Originally Posted by
GUWonder
Sheet explosives are a poor excuse to examine paper (including photo paper) content for images and/or copy (writing/type). ETD swabbing is a less intrusive means that can be used to rule out a variety of explosives without the TSA hiding behind a claim about "sheet explosives" concern resulting in TSA examination of paper content for images and/or writing/type.
It's a completely fraudulent, BS excuse.
The proper procedure, the ONLY safe procedure, if one genuinely suspects that there may be a explosive materials in a bag, is to call the freakin' bomb squad, because IT MIGHT BE A BOMB!
Hand searching the bag or handling its contents is criminally negligent - because the explosives could kill anyone within the blast radius. The fact that the resultant explosion would also most likely kill the TSO performing the inspection merely deserves a Darwin Award.
Any suspicion low enough NOT to warrant calling the bomb squad is, IMHO, grossly insufficient to warrant any detailed inspection of a bag or its contents.
IANAL. But I have stayed at Holiday Inn Expresses on a number of occasions.