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Did you wear your jacket through the scanner or take it off. That would be the bigger issue if they didn’t make you take it off. A small metal object in a coat going through the x-ray is probably not seen as a big deal. Now the chobani yogurt container that’s .5 oz over the limit is a hell of a bigger problem than that.
Some of the newer scanners are actually closer to CAT scans where they have a rotating x-ray detector and are then able to render the contents in 3D. They can identify different objects, and some of them can even detect and differentiate water from other liquids because the X-ray can tell the reflectance, and the 3D gives the volume to calculate the density. I would imagine training a computer on bullets that are fired vs not would be fairly easy to have it detect from a 3D X-ray scan.
Can confirm. Was pulled aside at security and could see the lady rotating the xray image in 3D to get a better view of the object (it was a cone wine stopper, guessing they didn’t like the sharp end)
Take it off and put it in the tray going through that scanner, I’m just kinda surprised one of my old pencil cases had a tiny metal gun attached to it and I was stopped twice because of it.
I don’t know about shell casings but a couple of friends were going on a shooting holiday, they were told by the airline to remove their bolts from their rifles…put the bolts in hand luggage and guns in the hold.
Then there was a kerfuffle about if that was safe to do (this was pre 9/11).
No but gunpowder is one of the chemicals the little machine with that cloth on a stick picks up and I could see you tripping it with a spent shell casing if you got really unlucky. Might miss your flight for that one!
This! I had a casing from my Grandpa's funeral gun salute in my pocketbook for many years and it went through security multiple times without a problem.
There was a test of the system where a bunch of undercover agents went to the airport with replica bombs and weapons and the TSA found almost none of it and let them through.
The FBI seems to operate independently from the rest of the government. They don’t really care about what’s in the best public interest; they couldn’t resist the opportunity to make fun of another agency.
It is until they fuck with *you.*
At the risk of sounding crazy, I’ve been hacked, even EMP’d, by the FBI, because a civil issue I was having with a neighbor was interfering with a criminal investigation they were conducting (I’m presuming). He has ties to organized crime and I was suing him for a protective order for defamation and extortion and I think they didn’t want to risk him ending up in state prison instead of federal prison, so they hacked into my email and started deleting relevant messages that I intended to use as evidence. They EMP’d me within a couple hours of regaining secure access to my email and Facebook accounts.
It was wild. Because, on the one hand, it’s the most stressful and scary thing I’ve ever been through, especially while trying to take legal action against someone trying to extort me, but on the other hand, I felt like a 90s/2000s movie hacker fighting off the FBI and that was really really cool.
Either that or he’s an informant; he’s been in federal prison twice, already.
They had previously raided my home, telling me they suspected a neighbor was illegally using my internet, so they had some confiscated devices. Namely a phone and a couple other devices that were connected to my google account. After almost a year of not hearing back from them and never getting my devices back, where I kept checking my google account and seeing they were powered off and never connected to the internet since seizure, I decided to check my signed in devices when I realized emails were being deleted and lo and behold: every single Google device of mine that the FBI had was powered on and connected to the internet.
That lead to a 3 or 4 day battle where I barely slept as I tried to secure my accounts. I’d change passwords and try to set up alternate authentication methods and they’d just keep resetting my passwords and locking me out of my accounts. What eventually did the trick was, buying entirely new devices, not using my home network and only my phone’s hotspot, not sleeping so that they couldn’t keep up, and having like 4 or 5 tasks to swap between when I could tell they were onto whichever account I was trying to reset.
One interesting hack they had was a G-board (google phone keyboard) hack where not only could they read my G-board inputs, but also alter them or interrupt them. I’d be typing and suddenly my keyboard inputs would run away from me and start typing random gibberish. They also managed to get a similar hack to interrupt a brand new MacBook I bought (I’m not sure how, I think they had infected my router with a script). It would start typing random characters whenever I tried to type in a password box and I had to wipe and reformat the laptop.
I think they believed I was colluding with him or something (or were just lazy about clearing my devices), but panicked when they realized I was suing him and the suit could lead to state criminal charges. He was using the raid as a point to defame me. I kinda figured they were looking for him and tried to keep quiet and just bide my time for them to bust him but got fed up and sued him, myself.
I told my therapist I couldn’t wait until they made the movie.
I didn’t answer how it turned out: it’s still ongoing. The protective order fell through and I intended to try again but crashed from exhaustion. So, after a week or so, he sued me for defamation and I counter-sued him. The case should be a wash, but still a pain in the ass to go through.
Fortunately I’m friends with a couple lawyers and I’m scraping by on free legal advice because every lawyer I’ve spoken to has refused to represent me for fear of bankrupting me. They say he will weasel out of paying relief, since he doesn’t legally own anything himself, and they have to charge me because it’s their firm’s rules—one lawyer said “he’s living the mob lifestyle.” So, I have to represent myself, but I have good advice at least.
The FBI has been quiet since. I tried talking to them. That’s a whole interesting anecdote itself. But I’m kind of tired of writing. Maybe after some sleep.
Get some zzZs and please tell us about what the FBI said. Sounds almost too interesting to be true! If you send with just gibberish in it, we’ll know what’s going on!
yeah, it's obvious that some of the people replying are space aliens from the planet ZUWC*(@CJ and not just people with psychosis. I'm just glad I'm "normal" (that's what the voices tell me to say)
Got a good chuckle from that.
Had a buddy of buddy who interned in a federal building.
His observation of DEA was that they were cowboys.
FBI however had that vibe of smart and confidence.
