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View Full Version : What happens when the TSA takes your weapons away(they sell it)




CaptainAmerica
12-11-2012, 01:17 PM
Last year the Transportation Security Administration collected 888,000 items -- from knives and scissors to snow globes and sunglasses -- that were confiscated or left behind by airline passengers as they boarded their flights.

But airport contraband has an afterlife.

It ends up in state-run stores, where thrifty customers can rummage through bins of objects from the TSA's no-fly list. In warehouses around the country, bargain-seekers browse through crates of knives, tools and even box cutters, the weapon used in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Everything is sold at a steep discount, sometimes for $1 apiece, and sometimes by the pound.

"These places actually collect what's discarded at our checkpoints," said TSA spokesman David Castelveter. "We are required to give that leftover stuff to the state governments, and then they decide what to do with it."

The "leftover stuff" includes not just items that can be used as weapons, like meat cleavers, ice picks, sabers, bows and arrows, nunchucks, hammers, power saws and cattle prods, but also forgotten items like books and jewelry. Some of the items are sold at state-run stores and some are auctioned off in bulk on the website Govdeals.com.

Pennsylvania press secretary Troy Thompson said that his state has made $800,000 in revenue from the online auctions since they began in 2004. The state's Harrisburg store, which sells things surrendered at airports in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Maryland and Washington, D.C., has logged $15,000 in sales since it opened last year.

Related: TSA fire sale: Knives, power tools, baseball bats

Thompson's office receives crates from the TSA filled with potentially dangerous items, including cricket bats, Medieval-looking daggers, key chain clubs called kubatons, fake but realistic-looking Nazi submachine guns and even those trendy dumbbells known as Shake Weights.

"We can't sell anything that would be classified as a weapon," said Thompson.

But the state's definition of "weapon" is not nearly as broad as the TSA's. Instead, it applies to anything designed specifically to harm human beings, like guns, martial arts knives, samurai swords and Zulu-style spears, which are discarded rather than sold.

The Harrisburg store does sell an abundance of miniature souvenir baseball bats and even lightweight hollow plastic Wiffle bats. The TSA's Castelveter said the TSA prohibits "any blunt object that could present a threat, and Wiffle bats fall into that category."

Along with its assortment of power tools, and bowling balls, the Harrisburg store has a section dedicated to snow globes, which are verboten on planes because of the TSA's ban on containers with more than 3.4 ounces of liquid.

The store also sells Play-Doh, which is not permitted on planes despite its harmless, colorful appearance.

"Two words: plastic explosives," replied Thompson, when asked why Play-Doh is on the no-fly list.

Related: Weapons you need to survive a zombie apocalypse

Entrepreneurs visit the store to buy and resell the discounted goods. Jim Thorpe, owner of the Some New, Some Used, Thrift Store in Lebanon, Pa., recently paid $6 for a statuette of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha. Thorpe said that exotic statuettes are among the hottest products in his store and he could get at least $20 for Ganesha, which could be used as a blunt object.

"[Passengers] don't comprehend that these things can be used as weapons," said John Supry, manager of surplus property for the state of New Hampshire. "The average person isn't thinking that way, I guess."

Even harmless items that look like weapons, like belt buckles shaped like handguns, are a common sight at the state-run stores. What can't be found in these shops are the more exotic -- for lack of a better term -- items confiscated by the authorities.

"We've had our share of furry handcuffs," said Thompson, who added that items of this nature are not sold in his store. "We might reuse those for law enforcement, minus the fur."

what a bunch of fucking Troglodyte thieves the TSA are.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/11/smallbusiness/tsa-weapons/index.html

Victor Grey
12-11-2012, 01:20 PM
Because as we know, airline passengers are definitely going to let themselves be hijacked by snowglobe wielding terrorists.

fisharmor
12-11-2012, 01:29 PM
New TSA motto:
Protecting America from Play-Doh and Shakeweights!

