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TSA Seizes Stun Gun Disguised As Cell Phone And Other Wild Weapons

By

John Del Signore

Published Oct 10, 2012

Modified Oct 10, 2012

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According to the TSA, one traveller was caught with a stun gun disguised as a cell phone today at Newark, while over the weekend a passenger at JFK "took the prize for attempting to travel with the most prohibited items in one piece of baggage when his checked luggage alarmed for fireworks. When the bag was opened, not only were fireworks, which are explosives, found to be in the bag, so were a set of brass knuckles, a machete and a plastic bag containing a green leafy substance that later tested positive for marijuana."

 

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By

John Del Signore

Published Oct 10, 2012

Modified Oct 10, 2012

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As much as we're irritated by the TSA in the airport, we love the TSA in our inboxes, because the agency is never shy about sharing all of the weird and wondrous weapons they find when screening luggage. Their latest haul includes a stun gun, pictured here, disguised to look like a cell phone. Quick, has anyone designed a Tase Me Maybe, Bro T-shirt for Busted Tees yet? Take it away, TSA:

Take a look at the photo of this cell phone. Notice anything unusual? Look again. Under the phone’s screen there is a button on the right side that typically is pressed to make a call. But this phone’s button doesn’t make calls because it’s not a phone at all. Instead of “call” the button says “STUN” because this is not a cell phone. This is a stun gun that a TSA officer caught on a man at an A Terminal checkpoint at Newark Liberty International Airport earlier today (Oct. 10).

This stun gun, designed to look like a cell phone, was caught by TSA officers at a checkpoint at Newark Liberty International Airport. (Photo courtesy of TSA.) The passenger, who was originally ticketed on an early-morning flight from Newark to Charlotte, didn’t make his flight because Port Authority Police were processing him on a state weapons charge.

The TSA would like to take this opportunity to remind travelers that "weapons—including stun guns that are disguised to look like cell phones--are not permitted in carry-on baggage." And that includes the following items, which all found during the course of one weekend (last weekend) at Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and JFK International Airports:

Damn, it seems we've been traveling like a bunch defenseless sheep our whole lives. Are YOU armed enough to survive YOUR next flight? Because if you're going to score a coveted seat that doesn't come loose midflight, you better be ready to crack some skulls.

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airport security

stun gun

tsa

tsa screeners

weapons

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John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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