TSA week in review: the pistol-in-the-potted plant

I am always entertained and a bit frightened by the TSA’s weekly round-up of items found at airport checkpoints. I know it’s a bit of a PR effort on the TSA’s part to show off all the wacky ways – and all the bizarre stuff – people put in their carry-on bags, but it works for me… Some of this stuff makes me very wary of my fellow passengers.

In the guns-not-gotten-on-board category, between June 22 and June 27, TSA officers found “just” 23 guns, 18 of them loaded. That’s down from other weeks.

On its blog, the TSA also shared details of some wacky ways people tried to smuggle prohibited stuff on-board. Someone at Tampa International Airport (TPA) tried to conceal a knife by putting it in a sock stuffed into an envelope with dolls. A passenger in Greensville/Spartanburg (GSP) hid a knife in a can of tobacco. And, my “favorite,” a passenger at Portland International Airport (PDX) tried to dump his .22 caliber pistol
in a potted plant instead of checking it with his luggage.

(Photo courtesy State Library of Queensland, via Flickr Commons)

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