Zippyjuan
12-11-2012, 02:40 PM
Would it make you happier if they destroyed it and threw it away?

CaptainAmerica
12-11-2012, 02:40 PM
Would it make you happier if they destroyed it and threw it away?

Neither. I'm just posting this article to show you how the state and TSA are stealing.

brushfire
12-11-2012, 02:45 PM
The TSA is supposed to stop terrorism. All the boogie men have to do is blow up a checkpoint. It has the same affect IMO. Who are they kidding?

There is absolutely no end to this...

Tod
12-11-2012, 03:38 PM
But the state's definition of "weapon" is not nearly as broad as the TSA's. Instead, it applies to anything designed specifically to harm human beings, like guns, martial arts knives, samurai swords and Zulu-style spears, which are discarded rather than sold.

Here in Ohio, the law uses the term "designed". A while back I bought a Benchmade Bone Collector 1500 caping knife, which their web site describes as a "utility" blade. Some of their other larger knives have a "combat" blade.

I asked Benchmade to write a letter for me saying that the knife was not "designed" as a weapon, that I could present if I was ever stopped while wearing it and it were "concealed" by a long-waisted jacket or coat. They declined, the bastards.

kcchiefs6465
12-11-2012, 04:00 PM
Would it make you happier if they destroyed it and threw it away?
It would make me happier if they didn't steal the stuff in the first place. Wiffle ball bats? Snow globes? A Ganesha statue? I pray for the day a snow globe wielding terrorist tries to hijack my plane.

kcchiefs6465
12-11-2012, 04:02 PM
Here in Ohio, the law uses the term "designed". A while back I bought a Benchmade Bone Collector 1500 caping knife, which their web site describes as a "utility" blade. Some of their other larger knives have a "combat" blade.

I asked Benchmade to write a letter for me saying that the knife was not "designed" as a weapon, that I could present if I was ever stopped while wearing it and it were "concealed" by a long-waisted jacket or coat. They declined, the bastards.
Those bastards indeed. Bravo for the attempt though, I never would think to try such things. Just have it sheathed and in plain view and you'll be fine.

agitator
12-11-2012, 04:15 PM
It would make me happier if they didn't steal the stuff in the first place.

Most items that can't be brought on board in the passenger cabin, can be put in checked luggage. Also, airports have areas where you can mail items not allowed through security.

kcchiefs6465
12-11-2012, 04:30 PM
Most items that can't be brought on board in the passenger cabin, can be put in checked luggage. Also, airports have areas where you can mail items not allowed through security.
If you are like me though, you already have checked your bags before walking to the first checkpoint. (I do it outside, usually) So then they are attempting to confiscate your snow globe at the security line. Sure you can agree to have your time wasted, as well as money with the extra bag fee, to find a bag, wrap up your snow globe and put your address on the paper tag. That's an incredible amount of hassle for a snow globe. Or as you've pointed out you can mail it, still waste money but it will probably be cheaper than checking an extra bag. (Still an incredible amount of hassle for a snow globe) The point is not the snow globe or the fact that you can probably fit it into your checked bag with no problem, it is that people accept this insanity as necessary to keep us safe. Coupled with the fact that they then sell your shit for a profit. The death penalty is alive and well at 35,000 feet in the air. I seem to recall the story of a man getting beat to death for trying to break into the cockpit. I remember applauding.

Philhelm
12-11-2012, 05:02 PM
Would it make you happier if they destroyed it and threw it away?

Actually it would, since it would provide less motive for self-enrichment.

MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2
12-11-2012, 07:55 PM
The store also sells Play-Doh, which is not permitted on planes despite its harmless, colorful appearance.

"Two words: plastic explosives," replied Thompson, when asked why Play-Doh is on the no-fly list.


So they sell it to the public without knowing whether it's play-doh or plastic explosives? Ummmm... because if they can tell the difference, they can allow it on planes.