How to fly with a gun, and other tips from TSA

Gervais Joubert, a spokesman for TSA in New Orleans, examines a machete on a table of objects that travelers had to leave behind before flying out of Louis Armstrong International Airport in the past week.

If you're packing heat, pack it right.

That's the message to gun-toting air travelers from the TSA at Louis Armstrong International Airport ahead of the busy Labor Day weekend.

Holidays are historically the busiest travel times of the year in the U.S., and its not unusual for airlines nationwide to struggle with the s…

Hoping to get word out to the public, agents from the Transportation Security Administration held a news conference at the airport on Wednesday, displaying tables and bins full of weapons, plus piles of other objects that could be used as weapons, that travelers had to "voluntarily abandon" in the past week after they were detected in the TSA line.

Firearms can travel, said Christopher Wright, an expert security training instructor with TSA. However, there's a right way and a wrong way to bring a gun on an airplane.

Here's the right way to bring a firearm on a trip: In a locked hard-sided case, in checked luggage. A tag from the airline is also required.

The right way: inside checked luggage, unloaded and locked in its own hard-sided case with a fluorescent orange tag, confirming that the owner has declared the weapon at the ticket counter.

The wrong way: forgotten inside a carry-on or, God forbid, loaded, and hefted onto the TSA conveyor belt in a purse or backpack.

"For your weapons, you want to make sure you don't bring them into the checkpoint," Wright said.

A calendar nearby was dotted with googly-eyed red stickers marking each day this year that guns were found in people's carry-ons. In July and August, there were 16 stickers.

"I think a lot of people forget," Wright said gently.

TSA spokesperson Gervais Joubert said the word to wise travelers is "unpack before you pack." Agents hope the catchphrase will remind the flying public to clean out bags they may not have used in a while, just in case a revolver or hunting knife is lurking in the bottom.

Guns at the checkpoint will earn the traveler a fine, a chat with law enforcement and probably a missed flight. TSA does not confiscate people's belongings, said Patricia Mancha, a TSA spokeswoman, but agents do call police when a lethal weapon turns up.

These keychain accessories, marketed for breaking windows to escape from cars or for self-defense, are banned from airplane cabins.

But items turned away by TSA go far beyond guns. The agency's Daniel Kuhl hefted gray plastic bins brimming with knives, screwdrivers, self-defense keychains, brass knuckles, and alarming pointy objects. Laid out on a table nearby were baseball bats, machetes, mallets and hatchets, pieces of rebar, a replica pistol, heavy chains and even power tools.

Knives are a class of their own. In the past week, TSA found hunting knives, pocket knives, throwing knives, paring knives, switchblades and a tiny, fingernail-sized blade that folded inside a fake key. "That was a great catch," Mancha said. Another knife was hidden inside a hairbrush.

The clasp of this silver evening bag has the shape, and heft, of brass knuckles. It was not allowed on a flight out of New Orleans this week.

Especially for the ladies were Tasers and stun guns in pastel carrying cases, along with pink spiky keychains. A silver sequined evening bag had a handle that, while bedazzled with rhinestones, was the shape and heft of brass knuckles.

Tourists from Brazil pose with their Tropical Isle Hand Grenade drinks on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. These cups are not allowed in your carry-on bag. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)

It's the New Orleans airport, so corkscrews in carry-ons are no surprise. They aren't allowed. Nor are the plastic novelty hand-grenade souvenir cups that, hours before, may have contained a potent Bourbon Street cocktail. Anything that looks like a grenade, gun or bomb is banned from the cabin. And TSA turns away lots of those hand-grenade cups, Kuhl said.

All of these objects could have traveled safely inside checked luggage. To find out what what must be checked (and what can't fly at all, for example, accelerant) visit TSA.gov, which has a handy search function.

Travelers caught red-handed can give their contraband to a friend, take it back out to their car or mail it to themselves from the airport, Mancha said. But many people, pressed for time, just leave the offending objects at TSA. This haul is sent to the Louisiana state surplus office in Baton Rouge, Kuhl said.

Potential contraband issues are one reason TSA advises domestic travelers to arrive at the airport two hours early, and international travelers, three hours ahead of their flight, Mancha said. For more tips on hassle-free flying, visit TSA.gov.

Email Annette Sisco at [email protected].