RTaylor says:

No comment. I’m tired of coming here and not being insulted or called out on comments. I’m the silly old fool that people roll their eyes at and move on. I’ll not stop until John calls me an asshole himself. I want bragging rights damn it.

chuck says:

It’s well known fact that Adam Savage is a member of Al-Qaeda.

Greg Allen says:

What is a 12 inch razer blade?

Right after 9/11, with all that intense security, I got through about four or five flights with a full-size Leatherman in my carry-on. I had no idea it was there and didn’t find it until I got home.

hmbterry says:

Next time he fies somewhere, he is going to be sorry.

Yankinwaoz says:

#2 I did the same thing on a flight last week. My leatherman was in my backpack. I got home, unpacked, and realized that I had left it in the side pocket of my backpack.

Perhaps a folded leatherman doesn’t show up as a threat on their scanners?

Tippis says:

#6 Chuck: “#4, #5 – i;d guess that the TSA idiots have been given instructions to look for nail clippers, box cutters, and a few other things.

But not a multi-tool like a Leatherman.”

Pretty much. I seem to recall that one of the first security audits after 9/11, after some new policies had been handed out to the security personnel on what to look for, the testers got a 100% “caught” rate for things like knives, ice-picks, hammers…

…but they had a 20% “caught” rate for SMGs and other small firearms. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same blindness to anything that isn’t mentioned at the top of the protocol is still alive and well today. :-/

cfk says:

#2 & #11–Unfortunately (for me, anyway), it’s all in the eye of the TSA beholder. I mistakenly left my Leatherman in my bag a couple of weeks ago and had it confiscated. The shape did seem to confuse TSA enough to do a hand inspection, though.

FRAGaLOT says:

#16

not to sound like a TSA shill.. but weren’t all those things used to screen the 9-11 terrorists before they boarded… and they got though.

But then again what weapons did the 9-11 hijackers use anyway? Box cutters? that’s all?

Greg Allen says:

>> FRAGaLOT said, on November 26th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
>> But then again what weapons did the 9-11 hijackers use anyway? Box cutters? that’s all?

The hijackers where exploiting the airline crew’s assumption that all previous hijackers wanted to be flown somewhere.

That’s why it is so appalling when Bush and Condoleeza Rice claim that there was “no actionable intelligence” in the August 6 PDB.

If the crews of those airplanes had been warned that the hijackers where planning on crashing the plane, they might have been able to overpower guys with box cutters.