Florida teen detained by TSA for design on her purse

[vienna]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...221835034.html

This is really one of those "Really??" moments that makes people question the sanity, if any, of the people charged with our security...

[Sailor Steve]

Just imagine what would have happened if Gibbs had also been wearing stiletto heels.

Or a bomber jacket.




Looks like I picked the right sig for the month.

[Platapus]

The TSA definitely needs some adult oversight. How could anyone consider a leather embossed design of a gun on a purse as a "replica weapon"?

Really, no on-duty supervisor looked at this and could have made a decision? .

TSA officers seem to have the authority decide to fist some 6-year old girl if they feel like it but no one at TSA has the authority to look at an embossed design?

The terrorists are still winning folks.

[vienna]

I think part of the idiocy of the TSA (and other such governmental entities) is the unwillingness to admit they have basically "screwed up". They do something stupid and then, realizing that it makes them look like the east end of a west-facing jackass, they try to mitigate the error by escalating the situation hoping, perhaps, they might stumble on something able to justify their original error. It's the of inability such agencies to cut their losses that makes such situations a major irritation to the victims of such actions and causes embarassment and lack of respect for the agencies. The TSA agent screws up, the supervisor is afraid the screw-up will reflect badly on his/her ability to manage properly and so the TSA seeks to justify the original error by trying to make the traveller look like the "guilty" party...

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

TSA has lack of work again?

Btw on another forum one lady summarized TSA's entry (intelligence) requirements as "being few fries short of Happy Meal".

[Platapus]

It is too bad that judgement is not a criteria for being a TSA supervisor. The shift supervisor who reviewed this action needs to be severely reprimanded or even fired for lack of judgement.

And people wonder why the TSA screeners don't carry weapons. Could you imagine these people with guns?

[soopaman2]

Beauracracy at it's finest. Yet a symptom of a larger problem.

I hear alot about deregulate the EPA and stuff from certain senators, but no one wants to deregulate these guys.

Ignore the arab and grope granny. Ignore the lady in a burqa and go through your kids diaper.

The requirements to work there are low as well. Maybe I will dredge up a list of bad moves by the TSA since it's induction, and how it is complicit in the American plot to take away our liberties.

Oh, but your paranoid....

Nope.

The patriot act caused this crap.

More terrorist acts after 9-11 were thwarted by passengers than the TSA.

But it is a great money sinkhole for the government, while we prepare to starve the elderly, with "cuts"

Pitchforks and lynch mobs are the only thing that will save us.



Men fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves. ~Author Unknown

[vienna]

And people wonder why the TSA screeners don't carry weapons. Could you imagine these people with guns?

[Jimbuna]

Absolutely crazy

[1480]

Yes, overreaction, that being said: how about flying with another purse...just saying.

[joegrundman]

Originally Posted by 1480

Yes, overreaction, that being said: how about flying with another purse...just saying.

don't you think that if that is your recommended policy, they should have stated somewhere that no images of weapons should be allowed on planes either?...just saying

[vienna]

Yes, overreaction, that being said: how about flying with another purse...just saying.

I don't think the young lady expected the purse to be an issue. I think if you went to the TSA website, you wouldn't find "embossed reprentation of a firearm" in the list of prohibited items. She had already flown with the purse and had no previous problems (apparently at airports where Barney Fife did not work for the TSA). This is just common sense: the "gun" is basically a 3D picture that is neither operable, loadable, or potentially dangerous or lethal. Quite frankly, if there were no other items of any possible harm in the purse, ti was an inert, non-threatening object. (Although, some purses, in the hands of some women, can be formidible weapons, as are some of the contents some women carry...)

How could anyone consider a leather embossed design of a gun on a purse as a "replica weapon"?

It was metal in the shape of a gun, any security check should flag that up.
Even without the gun design a bag with that much metal stuck on it is going to get attention, just like a big belt buckle does or a big bunch of keys.

Really, no on-duty supervisor looked at this and could have made a decision?

Whats the chance that she made a big scene refusing to check the bag and as such was given even more scrutiny for that suspicious behavior...which made her miss the flight.

Yes, overreaction, that being said: how about flying with another purse...just saying

Well said

don't you think that if that is your recommended policy, they should have stated somewhere that no images of weapons should be allowed on planes either?...just saying

Common sense would be that if they have a policy as stated then attempting to fly with a bit of metal shaped like a gun is not very clever

[Platapus]

Was the object really metal and shaped like a gun? From the pictures it looked like it was more like leather-working embossing.

If it was made of metal, that changes the story a little.

Was the object really metal and shaped like a gun?

Watch the video.