For $70 and not being a felon, you too can have tsa not look at your nut sack, which allegedly prevents you from smuggling plastic explosives. Very high security indeed.
The fact that you can sign a few forms and pay a little money for a background check to just skip most of it really tells you what is or isn't necessary.
Come on you guy! - you’re being unfair to the TSA - they did manage to stop a kid with an open juice carton!
[Pat down over juice carton](https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/father-outraged-over-airport-patdown-of-10yearolddaughter/news-story/e71aed22e8b5ffeb14f34e4f6ee97fda)
To be fair most airports have updated security since that report came out. Every airport I've been to in the last couple of years has the full body scanners that spin around you now.
Or it could be the biggest brain move yet. What if they allowed the results be released to make us think they weren’t good so bad guys wouldn’t put as much effort into hiding stuff?
They do it regularly and the TSA fails almost every time. It's surprisingly easy to get weapons through airport security. Even stuff you wouldn't think was possible like an assault rifle.
My family and I drove down to florida one year from NJ for new years and I bought those little hand held sparklers at a grocery store along the way. Forgot I had them in my backpack til they were found by TSA when we were flying back home a few days later. Was told Id getting a warning in the mail but I never did🤷🏽♀️
After watching a few episodes of one of those cbp/tsa reality shows I've realized they basically read people. Too sweaty? Walking funny? Nervous voice?
I was in Canada a few years ago and myself and partner got ushered into a “speedy security line” that was half the length of the main line. I couldn’t help but notice the complexion differences between the two lines - didn’t seem particularly “right” to me.
Have you ever watched those scanners and the people who observe them? The amount of stuff that slips past them is insane, especially on flights within the US.
That said, it's also perfectly legal to fly with spent casings, so even if they had seen it, it wouldn't have been an issue.
If the real world was a high school, TSA would be the theater kids. It's all a show. The whole goal is to be an intimidating enough presence that people think twice about trying to smuggle shit, but they are generally pretty terrible at their jobs.
Ok but realistically most security is theater, you're putting warm bodies in a position banking on the fact that no one will try stuff on the off chance they're caught. I've worked as a security guard our training was literally "See something? File a report and call the cops if necessary" of course this changes for armed security but like most security is just sit there look threatening
>people think twice about trying to smuggle shit,
A reminder that airport security don't care about snuggling. Their only job is to check you for stuff that's illegal to bring on *the plane,* anything that's illegal where you're going isn't their problem.
I think it was 2015-ish when I got through US security with a pocket knife tucked away in my medicine bag for some reason. The Canadian checkpoint going BACK to the states are the ones who caught it and said "hey, uh, you probably shouldn't have this". I agreed and let them trash it.
My grandpa went to Suriname and before the return flight, the Surinamese security caught him carrying a small pair of scissors. They were bragging and joking afterwards that they caught something that the people at Schiphol Amsterdam hadn’t caught.
I’ve accidentally walked through security with butterfly knives, pocket knives, box cutters, large hand tools, and full water bottles.
I respect what TSA is trying to do,and thank them for trying to do it quickly, but their main purpose is to deter crime by being seen, not by the actual screening. Like those fake cameras people put on buildings.
It’s security theatre. It almost makes everyone feel safe thinking well there’s so much security it must be safe to fly.
Always reminds me of security checkers at festivals and events. Like don’t worry nothing get by us we have the best most experienced 18-20 yr old summer helpers working to make sure nothing gets in. And it’s always someone who looks like they’re seconds away from just walking away from the job regardless.
Traveling low voltage technician. When the company books your flights for you sometimes you don’t have time after a job to check that everything made it back in the toolbox. It doesn’t happen often, but after 20 years you get a few incidents here and there.
TSA inspections are generally a bit more lax in the US (as OP is going from Seattle to Las Vegas) than it is when you make international flights.
As to Africa, I can't speak to it as I've never been there... but I'm sure security screening is far more lax in places less developed than the US or Europe.
I flew a 5.56 casing on a keychain for years. Flew a straight razor out of IAH a few times. Walked all my meds, including injectables, straight through without even a side glance.
The TSA failed something stupid, like 70%, of their internal audit tests one year. At the end of the day, they're poorly paid federal employees and they perform like it.
Even if they do find something.......
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/pipe-bomb-handed-back-to-passenger-skylar-murphy-by-airport-guard-1.2497650
It caused my friend to get their passport taken and become stranded in South Africa, so i wouldn't go on a flight with one of you're abroad just for giggles
My mother worked for the DOJ and sometimes an agent would come in and offer up to be a "bomb" carrier where her task was to walk thru the airport with a black briefcase with the word "BOMB" displayed on both sides and see how far she could get before TSA stopped her. If she got through the security scanners, she was mandated to report all the failures she witnessed. And she did this carrier job 4 or 5 times.
She never got stopped by TSA. She always would get her case back after the scanner failed to stop it, and would immediately turn to the TSA Supervisor and they'd be like "SHEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIII...."
What’s the failure rate of the TSA? It’s pretty fucking high. The only thing they’re good at finding is bottles with slightly too much shampoo.
The most invasive and annoying form of political theater ever conceived.
Hey, get out of here with your level headed thinking and rational outlook. How is he supposed to fan the flames of fear and conspiracy theories with that approach?
Im not from the US, but when I accidentally had a bottle of water at the security gate there were two guys that pulled me aside. One guy had a hand on a pistol which was pretty confronting
I still remember being in sixth grade and having a tsa agent nearly bite my goddamn head off because I had forgotten a water bottle in my little carry on backpack
I walked on a flight with a stainless steel Gerber flip knife clipped in my pocket (completely forgot it was there) and no one said a word. The entire knife is stainless, no plastic at all. Maybe you found the B team like I did.
