This article lists some things people have tried to bring onboard an airplane since 9/11:
[ul][li]A bowling ball with a hand grenade inside[/li][li]100 rounds of ammunition[/li][li]A desk ornament with a grenade attached[/li][li]A total of 15,000 firearms[/li][li]A total of 50,000 boxcutters[/li][/ul]
Now, I’m curious. It seems to me that it’d be quite difficult to accidentally attempt to carry on a gun or a grenade. And everyone knows that the hijackers used box cutters. So why do people still do it? Are they worried that their ninja throwing stars will not be safe if placed with the rest of the luggage? Or are these people just ignorant, stupid fools?
Sometime it is sheer stupidity.
I was in TX for a Science Fiction convention a few years ago. A friend had stayed in the hotel with us, and had left the morning before we did. She forgot a package in our room, so I decided to bring it back with us to Minneapolis.
Now I know (because she showed me) what was in the box. But it never even crossed my mind that the huge Klingon knife would cause a problem. I mean, I knew that I didn’t have anything DANGEROUS in my stuff, and I threw the package into my carry-on because I din’t want it to get crushed in the luggage.
Never even crossed my mind, until the two VERY large :eek: and very polite police officers asked me to show them what was in the package.
:smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack:
I’ll tell you, there was a long time there where I was certain that they were not going to let me on the plane. Fortunately, all this took place before 9/11, so the officers told me to put it into my suitcase and let me go.
Now I take everything out of my pockets and only bring my wallet, ticket, passport and paperbook on the plane. Everything else goes into my suitcase. If it gets lost, I’ll replace it.
Well, my wife and I were all ready to head to the airport when she mentioned my outfit looked a bit frumpy, so I hurried and changed. I was so preoccupied with missing my flight I accidentally put on my exploding shoes.
Boy was my face red. 
A lot of people are convinced that rules don’t apply to them.
“What do mean, I can’t take my chainsaw on board? What do you think I’m going to do… crank it up and cut somebody’s head off? Do I look like a psycho to you?”
“By God, I’m gonna get me a strike this time!”
wipes Dr Pepper off his screen
Actually, I’ve heard of people who either carry routinely or went shooting previously and forgot the gun was on them/in the back.
Shouldn’t happen, but it does.
If they found 99% (and they don’t) that means 150 firearms and 500 boxcutters have made their way onto aircraft since 9/11. :eek:
“Now, I’m curious. It seems to me that it’d be quite difficult to accidentally attempt to carry on a gun or a grenade.”
One could routinely carry a knife with a blade two inches or less in the past; I have a few on my key chain (along with my Etch-e-Sketch and ColorForms).
I also have two or three model fire-arms, including a canon, on it.(the Swiss were very nice, and very firm, about confiscating my derringer cigarette lighter, though).
Mace is classified with fire-arms for some regulation, but I don’t know if that is the case here.
I think the [hollow] grenade was one of those joke desk ornaments, with a little number tag on the pin ring: Complaints; Take a number.
But the bowling ball has me stumped.
Whats wrong with a bowling ball? Use it to beat the scumbag terrorusts brains out. I vote arm the passangers. Miass the fucks will try to hijack any more planes… But the drunks will get much more difficult to deal with. MWAHHAHAHAHAHH!
You know, the sad thing is that we don’t even need to arm the passengers OR the pilots… we just need them to have some backbone.
Now, a bomb is a problem, but if there are a couple of guys on the plane with boxcutters, and 150 angry people who want to arrive at their destination…
This should be a SHORT fight!
A WAG on the bowling ball: I’ve seen clear bowling balls with something embeded in the middle, like a rose or a skull. One with a grenade would actually look pretty funny rolling down the lane, though these days I think a lot of people would freak out even if it was just at a bowling alley.
A few years ago when I was about to board a return flight from Michigan where my dad’s funeral was held, I was pulled aside after they X-rayed the flag I was carrying (from the military funeral). I had completely forgotten that the funeral director had put three spent casings from the rifles used in the the firing line into the folds of the flag (as is tradition). After I explained what they were from, they took the casings, drove out to the baggage compartment, found my other luggage and put them in there.
What a sweet thing to do.
So that’s why the flight was held up …
checks carry-on luggage
book - check
wallet - check
keys - check
auxiliary club disguised as a bottle of frozen water - check
grenades - okay where the hell did I leave those things:mad:
stomps off to tear house apart
Twice since 9/11 I’ve tried to carry a pocketknife on the plane. I didn’t do it intentionally, it’s just that I often carry a pocketknife in my pocket (duh), and forgot about it. It was actually a big pain really, because I had to go back and recheck my bags. airports suck hardcore.
Funny you should mention that. A while back I had left a 10mm open end wrench in my carry on bag. (For those of you not familar with tool this is a steel wrench about 3" long and weighs maybe a couple ozs.) Anyway the guy at security found it and told me he would have to keep it or I could go back and check it. No problem I told him to keep it.
Then I told him that if someone else on my flight tried to hi jack it using a wrench this size here is what would happen. When I got done with the hi jacker that it would take a team of proctologists a week to find the wrench. I further stated that I would expect the same treatment from other passengers if I tried anything stupid with my 10mm wrench.
He agreed with me, but said rules are rules.
Do not misread the title, self.
Did you remember to pack the genitals? :o
Spent rifle cartridges are a problem now? What the heck are you gonna do with those? Throw them at someone?
Then again, if I were to go hunting in northern B.C., I’d probably bring along 50 or 100 rounds, since I load my own and would want to hunt with the same ammo I use for practice. And since it’s generally advised to carry ammo separately from firearms, I can totally see someone who does a hunting trip every couple of years forgetting that checking the rifle and having the ammo in a separate bag is now a really bad idea if the separate bag happens to be your carry-on…
In fact the nicest catch-22 is the airlines simultaneously saying that all checked baggage must be unlocked so they can search it, and insisting that firearms travel in a securely locked case to which only the passanger has the key…