2,000 guns, knives, stun guns, flash grenades, and even a long knife hidden inside an enchilada wrapped in aluminum foil. 

They also found an anti-personnel mine – yes, a mine – a mallet, and some mace to ward off bears, among other things. TSA agents also confiscated bags of heroin and bricks of marijuana, according to their recently released annual report. TSA agents screened more than 653 million passengers traveling through U.S. airports last year – or close to two million people a day, and that’s up 14 percent from 2013. In one incident at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, a 94-year-old man was arrested after trying to go through security with a loaded.38 revolver. In another incident, flights were delayed for several hours at the Los Angeles International Airport when grenades were discovered in some carry-on bags. 

The TSA says 2014 was a banner year for confiscating firearms in carry-on bags, where they grabbed an average of about six a day. Most of the seizures were at six of the country’s 224 major airports. Top on the list was the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, with 120 firearms confiscated last year, followed by Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport at 109. Number three was the Phoenix International Airport in Arizona, with 78 weapons confiscated, the Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston came in fourth at 77, and rounding out the list at number five was Colorado’s Denver International at 70.  

TSA agents said the most common response they received was that the person had forgotten the item was in their bag.

Toys don’t escape the TSA’s roving eyes, with explosives experts called in some cases when toy guns and hand grenades looked too realistic for the agents screening passengers.  

So the best bet probably is, when it doubt, leave it out (of your luggage).