I'm kind of on the fence about this one.

Sure, those shoes are utterly ridiculous and not terribly realistic, but I won't (for once) condemn the TSOs who followed procedure and refused to allow them through the c/p. They're just barely realistic enough that uninformed people who don't know anything about guns might think they're real and panic.

The realistic replica rule is not about keeping pax safe from harmless items, it's about preventing panicked sheep who don't know any better from stampeding in a terminal or rioting in an aircraft cabin when they see something that they mistake for a real weapon. "OH MY GOD, SHE'S GOT A GUN!" Bingo, on-board riot. Better to keep them off.

Of course, the case a couple of years ago where a teenage girl had her purse confiscated because it has a raised relief of a gun on it is still an example of TSA's abject stupidity, as is the Peter Mayhew lightsaber cane incident. Both objects were things which no one could possibly mistake for a gun no matter how little firearms knowledge they might have, yet TSOs with single-digit IQs confiscated the teen's purse and attempted to confiscate Peter Mayhew's cane - the purse because they said it was a realistic replica, and the cane because they said "It's too big - you could use it as a weapon." As if a regular-size cane is somehow safer.

I'll cut TSA some slack on those horrific shoes.