Passenger Loses Beloved Raygun Buckle to TSA
Mary Minor Davis October 31, 2014
Weapon replicas of any kind are prohibited in carry-on bags, even science fiction rayguns, TSA says.
A passenger accuses the Transportation Security Administration of confiscating a beloved raygun belt buckle at a security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
The alleged incident was reported by Nick Gillespie on his Reason.com website. According to the report, Sean Malone, a videographer, was on his way to Los Angeles when a TSA security agent at Reagan National Airport (DCA) found “something shaped like a gun,” in the x-ray of Malone’s carry-on bag. Upon determining it was the belt buckle, the TSA agent attempted to confiscate the item. Malone allegedly spoke to a supervisor and was able to retain the buckle.
However, at LAX he failed to argue in his defense successfully, according to Reason.com’s Hit & Run blog. TSA officials took the belt buckle, citing its policy against allowing any weaponry replicas through security. Even if they mimic space weapons. And therein lies the rub for Malone.
“I pointed out that even if it was a ‘replica,’ which is dubious, it would be a replica of a fictional weapon used by Flash Gordon…Which, you know, makes confiscation of the belt buckle even MORE insane than it already was,” Malone wrote to Reason.com.
Ross Feinstein, a spokesperson for the TSA reinforced TSA’s position. “Realistic replicas are prohibited,” he wrote in a statement to FlyerTalk. No word on why the buckle was allowed to go through at one airport, but not at another.
[Photo: Nick Gillespie/Reason.com]
The caption contains an error which reverses the meaning. I think you intend to say, "No weapon replicas of any kind are permitted in carry-on bags, even science fiction rayguns, TSA says."
The TSA didn't confiscate our Star Wars crossbow/lasergun toy replica bought at Disney. It was packed in checked luggage.
This is just plain silly. At the rate they are going, we may soon find ourselves fined for being happy and going thru screening with a boner.
. Very difficult to make out scale/size of "weapon." If indeed a belt buckle...can't ascertain that either from photo. If item is, let's say, 3 inches or longer it seems a reasonable confiscation. My long-owned 2 inch Swiss Army knife, after logging about a half-million miles, finally confiscated SJU-in the words of Uncle Walter, "That's the way it is."