There’s Dumb and Dumber, but this….?
He did what?
Transportation Security Administration officers at Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley International Airport received an unusual surprise Monday when luggage belonging to a man flying home to Florida set off an alarm as it went through checked bag security.
Further inspection by TSA officers of the offending baggage revealed a disassembled rocket-propelled grenade, a familiar adversarial weapon encountered by many veterans of the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan.
The St. Augustine, Florida, man was subsequently taken into a confined inspection area, where he told airport security he was under the impression he could bring the checked RPG on the plane, CBS Philadelphia reported.
Ain’t it purty????
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TSA photo. They photograph everything. Maybe he wanted to make his own home-made RPGs for home defense stuff.
I think this requires a good stiff…. uh, penalty. Yeah, that’s it. “Penalty”. Hey, I’m in a “nice” mood today. “Penalty” is a euphemism for being reamed a new one.
Category: "Teh Stoopid", "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", Reality Check
Well,…He is from Florida after all.
In his case, Flori-dooh!
Dumb but since it isn’t real what exactly is the problem again? As much of a threat as chicks with fake tits or guys with fake hips.
According to the article:
“Detailed inspection of the weapon itself revealed the launcher was fortunately not in working order, the report said, and the grenade — yes, there was a grenade in the bag — was in fact a realistic replica.”
So basically he had a hollow tube (the deactivated launcher) which is about as dangerous as a length of PVC pipe, and a fake grenade, which is about as dangerous as a snow globe.
Hysterical headline aside, he did not have a “weapon” or anything that could be used as a weapon.
This is in fact the correct answer, a replica weapon isn’t an actual weapon for the folks at home…
His checked luggage was only dangerous if he used the case to strike you with it.
Martin, you have to know that someone like Shannon Watts or Alyssa Milano, or any variety of soi boi would get the vapors and probably faint or walk into a wall if they saw it, regardless of it’s functionality.
Just an added little fact, they did let him go ahead and board the flight to Florida. They didn’t want him either?
Well, but you guys have to remember that if something LOOKS like something else, it obviously IS something else!
My laser tage gun, which shoots a signal to an infrared receiver on the target that goes on your belt, looks like a real gun, and couldn’t fire anything except what sounds like a hissing cat. But it looks like real gun and therefore MUST be a real gun, right?????
no…
Exactly Ex-PH2, that is why TSA has lots of fake guns on display in airports around the US. If your Man-with-a-Golden-Gun replica cigarette lighter, cigarette case, pen, and cuff links (minus the bullets of course…which is specified) are included in your baggage and not properly checked with a Airline declaration form. they will assemble them and declare them a firearm!
I have seen enough said about the TSA people to recognize that some of them could truly not tell the difference between a cardboard tube painted olive drab with black serial numbers and a real rocket launcher. And the police departments that engage in buybacks are repeatedly fooled by such things.
There was once a chap that frequented here that talked about his bravery whilst working for TSA. Wonder what happened to him?
Was he also the same gent who used a 50 cent iPhone app as a navigation aid? You’re right, I haven’t heard from him in a while. Wonder what he’s up to these days?
There once was a lawer named Dan,
Who got himself thrown in the can,
He was finally let out,
Then went flying about,
And that’s when the shit hit the fan!
What’s really funny is that my phone knows this poem. I basically use autocomplete for everything but the commas. Ain’t technology grand?
^^^LIKE^^^
Most of the TSA pukes I ever dealt with looked and acted like they were too incompetent to even make it as a Fry Cook at a fast food franchise thus they got a job with the Federal Government where they can be totally incompetent and not worry about getting canned!
TSA – Thieves, Shitheads & Assholes, Thugs Sexually Assaulting, Those Stupid Assholes,…
Unless I’m badly mistaken, a contractor does that job here in Key West and they were amazingly nice and efficient when Mrs SJ flew out the other day. They had a sense of humor and were quick to help passengers that hadn’t flown in awhile with the rules. AND, they were thorough.
Any fuel tubes with it?
Didn’t think so.
The rocket was a dummy and the launcher had been disabled. That being said, our potential passenger didn’t display a lot of the smartz by checking this in his luggage.
Dumbazz. Again, lot of details missing, but he shoulda, coulda, woulda, had oughta shipped the damn thing UPS or even USPS. Mighta had to pack it up in front of the carrier, but still. Wondering if some TSA Official decided he needed a wall hanger for his fireplace mantle.
As posted before, wasn’t that too terribly long ago, with the proper permitting/paperwork, a CCW could carry on the plane. Maybe homeboy shoulda had on his hajib and they’d passed him right on thru.
Strange TSA, says not non-functioning guns and replicas simply need to be placed in checked baggage…so I think ol’ boy has a case to get it back.
Replica weapons are forbidden on civilian aircraft for obvious reasons. Either this happened a while ago or it has happened again. I recall hearing about this a while back.
TSA’s own web site says they are allowed in Checked baggage. “Replica firearms, including firearm replicas that are toys, may be transported in checked baggage only.”
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/transporting-firearms-and-ammunition
Except, according to the news stories, this wasn’t a replica. It was a “disabled” launcher and a dummy RPG rocket.
I believe if the item is properly permanently deactivated, per ATF requirements, it legally became a non-weapon, correct?
Drill and ceremony demilled rifles donated to schools are non-guns. They can be possessed and shipped like paperweights.
That is my understanding.
P.S. AW1Ed says he sent you my email address. PM me.
TSA’s website also analyzes the status of actual firearms found on passengers or in carry on luggage. (which is forbidden)
of the 3,324 loaded firearms discovered in 2018,
65% were empty chamber, loaded magazine.
So it seems that a majority of irresponsible gun owners favor Israeli style carry.
Hard to say without knowing which ones were in bags and which ones were on person. I never transport locked and loaded in a case.
All inert, de-militarized, nonfunctioning and legal military trophies shall be outlaws because they can scare you.
Checking unloaded firearms require using a hard-sided securely locked case. (best to use a real lock not one of those “TSA approved” locks) Declare the firearm and any ammunition at check in. The traveler retains the key. If they want to open it to inspect, you have to be present.
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/transporting-firearms-and-ammunition
Be aware of state firearm laws for the destination or in case you are diverted.
A nonTSA lock is recommended by the airlines, as in “a lock for which only you have the key.” Translation: we neither trust our baggage handlers NOR the TSA.
I got stopped once at security for having a weapon. TSA guy yells “weapon, weapon”, cops come running, by this time I have my hands in the air. TSA Supervisor comes over, looks at the P38 (can opener from C-Rats) on my key ring, slaps the agent on the back of the head and apologizes to me. Even the police were snickering at the agent cause they knew what a P38 was.
Just think if that rocket was full of Shampoo..That guy would have been fucked…!!!
TSA here in Rochester some years ago proudly announced that, among other objects, they had confiscated a circular saw. Was never quite clear on how an unplugged Black & Decker presented a threat.