TSA Knife Seizure Thread

badgerdog6

badgerdog6

Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
18
So why doesn't everyone post the knives that they or someone they know has been seized at TSA checkpoints.

I'll go first. I was coming home on leave from Iraq in May and was clearing customs at DFW. I had left my spyderco poliwog clipped on my pocket and the TSA agent found it. The fellow honestly did say that "we" could mail it home, but I was too focused on getting to my flight so I let them keep the damn thing.
Bought the newer model prior to returning from leave and wisely kept that one tucked away in a checked bag till I got back home.
 
I bought my mom a small Busse that she keeps in her purse and she has forgotten to take it out 3 times when she's flown. Every time the TSA guy has tried to confiscate it without the option of mailing it or checking it in a bag and she has to argue with them about it.
 
My Dad carries a small Schrade knife in his pocket (has had it for the last 30 years). He forgot to pack it in his bag, and a TSA guy found it. My Dad argued with him for a while to let him keep it and not have it confiscated.
 
My only experience was while travelling within Spain with my family. We had just visited Toledo and I picked up a nice Cudeman fighter (fixed blade). We had to take a train to get to out next destination so I packed it in my larger luggage. Little did I know that there would be a security checkpoint just as there is at an airport. Only difference though was that you had to bring all your bags and luggage on the train with you...not check them separately. So, I told the officer there that I had a knife in my bag and he said they would look at it. Apparently, if you have a knife that is un-sharpened (wall hangers), you can carry it on. Of course, mine was sharp...very sharp actually. Since it wasn't cheap, I talked to the guy attempting to get him to let me through which never worked. After talking, he told me to bring the knife to the police station within the train station to see if they'd hold it in a locker there for me until we came back through to catch our flight home. I went and talked to a very nice police officer who asked for my track number and knife, then he met me on the platform to give me my knife back before boarding the train! I was astounded to say the least. I doubt anything like that would EVER happen in the U.S. I was just glad that when we came back, we were flying with checked luggage. :D
 
I have not yet had one confiscated but....if I did, I would follow the example of a sword practitioner when military troops came in to confiscate his sword. He broke the blade off the handle.
 
Never lost any to the TSA. I have a buddy via the forums who lost a Nathan Dewey Fiend to the nazis though. I have approx 5-6 CA PC653k violations on my record. All were MT OTFs and/or BM4x series balisongs.
 
Wasn't confiscated, but I discovered I had a knife in my pocket just as I was about to get in line to go through security. Waked back into the terminal and discreetly dropped it into a large planter. It was still there a week later when I got back.

Greg
 
My wife had a SAK in her purse that I had given her that was snagged by TSA. The TSA officer asked why she had it and she said it was a gift from her husband. He replied back with maybe you need a new husband. Her response back to him was that was a sh*tty thing to say. Gave him the knife and told him to give it to HIS wife.
 
As a traveller ...
I haven't lost anything to the TSA since April '02. The TSA girl spotted my nail clippers in my carry on that had a 1" nail file. I mockingly applauded her vigilance and then mentioned that I've travelled weekly for the last several years with the nail clippers. I bet she was promoted.
 
I accidentally left a Case Trapper in my carry on back pack while flying out of Hartford. Went to the bookstore and put it behind a pile of computer magazines in the corner of the rack. Picked it up a week later when I came back through!--KV
 
It has been well-known for getting on a decade now that you can not carry ANY knife through a TSA checkpoint. You can say what you want to about that rule, but what you can't say is that it's a secret or that it's new or that it's inconsistent. Love it or hate it, it's the way it is and the way it has been for getting on ten years now. If your knife is confiscated, you have nobody and nothing to blame except yourself and your own carelessness. There is no other excuse.

I'm a knife collector and I always carry at least one. And I know that before I head to the airport, I need to "shake myself down." I know that I need to go through my carry-on bag and any jacket I might be wearing with special care.

I have a metal detector app on my iPhone. It's nothing amazing, but it does allow me to "pre-scan" myself and my jacket and it will beep for any knife. This is just SOP for me because I'm smart and I know that knives can not go through the TSA checkpoint to I take precautions myself.
 
I've never had a knife(or anything else) confiscated(ie:legal theft),but if it ever happened,I'd definitely break it or disassemble it before I let them take it.It disgusts me to see confiscated knives on ebay.Who gets that profit?
 
Almost had one confiscated, I was polite and was allowed to check my backpack, another time I had to use the mail option.
 
I fly occasionally and I always check myself before i go through security. But i do have. A nemisis titanium card in my wallet and i worry that i might forget to take it out. Will they notice that in mywallet when it goes through the xray?
 
A friend tried to board a plane with an auto Presidio. He had forgotten it was in his laptop case. The agent knew exactly what it was, was aware of its value etc, and he did not confiscate the knife. He may have had to check it with other baggage I can't recall.
 
Gollnick said:
It has been well-known for getting on a decade now that you can not carry ANY knife through a TSA checkpoint. You can say what you want to about that rule, but what you can't say is that it's a secret or that it's new or that it's inconsistent. Love it or hate it, it's the way it is and the way it has been for getting on ten years now. If your knife is confiscated, you have nobody and nothing to blame except yourself and your own carelessness. There is no other excuse.

I'm a knife collector and I always carry at least one. And I know that before I head to the airport, I need to "shake myself down." I know that I need to go through my carry-on bag and any jacket I might be wearing with special care.

I have a metal detector app on my iPhone. It's nothing amazing, but it does allow me to "pre-scan" myself and my jacket and it will beep for any knife. This is just SOP for me because I'm smart and I know that knives can not go through the TSA checkpoint to I take precautions myself.
Click to expand...

Not the most popular answer maybe, and accidents are bound to happen, but overall I agree. I go through my pockets and any carry-on at least 2x to avoid just this kind of problem. In a security line in the TSA's clutches with your flight taking off in an hour is NOT the place to argue for your right to carry.

It does steam me that at least some of these knives are going straight into the agents' pockets though.
 
I have no data, of course, but I would be surprised if a lot of 'em end up in TSA agents' pockets. It's not worth losing a government job with benefits over a used pocket knife.

They are supposed to be collected and then are literally auctioned off by th pound. Most are bought by eBay and Fleamarket vendors. The profit is theirs.
 
Gollnick said:
It has been well-known for getting on a decade now that you can not carry ANY knife through a TSA checkpoint. You can say what you want to about that rule, but what you can't say is that it's a secret or that it's new or that it's inconsistent. Love it or hate it, it's the way it is and the way it has been for getting on ten years now. If your knife is confiscated, you have nobody and nothing to blame except yourself and your own carelessness. There is no other excuse...
Click to expand...

True and traveling is bad enough without someone holding up the line to argue about their own mistake. That said, on a recent trip my wife forgot a small utility knife in her purse. We left right after she got home from work so she still had her work purse, she is a nurse. We were early for our flight, it was a small regional airport and there was no one behind us in line. They ran my wife's purse through the x-ray machine twice then called here over when they found the knife. The TSA agent escorted my wife to the baggage counter and let her put the knife in her checked bag.

As to what happens to the knives, I do not know how they get to the state, but here in South Carolina the excess property agency occasionally sells TSA knives. The common knives and scissors are sold in bulk lots and occasionally more collectable knives are sold individually.
 
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