TSA Finds Guns, Razor Blades, Eels on South Florida Passengers

By Rich Abdill Mon., Mar. 26 2012 at 5:15 AM

Congress will be taking a closer look at the Transportation Security Administration this afternoon in a joint hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Oversight Committee Chairman Darryl Issa said in a statement that the hearing is designed to address "a recurring pattern of mismanagement and waste at the Transportation Security Administration... Americans are right to demand answers from TSA about the return on investment of their tax dollars."

Yeah, the body scanners are kind of creepy, and yeah, that blogger from Miami Beach showed how you could allegedly get around them without really trying, but the TSA finds weird, dangerous stuff on passengers all the time -- a steady parade of stun guns, brass knuckles, batons, and knives all over the country, plus, in South Florida, a gun about once every eight days.

There have been ten guns found on passengers leaving from the international airports in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach this year, according to TSA data. In the same time span, there were about 267 guns found in carry-on nationwide.

The South Florida haul includes a .22 last Thursday, a loaded .25-caliber gun at Palm Beach International the day before, and a .357 handgun March 18:

via TSA

A gun found at PBI. Turns out you can't take one of these onto an airplane.

For the rest of the goofy carry-on debacles, let's just start at the beginning of the year.

January: A four-inch steak knife was found in a Miami passenger's shoe.

February: A diver found a cannonball near an old shipwreck and put it in his checked luggage. The cannonball was found to be "explosively viable" and resulted in three flight delays while bomb techs got rid of the thing.

One Palm Beach International passenger also tried to pass a carry-on bag containing a stun gun, dagger, box cutter, razorblades, a shotgun shell, several bullets, and two firecrackers. Maybe he just forgot they were in that one side pocket he never checked.

In addition, a Miami passenger was asked if he had any liquids in his bag -- and he responded with, "I have liquor, and I have a bomb."

March: A Miami passenger headed to Venezuela got caught trying to check bags containing 163 tropical fish, 12 small turtles, 22 "invertebrates," and dozens of coral specimens. "We're not in the business of looking for marine life," the blog said, "but you can probably imagine how odd this looked on our monitor." Probably almost as weird as that guy the TSA caught last year with seven snakes and three turtles hidden in his pants.

So, yes, aside from the whole "trampling the Constitution" thing, the TSA has been busy. And here's a list of all those guns, their caliber, and where they were found:

1/6: .380, MIA (loaded)
1/16: .357, FLL (loaded)
2/11: .38, FLL (loaded)
2/11: .40, FLL (loaded; round chambered)
2/16: .380, FLL (loaded)
2/18: .38, FLL (loaded)
3/12: .380, FLL
3/18: .357, MIA
3/21: .25, PBI (loaded)
3/22: .22, MIA

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the tsa is a jobs program!

wow, was this article paid for by the TSA? the TSA violates civil rights and human dignity! and the radioactive naked body scans can give you cancer while violating your rights and dignity! the security theater is a joke! just to be safe I think the TSA should be grown to 1/2 the population of the country and they could spend the whole day scanning , grouping and snooping on the other 1/2! we will be really safe! then, after two years the TSA drones become regular folks and the regular folks become the tsa goons! we, also should all were MAO like uniforms and have bar codes tattooed on our necks!

Nate

I'm curious to know how many of those were carried by terrorists, and how many were just carried by retirees who carried them everywhere else. I would bet that more would fall towards the latter. And I'm sure that the quote about "liquor and a bomb" was sarcastic at the very least.

FQS9000

TSA ain't never caught a terrorist and the damn sure aren't friends of mine. None of those guys with guns had any plans but to take them with them to the destination. The TSA protects us from nothing, while making all of us feel like criminals in our own land, while displaying arrogance and contempt for us all.

A bunch of badge heavy assholes desperately searching for anything to justify their employment.

Rich Abdill

I see where you're coming from, but you don't think their employment is justified? Somebody's gotta check for those box-cutters and .357 revolvers.

ea6bmarine

Why?Do you honestly believe anyone can take over a plane with a revolver or a box cutter?The passengers do not believe they will live anymore and they will not sit there and let you like they did before 9-11.So, if what I have said is true, why does TSa need to to confiscate my key chain pen knife or even waste time and resources looking for it when they could spend that time searching for explosives?

Rich Abdill

Is being a retiree with a concealed carry permit enough of an excuse to bring a loaded gun onto an airplane? Neither of us know who was carrying them, but some people will find something wrong with whatever the TSA does. Including, apparently, finding actual weapons on airline passengers.

FQS9000

Lots of people carry guns around everywhere and cause NO problems at all. This especially includes cops.

Rich Abdill

I'm certainly not saying it's not their right to carry them; I know plenty of people who are responsible gun owners. But the rule is "no guns on the plane" -- I was just saying I can't see any problem with imposing that on everyone.