- TSA Math
I recently came across this “Workforce Stories” article on the TSA’s website about a guy who was issued a criminal summons for a carrying a concealed weapon when he tried to board a fight carrying a Tactical Pen in his backpack.
Below is the TSA article unedited:
“When is a pen not just a pen? The answer is when it doubles as a potential weapon.
A TSO at Palm Beach International (Fla.) was working the X-ray machine when he came across an anomaly on the screen and called for a search of a passenger’s backpack. Inside, the responding Officer discovered a tactical pen, used commonly by law enforcement as a defense tool with its sharp aluminum-based point on one end and blunt portion on the other.
A Supervisory TSO confirmed that item was a prohibited item. The police responded and issued the passenger a criminal summons to appear in court – under the state statute – for carrying a concealed weapon. He was cleared for travel and there were no flight delays.”
Interesting right? When I was reading this I was thinking “man, I have carried a Tactical Pen on airplane flights dozens of times”. This sort of freaked me out because if I was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon I would be 100% fucked because I would lose my security clearance = never work as a Civilian Contractor again – EVER.
One thing I was wondering is; if this guy was not boarding an Airplane could he still have been arrested for Carrying a Concealed Weapon? As far as I know [just off the top of my head] as long as the pen writes it is still considered a pen, so only Tactical Pens that don’t write or don’t have ink could be considered a “weapon” right?
Wrong! [Well, sort of] this is what my Criminal Defense Attorney friend told me:
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