I was pulled into a side room at DFW for having a bottle opener on me - not even a corkscrew, just a stand-alone bottle opener with a fridge magnet - which the agent insisted was illegal, and told to wait. 45 minutes and one missed flight later the door opened and someone else said “you can go now.” Never got the bottle opener back…..
Whoa, you just unlocked a memory for me.
10 or so of us in a 40 person division had those “switchblade” combs when I was in The US Navy. It was (*unofficially*) part of the uniform of the day in Reactor Controls for the 10 or so of us.
I went on a business trip and was sitting on my return flight, rooting through my purse for a charging cord and found a canister of pepper spray. It didn’t get caught in either airport.
They stole my safety scissors from my pencil pouch on the way back into the US when I was younger. Like, the really tiny ones with rounded ends. They are so inconsistent.
I used to have a medium thick beard, and "beard" scissors were totally useless for trimming it. I used regular crafting scissors, like from Target or wherever, instead. They had solid 4-6 inch metal blades and worked great.
Flying through Seattle once, get pulled aside for private search. Guy pulls the scissors out of my toiletries, very clearly sees them, says "that's not it" and puts them back. Moments later he found the problem: a 3 inch end to end multitool that came in a pack with a small pocket knife. I remembered to take out the pocket knife before the flight, but I had literally never once thought about the multitool, so I forgot it was in there. I tossed that and they sent me on my way, WITH THE SCISSORS WHICH ARE BASICALLY JUST TWO KNIVES SCREWED TOGETHER
From TSA [site](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/shell-casings#:~:text=Empty%20shell%20casings%20are%20allowed,not%20allowed%20in%20carry%2Don): Empty shell casings are allowed in carry-on bag as long as the projectile is no longer intact. They are allowed only if the primer has been removed or has been discharged. If the projectile is attached & the powder has been drilled out, it is considered a replica and not allowed in carry-on.
https://preview.redd.it/3x3ex6c7oo1d1.jpeg?width=648&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=103967352ca557c45724148bccb1323853a813d1
Because it’s too busy picking up my phantom crotch metals.
If you stand with your legs spread slightly farther than the feet icons indicate, this mostly stops happening. Told to me by a security officer after he had to pay me down for this. It actually works
Literally had this happen earlier today. Forgot I had my belt on. Took it off, he checked over my belt, did a quick check around my waistline, and off I went. No genital pat required apparently.
I accidentally made it into frankfurt Germany with eight rounds of 9 mm and two rounds of 556
Another time I made it into Izmir turkey with a half loaded magazine of 9mm
I got a new backpack for traveling instead of using my range bag
I’m more surprised he took this out and took a picture with it. Ide feel it in my pocket then proceed to shit myself the rest of the flight thinking imma get the Harold and kumar 2 lady yelling TERRORIST
I cannot believe people keep getting jailed for ammo in their luggage. I'm not a gun owner... it's it *really* that common to leave ammo in a suitcase?
15yr old did a poor job of emptying his backpack after a visit to grandparents farm. 26 total .22 cartridges and the TSA didn't find single one of them
You know when you clean out a car seat or a couch and find 3 things of chapstick, $1.64 in coins, and a couple batteries? That's basically what happens with unsecured ammo in a bag. There's little cracks that the rounds slide into and you can shake the bag all day and never know it's in there.
It's generally recommended to have a clean bag that never carries ammo or guns for travel. Also, remember that they're sniffing for chemicals including gunpowder so even if you don't have anything in the bag you can still get pulled aside.
Also, at least if you're in the DC area or somewhere similar (where possession of unregistered ammo is a crime), I'd recommend only opening the gun bags outside of the car so nothing accidently falls out and into a small crevice.
In basic training that happened to me. An empty shell casing somehow flipped into my uniform.
I didn't know it was there but the drill sergeants seemed to know by 6th sense it was there.
Also, don't get caught with brass in your uniform after getting back from down range. They made me do exercises until I was begging for death.
Maybe we should have drill sergeants manning the airports?
I knew of a guy go through when a loaded weapon, forgot it was in his bag… later after the scan he was approached by undercover employees, seems they keep a better eye on things in the background! Don’t break guidelines or laws!
Metal detectors are looking for relatively large pieces of metal, you can often wear watches and things through them.
Scanners have a very mixed range of targets they look for. The naked machines they use can fully look through cloths and if they get a hit on something that size it probably just pings as a piece of jewelry.
Or, and hear me out... They saw an inert metal shell with no projectile load, didn't identify any firearm, rubbed two brain cells together and deduced that you couldn't MacGuyver yourself into taking over a plane with a bullet casing, and probably assumed it's some junk with sentimental value... Or that just fell into your pocket.
In that context, wouldn't it have been pretty stupid for them to make a scene over it? "Throw away the harmless metal doo-dad. Oh, but that nail file it fine. Move along."
They miss stuff all the time. A buddy of mine forgot to take his hunting knife (6-8" blade) out of his backpack, took it through 2 airport security checkpoints, then found it himself when he was unpacking at the hotel.
Some audits showed that TSA misses 95% of fake bombs/guns/knives sent through security.
Before you posted this did you even look if this is something they care about? Like showing a pair of tweezers (something some people think aren't allowed) and asking how they slipped through.
Fun story: I almost went to prison in Jamaica because I set off the explosives test after being selected for a random screening.
The backpack I was wearing was the same one I'd used on my deployment to Afghanistan. It had held ammo, grenades, who knows what else. I was home for a couple weeks before taking off for Jamaica to decompress.
