One of the most despised organizations in the United States is the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It’s hard to find anyone who says anything good about the TSA because it’s inefficient, intrusive and many times ineffective. Nevertheless, I’m here to say that the TSA runs one of the most interesting blogs on the net.
If you haven’t had the chance to visit the site, I highly recommend it. It has some pretty helpful tips for traveling with hunting gear, latest news from the TSA and a “week in review” segment.
So, what does this have to do with knives?
Well, in nearly every weekly review, the TSA reveals some inventive or clever way people try to smuggle knives, guns, drugs, fire crackers, stun grenades and much more through security.
For example, this week the media seized on one case where a man tried to smuggle a knife on board by hiding it in a full jar of mayonnaise. Of course, the jar of mayonnaise was also a restricted item, so both objects were confiscated.
Hiding knives (and other confiscated items) in other items is nothing new if you’re a reader of the TSA blog. For the week ending on March 30, the TSA found a pocket knife in a deodorant cap, a knife inside a tissue box (yeah, like tissue would hide it from X-ray machines) and a gun inside a gutted book. In previous weeks, a knife was found inside a laptop and many many more were in people’s carry-on luggage.
While it’s pretty alarming to see how many people try to take guns and explosives onto the plane, a majority of people who take knives probably just forget they have it on them, since knives are tools that many people carry on them every day. If you have a knife when you’re traveling, remember to never take it on the plane or it will be confiscated and you won’t be able to get it back. Here are some more dos and don’ts for traveling with knives.
If your knife does confiscated, you might be able to buy it back via some auctions of surplus items from the government. You could get a bin of about 80 confiscated Gerber knives for a $810.
May 9, 2012 at 12:14 am
it just gives the good boy club another toy. why the hell does a fire fighter need a switch blade? did you also vote your selves a raise too? shit heads thinking they did something good, just for their selves. i will always carry my switch blade.