Salt Lake airport nabs weapons galore

Security checkpoints at Salt Lake City International Airport seized an astounding 185,078 potential weapons from passengers over the past three years — including 75,000 knives, 157 firearms and 400 explosives.

That is an average of 190 such items confiscated each day.

It also means that, on average, one of every 73 passengers who worked through checkpoints in that time surrendered some sort of potential weapon.

That is according to U.S. Transportation Security Administration data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Deseret Morning News. It covers the period from February 2002 through September 2004.

Earl Morris, federal security director at the airport, said he is not surprised that 185,000 items were seized there in that period — which would have been enough to arm every passenger on 979 separate, filled-to-capacity Boeing 737s.

"Actually, we take several hundred items on most days of the week" at security checkpoints, Morris said.

"And that's only part of it. We actually find many more. But we allow people who inadvertently bring a pocketknife or something to mail it back to themselves," he says. "They can go to the gift shop and buy an envelope and stamps and bring it back. We put the item in the envelope and seal it while they watch, and then mail it."

Even with so many potential weapons discovered, the Salt Lake City Airport Police arrested only 63 people (about one every two weeks) in that period for charges related to attempting to smuggle weapons through checkpoints, said Barbara Gann, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake City Department of Airports.

That is only one arrest for about every 3,000 potential weapons surrendered.

Morris said, "When people are arrested, it's generally because they tried to artfully conceal something. . . . If they take extra measures to conceal something, like hide a pocketknife in a packet of mothballs, then they will be arrested."

Morris added that people could face civil fines for bringing some very dangerous items, even if it was inadvertent and they did not try to hide them. "If they bring something like a knife with a blade longer than 3 inches" — the airport found at least 3,500 of those in the past two years — "they could be fined between $100 and $500 whether it was intentional or not," he said.

When items are confiscated, Morris said security officers store them in a locked area and make a daily inventory. Once a week, the General Services Administration collects them. Most are destroyed, but some are recycled, Morris said.

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