Photo: TSAmedia_LisaF/Twitter

Missile Launcher Found in Passenger’s Checked Bag

News Airports + Flying
by Eben Diskin Jul 31, 2019

If you combed through the TSA’s confiscated items, you’d probably find some pretty surprising stuff, but few are more baffling than a missile launcher.

On Monday morning, officers at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport found a missile launcher in a man’s checked bag, and of course, it was immediately taken away.

The passenger, from Jacksonville, Texas, told officials that he was an active-duty military officer traveling home from Kuwait, and wanted to keep the missile launcher as a souvenir.

Lucky for him, the passenger did not face any consequences apart from the launcher’s confiscation, and was allowed to catch his flight. The TSA did, however, use the incident as a reminder to the public that there are specific rules about the transportation of firearms and ammunitions and that they should be checked prior to heading to the airport. It wrote in a tweet, “Perhaps he should have picked up a keychain instead!”

According to TSA Public Affairs spokesperson Lisa Farbstein, it’s pretty common for TSA officers to find firearms in travelers’ luggage. At Pittsburgh International Airport alone, 23 guns were stopped at the airport this year.

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