Soldiers returning home from Afghanistan have given the media yet one more chance to poke at TSA, reports Red State. Despite the truth that United States of America Customs had already inspected the solders’ possessions and separated them from their ammo before putting them on the flight out of Afghanistan – and the soldiers had not left the plane before touching down in Indianapolis – Transportation Security Administration confiscated finger nail trimmers from one of the soldiers once the plane had been on United States soil.
Nail clippers vs. M4 carbine rifle threats
While TSA was technically following the rules, the tiny nail clippers which were confiscated pale when compared with the M4 carbine rifle the solder had been carrying. There may not have been any ammo within the gun but a highly trained soldier wouldn't need any ammo to do harm. Tiny nail clippers would be hard to maneuver. Because people are mad about the full body scanners and groping pat downs, the TSA has already been within the news a lot, and this incident is bound to make that happen once again. A Twitter contest called #touchedbytsa where a winner can get an iPod Touch is being kept.
More of the TSA nail clippers story
Red State reports that airport security had to take all 330 on board into a holding plane after landing the plan in Indianapolis. All the soldiers on the flight – at least 100 – were carrying firearms, from M4 carbines and M9 pistols to M-240B machine guns. None of the weapons were loaded at all. The U.S. Customs secured all of the ammo too. It seemed that TSA had been hoping all the baggage can be unpacked by the soldiers piece by piece for review. Of course, it had already been screened by customs.
The soldiers all had their luggage sniffed for an hour by bomb-sniffing dogs reports Red State. Then the soldiers sat for a couple of hours before TSA inspected them again –and the nail clippers were discovered. The nail clippers weren't shown the TSA before this. So far as Red State and other media sources can tell, this had been a thinly disguised TSA power trip. Some think finding the nail clippers was a bonus. The TSA had been glad to find them.
Citations
Red State
redstate.com/erick/2010/11/18/another-tsa-outrage/
The true danger of nail clippers
youtube.com/watch?v=aZw3qpnaK3o
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