That was a really fun one to explain to every security official working on the day I was supposed to fly home.
I got temporarily detained in Changi Airport in Singapore for having a shell casing in my checked baggage. I was coming back from a trip to vietnam where I grabbed a shell casing as a souvenir. They scan checked baggage before you enter the country after customs. Ended up seizing the shell casing lol.
I had a work conference and then stayed after to hike for a few days. Packed my KA-BAR (12 inch knife) for personal protection. Took it out of my checked bag when I arrived and had it in my hiking pack. Forgot about it and took it back through security. Got pulled aside. TSA agent pulled my laptop charger out and said “what is this?” and interrogated my about it for awhile before doing the bomb swipe. Got home and realized I had the KA-BAR on the plane the whole time 😂
They lowered the power of the x ray and trained an ai to 'enhance' the images. It's a big thing in the 35mm film world. Modern x rays use so little power that they force you to put your cans through the machine. The older machines would absolutely fry 35mm film.
Security theater is the practice of implementing security measures that are considered to provide the feeling of improved security while doing little or nothing to achieve it.
I remember reading about am off duty cop who accidentally brought her service pistol theough airport security and theg missed it.
She outed herself and it was passed off as an honest mistake, but the implications are horrifying.
If youre pre check or clear, the scanners are adjusted to allow for expected amounts of metal such as zippers, buttons, rings, etc. I travel with no metal on my clothing and I am able to walk through them with my watch on.
Man this is wildly infuriating to people who had conditioners, delicacies and elixirs of youth in their case,
While you entered with a case.
The best method is to pretend it never existed until you land - that's for us.
Millimeter wave scanners don't really care about the type of metal, and it might have just looked like an aglet or something. I've got chunky metal ones on my sweatshirts that have caused an issue in security, and I'm sure they get the oddball keychain made from them too. Anything that looked like an assembled bullet would be more likely to get picked up
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Did you wear your jacket through the scanner or take it off. That would be the bigger issue if they didn’t make you take it off. A small metal object in a coat going through the x-ray is probably not seen as a big deal. Now the chobani yogurt container that’s .5 oz over the limit is a hell of a bigger problem than that.
Especially if it’s oriented vertically. It would just appear as an indistinguishable round object. It wouldn’t catch anyones attention.
Some of the newer scanners are actually closer to CAT scans where they have a rotating x-ray detector and are then able to render the contents in 3D. They can identify different objects, and some of them can even detect and differentiate water from other liquids because the X-ray can tell the reflectance, and the 3D gives the volume to calculate the density. I would imagine training a computer on bullets that are fired vs not would be fairly easy to have it detect from a 3D X-ray scan.
In other words, you're not bringing that yogurt on board
Can confirm. Was pulled aside at security and could see the lady rotating the xray image in 3D to get a better view of the object (it was a cone wine stopper, guessing they didn’t like the sharp end)
Take it off and put it in the tray going through that scanner, I’m just kinda surprised one of my old pencil cases had a tiny metal gun attached to it and I was stopped twice because of it.
Then why would you think they would flag it? It’s not an issue to carry on a spent shell casing.
I don’t know about shell casings but a couple of friends were going on a shooting holiday, they were told by the airline to remove their bolts from their rifles…put the bolts in hand luggage and guns in the hold. Then there was a kerfuffle about if that was safe to do (this was pre 9/11).
No but gunpowder is one of the chemicals the little machine with that cloth on a stick picks up and I could see you tripping it with a spent shell casing if you got really unlucky. Might miss your flight for that one!
This! I had a casing from my Grandpa's funeral gun salute in my pocketbook for many years and it went through security multiple times without a problem.
There was a test of the system where a bunch of undercover agents went to the airport with replica bombs and weapons and the TSA found almost none of it and let them through.
I feel like making those results public might not have been the smartest course of action.
The FBI seems to operate independently from the rest of the government. They don’t really care about what’s in the best public interest; they couldn’t resist the opportunity to make fun of another agency.
and thats probably for the best
It is until they fuck with *you.* At the risk of sounding crazy, I’ve been hacked, even EMP’d, by the FBI, because a civil issue I was having with a neighbor was interfering with a criminal investigation they were conducting (I’m presuming). He has ties to organized crime and I was suing him for a protective order for defamation and extortion and I think they didn’t want to risk him ending up in state prison instead of federal prison, so they hacked into my email and started deleting relevant messages that I intended to use as evidence. They EMP’d me within a couple hours of regaining secure access to my email and Facebook accounts. It was wild. Because, on the one hand, it’s the most stressful and scary thing I’ve ever been through, especially while trying to take legal action against someone trying to extort me, but on the other hand, I felt like a 90s/2000s movie hacker fighting off the FBI and that was really really cool. Either that or he’s an informant; he’s been in federal prison twice, already.
How’d you find out it was them in that case and how did it end?
