The TSA Shared The 10 Weirdest Banned Items They Found In Airports Last Year From Samurai Swords To Rare Poop

samurai swords

iStockphoto / Vladimir Kokorin


The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been in charge of keeping our nation’s airports safe since the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks back in 2001. The TSA went from not even existing 19 years ago to over 54,000 employees today with an annual budget of almost $8 billion.

They process passengers and baggage at 450+ airports across the United States and they find some WEIRD shit each year. The TSA often shares their strange and peculiar findings across their social media channels which makes them one of the only government agencies in America worth following on place like Instagram (follow @brobible here).

Almost a billion passengers are screened by the TSA each year so when you take that total number into consideration it’s not all that common for them to find things like guns and rare weapons but they do find some truly bizarre shit. To showcase some of the unusual things they’ve confiscated from passengers, the TSA released a ‘TSA Top 10 Finds of 2019’ clip this week.

They list weird things from different types of samurai swords to moose poop. Why anyone would ever want to fly with moose poop is beyond me. Why anyone would ever think that it’s okay to fly with moose shit is another head-scratcher. Here’s the clip on YouTube and Instagram so you can choose your preferred medium to watch:

and

For anyone out there that’s looking for a text breakdown of the list, here’s what the top 10 looks like. But I suggest watching the quick clip because they show off the strange items:

10. Samurai Swords, San Jose International Airport (SJC)

9. Road flares, Anchorage International Airport (ANC)

8. Gun/Knife, Miami International Airport (MIA)

7. Auto Airbag, Orlando International Airport (MCO)

6. Power Saw, Bradley International Airport (BDL)

5. Martial Arts Sais, LaGuardia Airport (LGA)

4. Blow Dart Gun, Orlando Melbourne International Airport (MLB)

3. Uninvited Snake, Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)

2. Butcher Knife, Tri-Cities Airport (TRI)

1. Moose Poop, Juneau International Airport (JNU)

I can’t say that I fully understand how a Butcher Knife is ranked higher than a live snake or Samurai Swords. At least with a butcher’s knife, I can rationalize how someone would accidentally travel with that. It was probably a professional chef who was traveling for work and wasn’t thinking straight.

But a person traveling with samurai swords has to be out of their damn mind. On no planet could you ever think it’s legal or safe to fly with swords. Those aren’t tools. Those are weapons. There’s zero confusion there in the use of swords. And a snake? How is a live snake ranked behind a knife?? It doesn’t make sense to me.

The TSA also found a record number of guns this year. They found 4,432 firearms in 2019 which was up 5% from 2018 and the highest number of guns found since the TSA came into existence in 2001. According to the TSA, roughly 90% of the guns they found were loaded.

Think about that, over 4,000 people thought it was okay to fly with their guns or they were so complacent about their guns they didn’t even remember they were carrying. That’s staggering. The three airports where the most guns were found include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (323 guns), Dallas/Fort Worth (217 guns), and Denver International (140 guns).

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, 217 at Dallas/Fort Worth International and 140 at Denver International.

Cass Anderson BroBible headshot and avatar
Cass Anderson is the Editor-in-Chief of BroBible. Based out of Florida, he covers an array of topics including NFL, Pop Culture, Fishing News, and the Outdoors.