

TSA's gun policy: Confiscate it, Instagram it  - grizzy
http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/09/technology/social/tsa-instagram/index.html

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ChuckMcM
I note that every single one of them caught by running your bag under the
x-ray and/or a metal detector. The TSA provides no evidence that grabbing your
nutsack or fondling your wife's breasts has found any weapon or threat that a
simple bag x-ray and a walk through metal detector wouldn't find.

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DanBC
The headline is a bit odd. The TSA blog gives clear and simple instructions on
how to take your weapons onto a plane. (Not loaded, not in your hand luggage.)

Some people have said (on HN as well as other places) that the TSA have never
stopped weapons getting on board a plane and if they had they would have
heavily publicised it. In fact, they stop about 20 to 30 guns each week from
getting on board a plane. Those guns and knives are posted to their blog.

Perhaps posting images on Instagram will let more people know that the TSA
manage to stop some weapons (although I don't care about the guns they stop, I
care about the gun they don't stop and which is then used to harm someone) and
to help remind people to put guns into checked baggage instead?

([http://blog.tsa.gov/search/label/Week%20In%20Review](http://blog.tsa.gov/search/label/Week%20In%20Review))

Note that I'm not defending particularly defending TSA here.

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nthj
> to help remind people to put guns into checked baggage instead

I have to wonder how many of the firearms they stop are just regular law-
abiding concealed handgun license bearers who, in their rush to get to the
airport, forgot that they keep a loaded firearm in their purse, briefcase, or
backpack. Since the penalty is a $7,500 fine and not 20 years in jail, I have
to presume this scenario is far more common "malicious guy planned to hijack
plane."

This would be a very easy statistic to publish, too (only 10% of the people we
stopped were even licensed to carry a handgun!), but since I haven't seen that
statistic advertised, I would presume they find most of the stopped citizens
to be guilty only of carelessness.

~~~
markbao
I feel like I am the only person on this thread that thinks the scenario that
someone just happened to "damn, went to the airport and _forgot that I had a
gun in my bag while going through airport security_ " is pretty far-fetched.

A pocketknife from a fishing trip? Understandable. Being forgetful about
having a gun in your bag? While going through airport security to get on an
airplane? Not so much.

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OvidNaso
Is your opinion then that 20-30 people a week intend on using a weapon on
board a plane?

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scrumper
I don't know what their point was, but mine would be this: those 20-30 people
a week shouldn't be allowed to keep their guns. I support their right to
ownership and carry, but they really should lose that right (or at least that
firearm and a substantial sum of money) if they're so careless as to forget
that they have a lethal device stuffed in a bag that they've just packed for a
flight. That kind of stupidity and negligence gives careful gun owners a bad
name.

Ownership of a firearm requires a certain level of responsibility. A concealed
carry permit increases that quotient of responsibility substantially. In my
mind, forgetting where you put your gun is basically inexcusable. There may
well be the odd, vanishingly unlikely circumstance where one could plausibly
excuse unintentionally carrying a firearm through airport security, but I
can't think of it.

My bet is that most of these idiots knew they had their guns with them but
thought they'd try it on anyway, reasoning that if they went home to drop it
off, they'd miss their flight.

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Zikes
This smells like a desperate attempt by the TSA to justify their own
existence.

Note that none of these confiscated weapons by themselves necessarily
constitute an intent to use them. Knives especially are commonly carried and
can easily be forgotten about.

~~~
jlgreco
> _Note that none of these confiscated weapons by themselves necessarily
> constitute an intent to use them._

Exactly. If these were instances of the TSA _actually_ protecting us then _"
passengers who try to go through security with a firearm usually get a
citation and can face a fine"_ would not be the case.

Not unless our plan is fining and citing terrorists out of existence.

~~~
caseysoftware
Personally, I see this as an attempt to add humor and levity to a repeated and
horrible violation of our rights and person.

"Hey, check out this gun! It has pink glitter! Aren't you glad we confiscated
it!?"

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schrodingersCat
Those sepia toned filters might actually make me rethink my opinion of the
TSA. They should get plaid flannel uniforms and change their motto to "We were
groping old ladies before it was cool"

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asperous
This feels kinda wrong, but I have to keep in mind that these people chose to
give up these items.

From the TSA Blog (I cannot confirm if true)

When prohibited items come through the checkpoint, passengers are given
options:

1) Take the item to the ticket counter and check it in your baggage or a box
provided by the airport.

2) Many airports have a US Postal Service or other shipping services area
where boxes, stamps and envelopes can be bought so you can ship your items
home.

3) If there is somebody seeing you off, you can hand the prohibited item to
them.

4) If your car is parked outside, you can take the item to your car.

~~~
bwhite
In many places, none of these suggestions would help someone who realizes he
is carrying a handgun.

1) There are guidelines for how the firearm must be shipped; simply sliding it
into your checked baggage will not work.

2) Handguns are generally prohibited from being mailed via the USPS.

3) The person seeing you off may not be properly licensed to transport the
handgun.

4) Storing a valuable object in a vehicle which is in long-term parking sounds
like a bad idea. Municipalities which have strict theft-reporting requirements
do not have exceptions for "I was out of town and didn't know that my car had
been burgled."

~~~
asperous
1 & 2 are true for handguns (as checked luggage, they have to be in a
hardsided locked case for example.)

but 3 & 4 I think would practically be the best route, despite some risks.

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IanDrake
I wonder how many TSA empoyees it takes to run an Instagram account.

All kidding aside, I wonder what mega IT company won the bid to run the
Instagram account.

~~~
schrodingersCat
It being run a program called "Optical Grating". Its a low cost alternative to
"PRISM"

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SubZero
While it is kind of a sad PR stunt from someone with a 14 year old hipster
child at home, it is kind of cool if you look for the ways people try to
smuggle goods and weapons onto flights.

~~~
qwerty_asdf
Except for all the horrible jpeg compression artifacts.

...or is that considered "art" lately?

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jmspring
It is worth pointing out, a trick a number of photographer friends use when
having to check their photo gear is to include a flare gun (or was it a
starter pistol) in the case and note that there is a firearm. It increases the
scrutiny and tracking of the bag.

Lifehacker had an article on it --

[http://lifehacker.com/5448014/pack-a-gun-to-protect-
valuable...](http://lifehacker.com/5448014/pack-a-gun-to-protect-valuables-
from-airline-theft-or-loss)

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mindcrime
So our tax dollars are not only paying the TSA's jack-booted thugs to harass
us at the airport, but they're also paying for TSA dorks to sit around and
post on Instagram? Jeeeeebusssssss....

And people wonder why I'm such a government-hating Libertarian. _sigh_

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dmazin
One of the pictures has a clear visual date stamp with a "/90." Maybe this
means nothing.

But I wonder if they are misleadingly posting these as if they were just
discovered, rather than over what appears to be at least 23 years.

~~~
mjschultz
Or you're reading it upside-down, making it "06/" which would mean it was
taken in June (much less surprising since it is now early July).