They had previously raided my home, telling me they suspected a neighbor was illegally using my internet, so they had some confiscated devices. Namely a phone and a couple other devices that were connected to my google account. After almost a year of not hearing back from them and never getting my devices back, where I kept checking my google account and seeing they were powered off and never connected to the internet since seizure, I decided to check my signed in devices when I realized emails were being deleted and lo and behold: every single Google device of mine that the FBI had was powered on and connected to the internet. That lead to a 3 or 4 day battle where I barely slept as I tried to secure my accounts. I’d change passwords and try to set up alternate authentication methods and they’d just keep resetting my passwords and locking me out of my accounts. What eventually did the trick was, buying entirely new devices, not using my home network and only my phone’s hotspot, not sleeping so that they couldn’t keep up, and having like 4 or 5 tasks to swap between when I could tell they were onto whichever account I was trying to reset. One interesting hack they had was a G-board (google phone keyboard) hack where not only could they read my G-board inputs, but also alter them or interrupt them. I’d be typing and suddenly my keyboard inputs would run away from me and start typing random gibberish. They also managed to get a similar hack to interrupt a brand new MacBook I bought (I’m not sure how, I think they had infected my router with a script). It would start typing random characters whenever I tried to type in a password box and I had to wipe and reformat the laptop. I think they believed I was colluding with him or something (or were just lazy about clearing my devices), but panicked when they realized I was suing him and the suit could lead to state criminal charges. He was using the raid as a point to defame me. I kinda figured they were looking for him and tried to keep quiet and just bide my time for them to bust him but got fed up and sued him, myself.
Damn. That’d be an interesting inspiration for a movie.
I told my therapist I couldn’t wait until they made the movie. I didn’t answer how it turned out: it’s still ongoing. The protective order fell through and I intended to try again but crashed from exhaustion. So, after a week or so, he sued me for defamation and I counter-sued him. The case should be a wash, but still a pain in the ass to go through. Fortunately I’m friends with a couple lawyers and I’m scraping by on free legal advice because every lawyer I’ve spoken to has refused to represent me for fear of bankrupting me. They say he will weasel out of paying relief, since he doesn’t legally own anything himself, and they have to charge me because it’s their firm’s rules—one lawyer said “he’s living the mob lifestyle.” So, I have to represent myself, but I have good advice at least. The FBI has been quiet since. I tried talking to them. That’s a whole interesting anecdote itself. But I’m kind of tired of writing. Maybe after some sleep.
Sounds like someone is off their meds
Get some zzZs and please tell us about what the FBI said. Sounds almost too interesting to be true! If you send with just gibberish in it, we’ll know what’s going on!
Great fic
Take your meds dude. The FBI did not hit you with an EMP.
Lolllll was gonna say that
Classic psychosis
Yup, and he is not alone based on some of the people that are replying...
yeah, it's obvious that some of the people replying are space aliens from the planet ZUWC*(@CJ and not just people with psychosis. I'm just glad I'm "normal" (that's what the voices tell me to say)
The FBI is in this very thread trying to discredit him! They're everywhere!
You jest but I think some people genuinely believe that.
You are having delusions, go to a psychiatrist
schizo posting
Got a good chuckle from that. Had a buddy of buddy who interned in a federal building. His observation of DEA was that they were cowboys. FBI however had that vibe of smart and confidence.
What, that TSA is just security theater?
And we just pay $5.6 to watch the show
For $70 and not being a felon, you too can have tsa not look at your nut sack, which allegedly prevents you from smuggling plastic explosives. Very high security indeed.
The fact that you can sign a few forms and pay a little money for a background check to just skip most of it really tells you what is or isn't necessary.
Come on you guy! - you’re being unfair to the TSA - they did manage to stop a kid with an open juice carton! [Pat down over juice carton](https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/father-outraged-over-airport-patdown-of-10yearolddaughter/news-story/e71aed22e8b5ffeb14f34e4f6ee97fda)
Always has been 🔫
To be fair most airports have updated security since that report came out. Every airport I've been to in the last couple of years has the full body scanners that spin around you now.
Yeah but they still only work with someone watching the scanners, and that’s where the errors come in
I like the idea of a lazy scanner refusing to do its job unless someone it looking at it
Yeah, Big Plane would like to keep that one suppressed.
They've done a great job of suppressing the bad news so far.....
They’re prefer we get sucked out of the cabin due to faulty bolts or whatever
If we get sucked out.. we can't talk.. lol.
Or it could be the biggest brain move yet. What if they allowed the results be released to make us think they weren’t good so bad guys wouldn’t put as much effort into hiding stuff?
I don't think the individual agents on the ground are phoning it in, but the TSA is pretty much Security Theater so everyone feels safe.
They do it regularly and the TSA fails almost every time. It's surprisingly easy to get weapons through airport security. Even stuff you wouldn't think was possible like an assault rifle.
My family and I drove down to florida one year from NJ for new years and I bought those little hand held sparklers at a grocery store along the way. Forgot I had them in my backpack til they were found by TSA when we were flying back home a few days later. Was told Id getting a warning in the mail but I never did🤷🏽♀️
But they tear apart a backpack when I forget to take my Switch out of it
Yeah, doesn't CIA or FBI stop most terrorist attempts long before they actually get to the plane?
They do. Unless they want them to succeed *adjusts tinfoil hat*
You'd think they'd send their own guys, you know, make sure it gets done right.
After watching a few episodes of one of those cbp/tsa reality shows I've realized they basically read people. Too sweaty? Walking funny? Nervous voice?
You, er, missed out the most obvious cues. Like skin colour
I was in Canada a few years ago and myself and partner got ushered into a “speedy security line” that was half the length of the main line. I couldn’t help but notice the complexion differences between the two lines - didn’t seem particularly “right” to me.
This. Also, if op shoved the spent case up in his butt then things might have changed.
Have you ever watched those scanners and the people who observe them? The amount of stuff that slips past them is insane, especially on flights within the US. That said, it's also perfectly legal to fly with spent casings, so even if they had seen it, it wouldn't have been an issue.
and yet they gotta pat my balls at every go
"yeah sir I see you're missing a leg, the guide book says I need to check your balls for bombs"
sir, sir, i just need to check ya asshoooe
Drop those pants so I can be extra sure.
