Is there anything in your carry-on that COULD be used as a weapon?
 

"Is there anything in your carry-on that COULD be used as a weapon?"

If you answer honestly? Yes...
...then you are in for a 'chat' - truth is? nearly anything could be used as a weapon - a BIC pen comes to mind. A nasty little tool if you know how to use it.

If you answer as they expect you to answer? No - then some nit-picker will (or could) make an issue of it IF you're carrying a pen with you.

Or is it best to just answer as the uninformed do with a simple 'no'?

For that matter, most carry-ons make great bludgeoning objects...

Who the heck asks that?

The question is often asked at overseas airports of flyers heading to the United States.

I always answer yes, and then start listing the things that could be used as weapons: pens, books, shoes, shoelaces, even my laptop could be used to strike someone! After a while, they just let me go. Never fails.

Bruce

DSLR Camera body, laptop brick, rollerboard, bare hands.. :eek: I guess the UA agent @ LHR this weekend is going to have to cut my hands off..

all of it
 

Ask anyone who's worked in a correctional institution .. practically anything can be turned into weapon.

A toothbrush (or anything plastic) can be sharpened into a shank.
Anything metal can be sharpened into a knife (particularly dangerous would be the stainless or aluminum poles in the handles of carry-on if sharpened into a spear point).

etc. etc.

You can garrot somebody with dental floss. You can blind someone by spraying deodorant in their eyes. You can give someone an unwanted tracheotomy with a ballpoint pen. You can knock someone cold with a laptop battery. You can remove someone's eye with a knitting needle. You can use the tiny file on a nail clipper to saw a Coke can in half, then slash someone's throat open with the resulting edge. The possibilities are endless.

I don't think I'd want to be around you if you ever got really angry. ;)

But you're right. Forget carry-ons -- my keys could make serviceable brass knuckles, my necktie a garrote, my pin a stabbing instrument, and my shoe a sap. Even a rolled-up magazine can make a club.

I could kill somebody with a spork if I were angry/motivated enough.

Ever see "Alien"? Jam a rolled-up copy of Hemispheres in someone's mouth, press hard, you can kill them.

lets see -

break the glass in my laptop - now you have sharp glass

shoelaces as a garrotte

insulin from diabetics is a weapon in those not diabetic

swing my laptop in the bag is a pretty good 5lb bludgeon

thats off the top of my head - no idea what a decent CIA trained killer can find and use - so the answer is ALWAYS yes.

Ha! KFC does that as a standard business practice, it just takes longer.

This is always a fun topic that simply 99.999999999999999999% of clerks dont get at all. There view of the world is so narrow its not funny. Its sad that I have a 1 minute SNL monologue that just shows how stupid TSA is. They like to argue that a <1" blade on a mini leather is a threat, but yet the following list in my carry on isnt, in reality a pocket knife is a non threat.

Forceps
Mini-Medic bag (full bag of torture devices that can also save your life)
Trauma Shears (can cut quarters with ease as well as bone)
Fiskar scissors (surgically sharp and are a 2n1 with the screw removal)
Stethescope
Blood Pressure Cuff
Glucometer
Chop sticks
Wood pencil
Bic Ballpoint pen
Cross Pen
Canon 5DmkII w/ Canon 70-200 L IS lens
Tripod
Monopod
Lightstand
Flash unit
Rechargable Batteries
Laptop
Powersupply and cord
magazine
Spoon
Spork
Nalgene bottle
and so on between my backpack and rollaboard there are more then a few.

Then there is my mind and body, that is the most dangerous combo there is because with my bare hands I have the power to save lives or end them.

Just about anything can be used as a weapon, which i will second the jail comment as i have seen some very ingenious weapons and ways of hiding them.

woo hooo 1000th post

It's a dumb question and yes, it's asked a lot in overseas airports when you're flying to the US.

I just say, "I hope not." That seems to me to cover all the bases.

They also sometimes ask if you have anything that *looks* like a weapon. Once, many (15-20) years ago, I was pulled over for 2ndary inspection for what looked like a suspicious object. It was a toy model of a Concorde jet I had bought in the airport just before going through security.

wg

My father was trained specifically to use a rolled-up newspaper as weapon in his <ahem> company days

I'm pretty sure my 10ft laptop power cord could be used to strangle someone.

And I'd be curious to see how the power brick shows on the x-ray. I bet you someone could hide stuff in there.