Guns, grenades and knives at the airport

Courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security

Transportation Security Administration screener recently discovered three throwing knives in the hand luggage of a passenger at the airport in Baltimore.

By Harriet Baskas, msnbc.com Post

If you grab your weapon, your shell or your carving knife in one hand luggage when you go to the airport?

Definitely not, but obviously doing a number of people.

According to a recent post on the Transportation Security Administration TSA Blog than800 officers have guns in hand luggage found more this year.

And among the myriad numberdoesn't the knives that appear even at the airport security checkpoints every day – there are so many that the TSA to not even count – or the many inert grenades that passengers try to take home as souvenirs.

Last week, for example, was a passenger at the Orlando International Airport with three handguns – a .25-caliber, a .40-caliber semiautomatic and a .357-caliber revolver – in a bag that also contained loose ammunition and a loaded magazine. In Baltimore, the TSA recently took three throwing knives in the hand luggage of a Mexico-bound travelers. And on Monday, TSA officers at New York's Albany International Airport found a loaded gun in the handbag of a woman towards Detroit.

The two passenger were arrested with guns, the passenger with the knife was cited, and his weapons were confiscated.

It is unlikely that passengers want to use their weapons during the flight, but it is difficult to know for sure, because people often respond to TSA question by saying: "I forgot that it was in my pocket."

Considering how often illegal weapons are discovered, overhead bin TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein asked for advice about the proper way to fly with firearms.

Farbstein said pilots can carry firearms, ammunition and gun parts in her luggage, even though these items are banned from hand luggage.

"Basically, travelers must declare all firearms, ammunition and parts of the airline during the ticket counter check-in process," said Farbstein. "The gun must be unloaded and it must be locked in a hard-sided container the container must."

You can read more about traveling on the plane with weapons, guns, knives and weaponson other of the TSA Web site, but Farbstein adds. "Airlines may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition is why travelers should also be the airline of firearms and caissons policy. "

Or maybe, just plan to leave your weapons at home.

More by Harriet Baskas on Stuck at the Airport.com and follow her on Twitter.

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Submited at Sunday, October 2nd, 2011 at 4:00 am on Tips by dave
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