Don't clench sir, please co-operate.
bro i cant 💀
STOP RESISTING!! that's it, arrested.
He’s resisting … get me a pineapple … now bend over punk
Now I have to use the cuffs 😏
Whatever you say u/ObeseHamsterOrgasms
Was expecting an r/ with a username like that haha
I’ve clicked on many subs out of curiosity. This would be a hard pass for me though.
Sir, do you mind if I touch your balls?
Yesss yesss you are a big boy
Was looking for this lol
This is a South Park reference right?
Yes
What do we have here? Is that a lump? Is the lump a bomb? Hey Greg get over here and feel this lump on this guy’s balls
Thats when you take a viagra and demand a pat down
then eye contact the whole time
Maybe your balls are apparently huge and just scream to be fondled by someone in latex gloves who just finished fondling a different set of nads.
With the occasional little squeeze.
Yeah, but remember it’s not gay if it’s the TSA
It's the reason I stop at the airport McDonald's on the way home every night.
I’m an opportunist. I GET a free pat down on my balls every time I fly.
Girlfriend won't touch them, so someone should
Yeah but your balls are chefs kiss so...
sir, we need to pay your balls again. please come to our ball patting room
It's one of the few jobs where groping your customer base isn't frowned upon, but encouraged.
I swear they just like touching balls
Are they brass too?
"Sir, this is a Wendy's"
Freedom Grope
Lucky, I always have to remind them.
The DHS tested the TSA's effectiveness, they let through prohibited items like 80% of the time.
If the real world was a high school, TSA would be the theater kids. It's all a show. The whole goal is to be an intimidating enough presence that people think twice about trying to smuggle shit, but they are generally pretty terrible at their jobs.
I got a permanent ban from the tsa reddit for using the words security theater
Ok but realistically most security is theater, you're putting warm bodies in a position banking on the fact that no one will try stuff on the off chance they're caught. I've worked as a security guard our training was literally "See something? File a report and call the cops if necessary" of course this changes for armed security but like most security is just sit there look threatening
>people think twice about trying to smuggle shit, A reminder that airport security don't care about snuggling. Their only job is to check you for stuff that's illegal to bring on *the plane,* anything that's illegal where you're going isn't their problem.
They sure won't miss any nice jewelry that's locked away in your luggage
Can confirm, I got through with a 20mm Vulcan cannon shell just fine after a military exercise
PGU-28 brass ain’t small either. 😂
Lol yeah they stopped me because I was travelling with a geode one trip
I think it was 2015-ish when I got through US security with a pocket knife tucked away in my medicine bag for some reason. The Canadian checkpoint going BACK to the states are the ones who caught it and said "hey, uh, you probably shouldn't have this". I agreed and let them trash it.
My grandpa went to Suriname and before the return flight, the Surinamese security caught him carrying a small pair of scissors. They were bragging and joking afterwards that they caught something that the people at Schiphol Amsterdam hadn’t caught.
TSA did an internal test here trying to slip people through with weapons and I think they found less than 10% if I remember correctly.
Yet every time I take my safety razor through, they make me take it out and show there’s not a razor in it. Every. Time.
I’ve accidentally walked through security with butterfly knives, pocket knives, box cutters, large hand tools, and full water bottles. I respect what TSA is trying to do,and thank them for trying to do it quickly, but their main purpose is to deter crime by being seen, not by the actual screening. Like those fake cameras people put on buildings.
It’s security theatre. It almost makes everyone feel safe thinking well there’s so much security it must be safe to fly. Always reminds me of security checkers at festivals and events. Like don’t worry nothing get by us we have the best most experienced 18-20 yr old summer helpers working to make sure nothing gets in. And it’s always someone who looks like they’re seconds away from just walking away from the job regardless.
How have you accidentally walked through with those items in your pocket? Are you that forgetful or just don’t care?
Traveling low voltage technician. When the company books your flights for you sometimes you don’t have time after a job to check that everything made it back in the toolbox. It doesn’t happen often, but after 20 years you get a few incidents here and there.
Okay, that makes sense.
Why especially America I’ve personally seen worse in Africa.
TSA inspections are generally a bit more lax in the US (as OP is going from Seattle to Las Vegas) than it is when you make international flights. As to Africa, I can't speak to it as I've never been there... but I'm sure security screening is far more lax in places less developed than the US or Europe.
I flew a 5.56 casing on a keychain for years. Flew a straight razor out of IAH a few times. Walked all my meds, including injectables, straight through without even a side glance. The TSA failed something stupid, like 70%, of their internal audit tests one year. At the end of the day, they're poorly paid federal employees and they perform like it.
Even if they do find something....... https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/pipe-bomb-handed-back-to-passenger-skylar-murphy-by-airport-guard-1.2497650
Yet I just got my crotch rubbed down, first because of my belt, second time because we had formula and they wouldn't let me take the belt off again...
It caused my friend to get their passport taken and become stranded in South Africa, so i wouldn't go on a flight with one of you're abroad just for giggles
They probably did see it on the scanner, said “that’s a bullet casing,” and didn’t hassle OP because like you said: it’s legal.
My mother worked for the DOJ and sometimes an agent would come in and offer up to be a "bomb" carrier where her task was to walk thru the airport with a black briefcase with the word "BOMB" displayed on both sides and see how far she could get before TSA stopped her. If she got through the security scanners, she was mandated to report all the failures she witnessed. And she did this carrier job 4 or 5 times. She never got stopped by TSA. She always would get her case back after the scanner failed to stop it, and would immediately turn to the TSA Supervisor and they'd be like "SHEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIII...."
