The TSA is well-known for the extensive headaches their check-ins cause at every airport in America, but sometimes their work actually pays off. It turns out that there are some crazy people out there who try to travel with seriously ridiculous items that the TSA reasonably confiscates.
And what you may not know is that the organization maintains an official Instagram page where they post photos of these items that people have tried to bring with them in their carry-on bags.
Here are just a few, along with the airports where each item was confiscated and, in some cases, a quote from the TSA about the item.
Incredibly, all of these things were taken in just the last month…
Throwing knives (in hollowed-out ninja book)
Airport: Washington Reagan
Ninja books are permitted, throwing knives are not.
Comb daggers
Airports: Boston Logan and Lambert—St. Louis
Bullet and gun knives
Airport: Yuma
All knives (including knives that look like guns) are prohibited in carry-on bags.
Grenade-shaped vaping device
Airport: Salt Lake City
Ecig’s and vaping devices ARE permitted in your carry-on and checked bags. Unless they look like a grenade…
Knuckle knives
Airports: JFK and Honolulu
Loaded firearms
Airports: Many
These are just a few of the 150+ loaded firearms discovered in carry-on (not checked) bags in June.
Firecrackers
Airport: Chicago Midway
Dagger
Airport: Port Columbus
Octagonal sais (top) and shukos (bottom)
Airport: Chicago Midway
Martial arts weapons are prohibited in carry-on bags and are illegal in certain areas of the country.
Dagger
Airport: Chicago O’Hare
Pepper spray gun
Airport: Chicago O’Hare
Utility knife blades (in a Scooby-Doo greeting card)
Airport: Unknown
Inert projectile
Airport: Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
Please keep in mind that if an item looks like a real bomb, projectile, grenade, mine, etc., it is prohibited.
Firearms, ammunition, and accessories
Airport: Houston
Loaded 5.7 x 28mm pistol
Airport: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County
Narcotics (in a hollowed-out book)
Airport:Philadelphia
While TSA is not looking for narcotics, we report them to the proper authorities when they are discovered.
Lipstick knife, hatchet knife, push dagger, and gun knife
Airports: Denver (lipstick knife), Burlington (hatchet knife), Chicago O’Hare (push dagger), and Charlotte (gun knife)
Speargun
Airport: Denver
Meat cleaver
Airport: Lambert—St. Louis
Throwing stars (shuriken)
Airport: Dallas Love
Knuckle blade
Airport: Newark Liberty
Loaded firearm
Airport: Memphis
This loaded firearm (discovered in Memphis) is one of the 18 firearms discovered in carry-on bags on 6/4/14. That’s a record for the number of firearms discovered in one day. A total of 47 firearms were discovered this week; 36 of those were loaded.
Batarangs
Airport: Newark Liberty
Loaded firearm
Airport: Bozeman
