TSA finds military rocket-propelled grenade launcher in Florida man's luggage

[anon61833566]

Yeah. The red flicks are kind of like the Hangover flicks. Each sequel is the same as the previous one.

I suppose that’s most sequels.

[Melz2]

@anon61833566

I suppose that’s most sequels.

Um… yeah.

It goes without saying that very few are actually as good as the original, or even as worthwhile.

[Spizella]

Whenever I’m about to take a flight somewhere, I’m reminded to review this list of TSA-prohibited items and I imagine the circumstances for some of these, and also recollect that yes some people will indeed feel compelledto ask the TSA if you could bring a book on a plane, so let’s just add that in there, too, alongside antlers and artificial skeletons:
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/all

[jtiii]

I say this with the utmost sincerity -
That GIF never gets old

[iquitos46]

I kinda like the story…It’s amazing…proof that some of the public is actually dumber than the TSA! Fuckin Florida man showed them by god.
It may be a low bar but his dumb ass slid right under making the TSA look like MENSA candidates.

[anon41977465]

Why do we care what sex toys people bring on a flight with them. geez.

[Wanderfound]

@Spizella

some people will indeed feel compelledto ask the TSA if you could bring a book on a plane

Supposedly they stopped doing this in 2017, but:

Academics alarmed by TSA plans to require books to be removed from carry-on...

TSA officials have said that their intent is not to judge passengers by what they are reading but to flip through the pages of books to see if anything is hidden there.

But many in academe know the stories of students and faculty members delayed or detained for some combination of their appearance and what they were carrying with them. There was the Pomona College student who was detained over his Arabic flash cards. And there was the Italian-born professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania whose flight was delayed after security officials interviewed him based on the complaint of another passenger. The professor was writing out complex mathematical equations that his fellow passenger assumed were some sort of terrorist communication.

[FGD135]

Well yes. Books can be very dangerous indeed.

[Wanderfound]

@FGD135

Books can be very dangerous indeed.

[knoxblox]

@FGD135

Books can be very dangerous indeed.

So sayeth William of Baskerville…

[anon41977465]

They can’t pry my collected volumes of how to kill vol. 1 - 4 out of my cold dead hands because those hands will be wrapped around their throats, because I have read the collected volumes of how to kill vol. 1 - 4

[petzl]

Instead of:

The man, from St. Augustine, told officials he thought he could bring the non-functioning rocket-propelled grenade launcher onboard in a checked bag.

The thrust of the paragraph would be better served by this:        

The man told officials he thought he could bring the non-functioning rocket-propelled grenade launcher onboard in a checked bag. The man was from St. Augustine.

[Mister44]

Maybe they are worried about hollowed out ones?

[Snork]

Congratulations. I think. This is the most misleading, deceptive, clickbaity headline of the decade. It was not a rocket propelled grenade launcher. It was a NONFUNCTIONAL REPLICA of a launcher. This is a new low.

[FGD135]

Tactical bible?

[Mister44]

Well… the are often times black. So, sure?

[LorenPechtel]

Once again I find myself disagreeing with the crowd on here.

TSA gets it wrong about obviously fake weapons. However, they are right to prohibit realistic replicas, both because they could be used for a hijacking and because TSA personnel aren’t ordinance guys–it’s not their job to figure out if it’s a real gun or not.

This looks like an explosive. Explosives are quite rightly not legal checked. Once again, they aren’t ordinance guys, they shouldn’t be expected to figure out if it really can go boom.

[wizwar_archon]

the problem here is that it looked real. there are regulations regarding ‘realistic’ props and replicas.

[anon61221983]

Okay. I didn’t write it, though… I just put up Bugs sawing off FL?

[kennykb]

@LorenPechtel

they are right to prohibit realistic replicas, both because they could be used for a hijacking and because TSA personnel aren’t ordinance guys–it’s not their job to figure out if it’s a real gun or not.

A firearm in checked baggage isn’t a hijacking tool. (Which is why they’re explicitly permitted if otherwise lawful - in fact, there are specific procedures for checking them securely.)

@wizwar_archon

the problem here is that it looked real. there are regulations regarding ‘realistic’ props and replicas.

Surely that’s true under state law, citation already provided. It appears that under Florida law, mere possession of the replica weapon is already a felony. The whole “hoax device” law is pretty offensive, though, since it amounts to, “anything that scares a cop is felonious.”

Under Federal regulation, field TSO’s make the final determination of whether an object is ‘hazardous’, and there is no process for review of that determination. (In other words, everything is prohibited if the TSO is having a bad day.) For what it’s worth, the TSA web site states that replica firearms and ammunition are permitted in checked baggage, while replica explosives are prohibited, but offers no guidance as to the distinction between ‘ammunition’ and ‘explosives’ - and warns that replica firearms may be confiscated unless they are in hard containers and declared like real ones, because they may be realistic enough to fool the TSO making the determination.

In short, you’re right, the regulations probably forbid having this thing on an airplane (or indeed, anywhere in Florida) - but the text of the rules appears to have been drafted by Franz Kafka.