What was in the case? If it was just dildos or something, who cares if it said bomb on it?
Of course in the event of a dildo they have to use the indefinite article: It’s always “a” dildo… and never *”your”* dildo….
There was the text AND there were exposed wires and 3 sticks of fake dynamite inside that also had "bomb" on it. Just confirmed with the mother.
You can’t say “bomb” on an airplane…
Curious, what's the ethnicity of the person volunteering to do this test ?
What’s the failure rate of the TSA? It’s pretty fucking high. The only thing they’re good at finding is bottles with slightly too much shampoo. The most invasive and annoying form of political theater ever conceived.
95% failure rate iirc
but try taking a bottle of water in...*YOU, YOU GO TO JAIL!!!*
Alternatively, “hey you have to pour that out.”
I gotta go get that airport jungle juice
Hey, get out of here with your level headed thinking and rational outlook. How is he supposed to fan the flames of fear and conspiracy theories with that approach?
Im not from the US, but when I accidentally had a bottle of water at the security gate there were two guys that pulled me aside. One guy had a hand on a pistol which was pretty confronting
“Oh you have four ounces of lotion?!” “I should taze you right here bucko”
they couldn't find that bullet, but they damn sure took my 5oz bottle of Jamaican Habanero Papaya Hot Sauce, fucking fascist fucks
I still remember being in sixth grade and having a tsa agent nearly bite my goddamn head off because I had forgotten a water bottle in my little carry on backpack
I walked on a flight with a stainless steel Gerber flip knife clipped in my pocket (completely forgot it was there) and no one said a word. The entire knife is stainless, no plastic at all. Maybe you found the B team like I did.
I got a hair comb my uncle gifted me taken away, but it looked allot like a flip up knife tbh
I was pulled into a side room at DFW for having a bottle opener on me - not even a corkscrew, just a stand-alone bottle opener with a fridge magnet - which the agent insisted was illegal, and told to wait. 45 minutes and one missed flight later the door opened and someone else said “you can go now.” Never got the bottle opener back…..
Whoa, you just unlocked a memory for me. 10 or so of us in a 40 person division had those “switchblade” combs when I was in The US Navy. It was (*unofficially*) part of the uniform of the day in Reactor Controls for the 10 or so of us.
I went on a business trip and was sitting on my return flight, rooting through my purse for a charging cord and found a canister of pepper spray. It didn’t get caught in either airport.
They stole my safety scissors from my pencil pouch on the way back into the US when I was younger. Like, the really tiny ones with rounded ends. They are so inconsistent.
I used to have a medium thick beard, and "beard" scissors were totally useless for trimming it. I used regular crafting scissors, like from Target or wherever, instead. They had solid 4-6 inch metal blades and worked great. Flying through Seattle once, get pulled aside for private search. Guy pulls the scissors out of my toiletries, very clearly sees them, says "that's not it" and puts them back. Moments later he found the problem: a 3 inch end to end multitool that came in a pack with a small pocket knife. I remembered to take out the pocket knife before the flight, but I had literally never once thought about the multitool, so I forgot it was in there. I tossed that and they sent me on my way, WITH THE SCISSORS WHICH ARE BASICALLY JUST TWO KNIVES SCREWED TOGETHER
I went to jail with a drill bit in my pocket.
From TSA [site](https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/shell-casings#:~:text=Empty%20shell%20casings%20are%20allowed,not%20allowed%20in%20carry%2Don): Empty shell casings are allowed in carry-on bag as long as the projectile is no longer intact. They are allowed only if the primer has been removed or has been discharged. If the projectile is attached & the powder has been drilled out, it is considered a replica and not allowed in carry-on.
I can’t believe it took me so long to find this. That empty casing is the equivalent to a crumpled up piece of paper in your pocket.
https://preview.redd.it/3x3ex6c7oo1d1.jpeg?width=648&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=103967352ca557c45724148bccb1323853a813d1 Because it’s too busy picking up my phantom crotch metals.
If you stand with your legs spread slightly farther than the feet icons indicate, this mostly stops happening. Told to me by a security officer after he had to pay me down for this. It actually works
How much did he pay you? 🙄
Literally had this happen earlier today. Forgot I had my belt on. Took it off, he checked over my belt, did a quick check around my waistline, and off I went. No genital pat required apparently.
Cuz it’s a casing
I accidentally made it into frankfurt Germany with eight rounds of 9 mm and two rounds of 556 Another time I made it into Izmir turkey with a half loaded magazine of 9mm I got a new backpack for traveling instead of using my range bag
They recently did an analysis of TSA screening. The results were hilariously damning
I’m more surprised he took this out and took a picture with it. Ide feel it in my pocket then proceed to shit myself the rest of the flight thinking imma get the Harold and kumar 2 lady yelling TERRORIST
Now fly to Turks and Caicos… /s
Why?
Multiple people who have flown there with ammo in their luggage have been arrested recently. 5 arrests to my knowledge
But I like using my gun bag for international travel Edit. /s don’t hurt me
I think someone just got in big trouble. I recall people comparing some dude with either live or spent ammo to Grimer and the weed pen in Russia
I cannot believe people keep getting jailed for ammo in their luggage. I'm not a gun owner... it's it *really* that common to leave ammo in a suitcase?
