3 On Your Side: Stun Guns, Cleavers, Nunchucks Among Items Confiscated At TSA Checkpoints
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The TSA is on track to set a record for the number of guns it has confiscated across the United States this year. But as 3 On Your Side's Jim Donovan shows us that is just one of the surprising things passengers try to get past security.
It took just two days to fill this a full of prohibited items passengers tried to bring through TSA checkpoints at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.
Items like stun guns, knives, cleavers, ninja throwing stars, replica guns and nunchucks.
Scott Johnson is the federal security director at Dulles.
"I'll ask a passenger direct to the face, do you have anything prohibitive in the bag? 'no.' We open up the bag, they'll have a knife, they'll have a fake gun, they'll have a nunchuck in there," said Johnson.
Some of the biggest head scratchers end up on the TSA's Instagram feed, with more than 336,000 followers it's an attempt to get the word out about what not to bring.
The most serious, of course are firearms. Through July, officers stopped more than 1,600 nationwide, 13 at Dulles alone.
"We actually caught a 357 magnum out here at the checkpoint," said Johnson.
But despite those successes, there remains concern about what's not being caught after details of an Inspector General report leaked that officers at TSA checkpoints failed 67 of 70 tests allowing undercover agents to repeatedly bring potential weapons through check points.
Bringing a firearm or concealing a weapon like a knife in luggage can prompt criminal charges and significant fines.