Darkumbra

May the sauce be with you!

loops

and the holey cheeses with you

eyecue

Thanks for not just flogging me with remarks. To answer and make my last post on this issue, I spoke to one of the supervisors in the picture. He advised that the item in question weighed about 4 lbs. So the original intent on questioning it was for its value as a bludgening item. As far as the Denver city police are concerned, a large number of them dont give a rats behind about enforcing the laws of the state or the city. This ordinance that I brought up is never used. There are some officers that will issue a summons for having a steak knife in your carry on. There are some officers that wont do anything about switch blade knives, brass knuckles or tasers. On most cases they will ask TSA (and this is going to start a fire here) what the passengers ATTITUDE is and go from there.

InkUnderNails

Just one more quick answer. It is a serious question. Are there scales for weighing potential bludgeons at the CP or did they guess? If there is as standard, is it on the web site or is it SSI? OK, that's two questions.

Darkumbra

Chow Mein!

Maxwell Smart

I notice you've conveniently ignored addressing my earlier question- TSA had already made a determination that the cane would be prohibited, telling him that it won't be going back home with him. What prompted the reversal? And why did they ask him to tweet that the cane was returned?

Your comments above about its weight may be valid while trying to figure out if it would be allowed or prohibited, but are irrelevant since they had already decided to prohibit it.

Care to answer? Or continue to ignore "inconvenient" questions?

WillCAD

How exactly did the supervisor you spoke with determine that the cane weighed four pounds?

Also, what is the cutoff weight between a cane that's okay and a cane that has "value as a bludgening item"?

Are any other common, everyday, innocuous items which transit the c/p evaluated for their "value as a bludgening item"? Say, perhaps, walkers? Crutches? Carry-on bags? Electronics? Books? Bottles of water (*bought airside, of course)?

I travel with an SLR camera that weighs almost six pounds. Will it also be evaluated for its "value as a bludgening item"?

I call BS. Face it, eye - your supervisor friend wanted to steal Peter Mayhew's awesome lightsaber cane, but chickened out when Peter tweeted a photo of the attempted theft under color of authority.

exbayern

Question for you eyecue.

If TSA decides that the cane can be used as a weapon, and that the passenger may not bring it past the checkpoint, what exactly do you expect the person to do next? How are they expected to travel without their assistive device? This isn't akin to confiscating a cupcake; it's a device which the man needs in order to get around, due to a medical condition. It's similar (but worse) to confiscating someone's eyeglasses, making it virtually impossible for them to move about.

Does TSA provide a TSA approved cane (assuming that it is deemed not able to be used 'in the same manner as a baseball bat')? Does the TSA have a variety of canes available to meet the differing needs of passengers ie children, adults, and men over 7 feet tall?

What about crutches? In America the under armpit type are most common (unlike elbow crutches common elsewhere) Are they also considered a bludgeon type device?

The photo of the man (I will now admit that I have no idea who he is) shows him sitting in a wheelchair. What other than the particular style of the cane caused it to be questioned, when hundreds if not thousands are permitted through TSA checkpoints every single day? Will Ink be stopped next because one of his screwdrivers may be sonic?

And one last question please. What if a child came through the checkpoint with a light sabre toy ie not a cane, but just the toy. Would that be confiscated because it simulates an imaginary item?

Thank you in advance for your reply.

IrishDoesntFlyNow

It's happened several times, including an incident just last year at DFW. That time, they allowed the toddler's parents to go back to the counter and check the "weapon".

I feel so much safer.


~~ Irish

ScatterX

Why would you deliberately stop posting?

Serious questions to clarify your apparent position. You appear to claim these actions are proper because:

1) somebody might panic upon SEEING a cane, that clearly does NOT resemble anything REAL or anything dangerous,

OR

2) because a four pound plastic stick, that is a obviously necessary medical device, could be used as a bludgeoning tool?

In either case, I fail to see any legitimate threat, notwithstanding your ridiculous "yelling fire in a movie theater" example. Do you, personally, think anyone (much less a large group of people) is going to panic at the sight of a plastic cane? Seriously, do you think this? Is this something that TSA personnel generally think is a reasonable scenario?

Do you, personally, think it's reasonable for the government to take away something with a UNDENIABLY NECESSARY MEDICAL PURPOSE, just because it might hurt if you hit somebody with it? Is this something that TSA personnel generally think is a reasonable scenario?

Exactly. Two huge questions here:
What changed between A and B?

Boggie Dog

The answer to one of your questions are here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/disab...isability.html

News: TSA confiscates plastic toy hammer from man with intellectual disability


http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/T...sney-Toys.html

TSA Plunders Boy's Disney Toys


http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blog...161059325.html

'Security Theater'? TSA Confiscates Woman's Frosted Cupcake


http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive...sa_proves.html

TSA confiscates a butter knife from an airline pilot. TSA confiscates a teenage girl's purse with an embroidered handgun design. TSA confiscates a 4-inch plastic rifle from a GI Joe action doll on the grounds that it’s a "replica weapon." TSA confiscates a liquid-filled baby rattle from airline pilot’s infant daughter. TSA confiscates a plastic "Star Wars" lightsaber from a toddler.


I think the question should be what will TSA not Confiscate, not what it will confiscate.


edit to add:


As eyecue said in post #36 "Anyone with impaired reality issues could believe that it is real. Age is not a boundary. Reduced mental capacity is"

Seems the reality impaired are the ones wearing TSA uniforms!

eyecue

There is weight and length standard but it is not posted...

eyecue

I have not ignored any questions. Things like canes are considered DUAL USE ITEMS. Could be a cane, could be a club. TSA did not make a determination and reverse itself. An officer saw the item go through the x-ray and when he inspected it by hand it was heavy. So he took it to the supervisor for its weight and that is what started this whole mess.

eyecue

To all that are asking, and I alluded to this first a while back. If you come into the check point with a baseball bat and say it is a cane, you are not going to be allowed to take it to the gate with you. TSA does not confiscate anything. You just can not take it with you. You have the option to take it back to the ticket counter and check it in. You have the option to surrender the item and then it is disposed of by TSA as being abandoned. Call it what you want but that is the way that it is.

WillCAD

You haven't answered any of my questions. But if you're not ignoring them, perhaps you didn't notice them in the flurry of posts above, so let me repeat them:

To this, I'll add another few questions. You posted, "There is weight and length standard but it is not posted... "

Do you mean it's not posted online, or do you mean that it's not posted anywhere where a TSO can access it?

Is it SSI?

Do you know what the standard is? If so, are you able to share it with us?