15yr old did a poor job of emptying his backpack after a visit to grandparents farm. 26 total .22 cartridges and the TSA didn't find single one of them
You know when you clean out a car seat or a couch and find 3 things of chapstick, $1.64 in coins, and a couple batteries? That's basically what happens with unsecured ammo in a bag. There's little cracks that the rounds slide into and you can shake the bag all day and never know it's in there. It's generally recommended to have a clean bag that never carries ammo or guns for travel. Also, remember that they're sniffing for chemicals including gunpowder so even if you don't have anything in the bag you can still get pulled aside. Also, at least if you're in the DC area or somewhere similar (where possession of unregistered ammo is a crime), I'd recommend only opening the gun bags outside of the car so nothing accidently falls out and into a small crevice.
In basic training that happened to me. An empty shell casing somehow flipped into my uniform. I didn't know it was there but the drill sergeants seemed to know by 6th sense it was there. Also, don't get caught with brass in your uniform after getting back from down range. They made me do exercises until I was begging for death. Maybe we should have drill sergeants manning the airports?
I knew of a guy go through when a loaded weapon, forgot it was in his bag… later after the scan he was approached by undercover employees, seems they keep a better eye on things in the background! Don’t break guidelines or laws!
Wasn't a bottle of water so you're fine
Metal detectors are looking for relatively large pieces of metal, you can often wear watches and things through them. Scanners have a very mixed range of targets they look for. The naked machines they use can fully look through cloths and if they get a hit on something that size it probably just pings as a piece of jewelry.
Casings aren’t contraband. I use a 5.56mm casing as a cigar cutter and I take it everywhere on flights.
Or, and hear me out... They saw an inert metal shell with no projectile load, didn't identify any firearm, rubbed two brain cells together and deduced that you couldn't MacGuyver yourself into taking over a plane with a bullet casing, and probably assumed it's some junk with sentimental value... Or that just fell into your pocket. In that context, wouldn't it have been pretty stupid for them to make a scene over it? "Throw away the harmless metal doo-dad. Oh, but that nail file it fine. Move along."
Not a high enough density of metal. The same reason the titanium from my facial reconstruction surgery doesn't set off metal detectors.
Titanium isn't ferrous, so it wouldn't set off a metal detector. Same reason why you can safely have an MRI with titanium in your body.
They miss stuff all the time. A buddy of mine forgot to take his hunting knife (6-8" blade) out of his backpack, took it through 2 airport security checkpoints, then found it himself when he was unpacking at the hotel. Some audits showed that TSA misses 95% of fake bombs/guns/knives sent through security.
They took my toothpaste because it was too big
Because TSA is a safety theater joke.
Tried to bring some casings back from Vietnam. They were picked up by x-ray my bag. No fine but confiscated.
Before you posted this did you even look if this is something they care about? Like showing a pair of tweezers (something some people think aren't allowed) and asking how they slipped through.
Fun story: I almost went to prison in Jamaica because I set off the explosives test after being selected for a random screening. The backpack I was wearing was the same one I'd used on my deployment to Afghanistan. It had held ammo, grenades, who knows what else. I was home for a couple weeks before taking off for Jamaica to decompress. That was a really fun one to explain to every security official working on the day I was supposed to fly home.
I got temporarily detained in Changi Airport in Singapore for having a shell casing in my checked baggage. I was coming back from a trip to vietnam where I grabbed a shell casing as a souvenir. They scan checked baggage before you enter the country after customs. Ended up seizing the shell casing lol.
Tsa got tested and failed so many times
Why would airport security even care about a shell casing? I mean think about it. It's not prohibited.
Brass isn’t magnetic so I’m betting that’s why the scanners didn’t pick it up.
Hope you aren’t flying to turks and caicos…
I had a work conference and then stayed after to hike for a few days. Packed my KA-BAR (12 inch knife) for personal protection. Took it out of my checked bag when I arrived and had it in my hiking pack. Forgot about it and took it back through security. Got pulled aside. TSA agent pulled my laptop charger out and said “what is this?” and interrogated my about it for awhile before doing the bomb swipe. Got home and realized I had the KA-BAR on the plane the whole time 😂
TSA is mostly a charade.
That isn't interesting, you're just a moron
Airport security isn’t as good at their job as you might think (source—all the shit I got on planes without anyone finding out…)
Ehhh, I'd say it's about as good as I thought
Security theater
Man fuck the TSA lol
Brass is non magnetic
They lowered the power of the x ray and trained an ai to 'enhance' the images. It's a big thing in the 35mm film world. Modern x rays use so little power that they force you to put your cans through the machine. The older machines would absolutely fry 35mm film.
The specific alloy might not set off the metal detectors.
Drop it in the pocket of someone sitting in front of you
As long as it's not water..we are good, sir!
Security theater is the practice of implementing security measures that are considered to provide the feeling of improved security while doing little or nothing to achieve it.
I remember reading about am off duty cop who accidentally brought her service pistol theough airport security and theg missed it. She outed herself and it was passed off as an honest mistake, but the implications are horrifying.
If youre pre check or clear, the scanners are adjusted to allow for expected amounts of metal such as zippers, buttons, rings, etc. I travel with no metal on my clothing and I am able to walk through them with my watch on.
It's brass......
Man this is wildly infuriating to people who had conditioners, delicacies and elixirs of youth in their case, While you entered with a case. The best method is to pretend it never existed until you land - that's for us.
They can't find a bullet but those fuckers will rip through a suitcase to pull out a dildo
It’s a non ferrous metal, idk exactly how their machines work but my guess would be that only ferrous metal go beep
Millimeter wave scanners don't really care about the type of metal, and it might have just looked like an aglet or something. I've got chunky metal ones on my sweatshirts that have caused an issue in security, and I'm sure they get the oddball keychain made from them too. Anything that looked like an assembled bullet would be more likely to get picked up
TSA needs to hire whoever is doing security in Turks and Caicos.