Airport confiscating all possible weapons

Attention airline travelers: Take a quick look inside your carry-on bag. Got any scissors in there? How about a pocket knife? Screwdriver? Maybe a spear gun?

If so, Earl Morris, federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration at the Salt Lake City International Airport, offers this advice: Pack it and check it in or leave it at home.

Increasingly, airline security personnel around the country are confiscating items deemed off limits on board any airplane, Morris said.

In Salt Lake City alone, some 18,000 prohibited items have been confiscated since January. About 200 of those were considered dangerous weapons, including 40 loaded firearms, he said.

"Most people say they forgot, or they didn't realize they had those items with them," Morris said. "So when you are coming to the airport, ask yourself before you leave, 'Is there anything in my carry-on bag that could be construed as a weapon?' If that's the case, take it out and put it in your checked luggage."

Failure to do so can result in a citation and possibly some stiff civil or criminal penalties, including fines of up to $7,500 for packing a loaded gun. TSA officers frequently issue those citations and confiscate the prohibited items, Morris said.

TSA defines "prohibited carry-on items" as any item that could possibly be used as a weapon and is accessible to the passenger or to any other passenger.

"Well over 90 percent of travelers don't have any criminal intent, but they still can't take those items on board," he said. And carrying the offending item will likely also earn its owner the wrath of other travelers.

"Every time those 18,000 people bring those items and we have to go through their bags, it slows down the line," said Morris. "It's an inconvenience for them and every other passenger who's trying to get through security."

Morris attributes the increase in the number of prohibited items being confiscated to an overall increase in the number of airline passengers and to apathy. The more days between now and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the more lax people become about the items they carry.

The severity of the security problem will, of course, depend on the item, and how the traveller is transporting it, Morris added. Passengers will be given the choice of checking the prohibited possession — a golf club or pool cue, for example. Those carrying smaller items, like a pocket knife, are offered an envelope and the choice to return it to themselves via the mail.

TSA can accommodate fire-

arms, he added, but passengers must declare them to security agents, who will then secure the weapon and return it to the passenger when they reach their destination.

Any item that security screeners determine to be "artfully concealed" will raise more suspicions than something more casually tossed into a bag, he said.

Anyone uncertain about whether or not an item can be taken onto an airplane can check the "Can I Take It?" list posted on the TSA's Web site, www.tsa.gov. Travelers can also call the Salt Lake City Airport for information or the local TSA office, 524-4527, for information.

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E-mail: jdobner@desnews.com