Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

TSA Misses Luggage That Explodes After Flight
Judicial Watch ^ | December 29, 2010 | Judicial Watch

Posted on 12/29/2010 6:43:32 PM PST by opentalk

Despite a $98 million infusion for state-of-the-art baggage screening machines, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) somehow missed a suitcase filled with explosives that blasted after a three-hour domestic flight.

The shameful gaffe is simply the latest of many for the beleaguered Homeland Security agency charged with protecting the nation’s transportation system. A checked bag on a flight from Boston to Miami contained hundreds of bullet primers that exploded on the tarmac after the plane arrived in south Florida. Primers provide the spark that detonates the gunpowder in bullets.

The bag belongs to a 37-year-old man, said to be a naturalized U.S. citizen, who was scheduled to catch a connecting flight to Jamaica. When an airline baggage handler in Miami moved the suitcase on the tarmac, it ignited. The FBI was quick to point out that there were no injuries and immediately ruled out any sort of terrorism threat.

Authorities initially attributed the incident to an aerosol can exploding inside a passenger’s checked luggage, which led one local news agency in south Florida to sarcastically report that a “can of hairspray caused a bit of a scare at Miami International Airport. “ Another labeled it as a “freak accident” though Boston media took the incident more seriously with a headline that read: “Luggage that left from Logan explodes in Fla.”

The alarming event caps a series of never-ending TSA blunders that have severely compromised national security in the last few months. While the 50,000-member agency harasses honest citizens with invasive, genital-groping personal searches, it ignores real threats and persecutes its critics.

(Excerpt) Read more at judicialwatch.org ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: disinformation; homelandsecurity; napolitano; tsa; tsapervs
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-56 next last
To: FlingWingFlyer

“... through grandma’s luggage”.

By luggage, I am assuming you mean Grandma’s bra, right?


21 posted on 12/29/2010 6:59:06 PM PST by momtothree
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: KoRn
How in the hell do Bullet Primers just spontaneously “explode”?

Well, you toss the suitcase they are in from the cargo area of the plane, out onto the tarmac.

22 posted on 12/29/2010 7:00:26 PM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: opentalk

But they found a woman’s comb in her pocket when they X-rayed her


23 posted on 12/29/2010 7:01:10 PM PST by RnMomof7 (Gal 4:16 asks "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KoRn
...do Bullet Primers just spontaneously “explode”?

Yeah, all those (billions and billions) of primers contained in cartridges sitting on the shelves of Wal-Mart and thousand of other stores??? Must be like nitro, donnchano.

24 posted on 12/29/2010 7:02:37 PM PST by 386wt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: opentalk
TSA Misses Luggage That Explodes After Flight

Hey, give the TSA credit where it is due - they were sure on the ball in thoroughly checking my 14-month old son's sippy cup!

25 posted on 12/29/2010 7:03:00 PM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (Charity that is not voluntary is not virtuous.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: null and void

I want a job as a TSA inspector, you don’t have to do anything and get paid for it. My kind of job.


26 posted on 12/29/2010 7:03:38 PM PST by doc1019 (Martyrdom is a great thing, until it is your turn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: opentalk

The Touch Some Ass (TSA) at their finest!


27 posted on 12/29/2010 7:04:32 PM PST by azhenfud (The government is not best which secures life and property-there is a more valuable thing-manhood.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: unixfox

Well if it had been in his underwear, I am sure the TSA would have been all over it


28 posted on 12/29/2010 7:05:24 PM PST by funfan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: unixfox

Well if it had been in his underwear, I am sure the TSA would have been all over it


29 posted on 12/29/2010 7:05:30 PM PST by funfan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: opentalk
A checked bag on a flight from Boston to Miami contained hundreds of bullet primers that exploded on the tarmac after the plane arrived in south Florida.

100 primers come in a box smaller than a CD jewel case.


30 posted on 12/29/2010 7:06:06 PM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: opentalk
Well...did they detain the 37 year-old Jamaican "naturalized citizen" or not....or is he down under a palm tree by now studying up on how to become a U.S. president?

Leni

31 posted on 12/29/2010 7:09:41 PM PST by MinuteGal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: andyk
I think it would be a Barbie suitcase, about the size of your big toe.

≤}B^)

32 posted on 12/29/2010 7:09:48 PM PST by Erasmus (Personal goal: Have a bigger carbon footprint than Tony Robbins.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: opentalk
Any EOD types out there? Seems like primers have to be struck to "go off" and doubtful that one or two primers would cause others to spark. I'll bet you could take a box of 500 and hit it with a hammer and it would cause minimal problems if they all went off.

Primers and small arms ammunition are a Class C, DOT, transportable device. Hunters are allowed to pack ammunition in limited quantities in their checked baggage, and do so all the time, so I don't really see what the problem is.

Guns are permitted in a lockable transport container and carried on aircraft all the time. Did the citizen forget to declare he had primers in his bag?

33 posted on 12/29/2010 7:10:10 PM PST by Harley (Life is Tough, But It's a Lot Tougher When You're a Liberal. Stop Global Whining Now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KoRn
If it DID happen, something very freak went on here.

Nah. According to the news it's common. Like 'accidental gun firing'.

Seems primers explode, and bullets fire themselves from guns all the time. Many SUV's have run down and killed people, or thrown their riders out to their deaths.

34 posted on 12/29/2010 7:11:01 PM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: UCANSEE2
I'm not a re-loader, so ....

Do primers come in plastic baggies or something?

35 posted on 12/29/2010 7:12:15 PM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Yo-Yo
I should have read further down to your post.

The story sounds BS, now.

36 posted on 12/29/2010 7:14:01 PM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: opentalk

The system worked.

The 37 year old had his gonads searched thoroughly and no suspect items were found.


37 posted on 12/29/2010 7:14:35 PM PST by FlyingEagle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: opentalk

The TSA is stepping all over the Constitution, is a huge waste of money and is totally ineffective. Pistole should be fired and jailed. And take Janet while their at it too. And whatever joker is the head of the FCC, can’t remember his name.


38 posted on 12/29/2010 7:15:57 PM PST by MsLady (If you died tonight, where would you go? Salvation, don't leave earth without it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: andyk

***I’m picturing a miniature suitcase bulging with hundreds of primers.***

1000 primers will fit in a box 2 inches X 2 inches 6 inches long. Some boxes are smaller.

In a box, if one primer pops the the rest will go off due to what is called “sympathetic detonation”.


39 posted on 12/29/2010 7:17:10 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (I visited GEN TOMMY FRANKS Military Museum in HOBART, OKLAHOMA! Well worth it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: opentalk
The bag belongs to a 37-year-old man, said to be a naturalized U.S. citizen, who was scheduled to catch a connecting flight to Jamaica.

One question that hasn't seem to have gotten asked. Jamaica, part of the British Commonwealth, same some of the strictest gun control laws around.

What was he doing bringing PRIMERS to JAMAICA?

40 posted on 12/29/2010 7:18:54 PM PST by PapaBear3625 ("It is only when we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything" -- Fight Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-56 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson