And the TSA wonders why they are viewed with contempt by most Americans.
Zero tolerance does not mean tolerating Zeros.
The TSA does not operate in Dublin.
I hate airport security as much as the next person but I have to admit that a 3 year old with a fart noise maker might be enough to make the calmest of people consider violence while in flight.
The TSA perhaps, but USA customs and border clearance do operate at Dublin airport.
After playing saints row 4 Iād expect a farr gun to be a lethal weapon.
āThe spokesperson added that the toy gun is being kept safe at the airport for the family to pick up on their return.ā
Clearly not TSA.
Yeah, they do, but for US passport holders only. Itās called āPre-clearanceā and itās between the UK security and US Customs steps. You go through UK Border Control security (easy: cursory passport and ticket check, electronics stay in bag, shoes stay on, metal detector only) then TSA-uniformed security (US style: shoes come off, empty pockets, mm wave scanner) then US Customs, who use a weird machine to take your picture to compare with your passport at the next step, which matches you with your checked baggage, asks some questions, and then clears you for customs on the east side of the pond so you donāt have to do anything when you get back to the US. I just came back through Dublin a couple of weeks ago. The whole rigamarole (including airline checkin) took the whole three hours weād allowed to catch the flight-- we walked up to the gate just as they were boarding.
It was annoying, but I admit it was pretty nice to land in PHL and not have to go through US Customs hell there before catching our domestic flight back to SAN.
Sorry about ignoring the rest of your post. Iām just so pleased to see that someone has kept the āofā after the word ācoupleā. Call me old-fashioned ā¦
So basically Gene would be on the no-fly list.
UK security? UK border control? In Dublin?
Did I slip into an alternate universe where the Irish War of Independence had a different outcome?
I may have assumed it was the UK version of the Border Force. Does Ireland also have a outfit called Border Force that wears similar uniforms? If so, I could be mistaken.
I do believe I will have to go back and check again! 
Well, it seems UK Border Force officers operate in the Eurostar terminal in Brussels, so I suppose anythingās possible: but for reasons of political and historical sensitivities alone, I would have thought it unlikely.
Confiscating a kidās noisemaker before a trans-atlantic flight?
Call me conservative, but in this very rare case, I think Iāll stick up for the TSA.
If noise abatement is the objective, it would make more sense to allow the toy on board but not the kid.
The weird part is the security theater enacted by the TSA meant everybody gets the same treatment everywhere, even people flying within their own countries have had to comply with these regulations cause Māurica, thatās why.
/Rant
Good.
I donāt see the problem.
If you think a toddler with a sound-producing toy is noisy then just wait until you hear a toddler who just had their favorite toy forcibly taken away.
