Firearms confiscated by TSA

Firearms confiscated by all Federal agencies to my knowledge are usually destroyed unless there is some historical value or it is converted to use by the agency.

I am sure that anything unusual or unusually nice is kept for the agency collection, the ordinary stuff destroyed.
The local PD has a nice collection of "training guns." The rationale being that the cops need to know how to "make safe" (unload) anything they come across.

I would hope that most of them are returned to their rightful owner. Even if they were dumb enough to bring them to the airport, an agency can't just keep their personal property without legal process.

rule303 said:

I would hope that most of them are returned to their rightful owner. Even if they were dumb enough to bring them to the airport, an agency can't just keep their personal property without legal process.

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Seems like they do it all the time with Asset Forfeiture policies.

2018? Federal anything takes time for a variety of reasons.

My guess is most of them are sitting in evidence lockers until appropriate penalties are levied.

rule303 said:

I would hope that most of them are returned to their rightful owner. Even if they were dumb enough to bring them to the airport, an agency can't just keep their personal property without legal process.

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Some may be handed over to local authorities for prosecution if the passenger does not have a permit to possess a handgun or other firearm in that jurisdiction.

Google is handy
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/tsa-seizes-record-number-of-firearms-2019/index.html
"TSA spokesman ------ says they're turned over to local law enforcement, sometimes with the offender ..."

I knew a fellow that had never flown at the time and was going to fly to meet his daughters future in laws in another State. His wife packed his bag but didn’t remove his 38 loaded with a rat shot and 5 solids. He was back at home that evening and got his revolver back a few weeks later.

rule303 said:

I would hope that most of them are returned to their rightful owner.

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Sometimes.
I took a friend to the airport and was still there when the hullabaloo arose over a Pistol In A Backpack.
I was allowed to take the gun home with me.
But that is not the smart way to bet.

"I would hope that most of them are returned to their rightful owner."

Isn't it a crime to attempt to take a gun into a closed part of an airport? Not even having a concealed carry permit makes it not a crime. I would expect that any guns confiscated by TSA in an airport would be held as evidence and then destroyed. I am surprised that the examples given above do not indicate that people were arrested and charged.

The only case I know of for sure, my friend was allowed to board the next plane after all the huhu. I took the gun home.
There were no criminal charges but a "civil penalty" of $3500 was assessed without what what most of us would think of as "due process." This was negotiated down to $1750 without much trouble and after a good deal of back and forth was dropped entirely. Said friend has flown since with no apparent extra attention.

I wouldn't doubt if many of the confiscated firearms are taken home and kept by TSA agents. I know for a fact that TSA agents routinely take expensive items from people's bags and keep them for themselves. Jewelry, electronics, expensive clothing, and I would not doubt firearms.

IME TSA ain't nothing but a bunch of thieving crooks who haven't done a dang thing to stop any type of terror attack.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.41.300
This portion of Washington State law is difficult for my non-lawyer mind to read all the way through, but it seems to say, with very few exceptions, that carrying any weapon in the closed part of an airport is a gross misdemeanor in this state. Having a concealed carry permit does not give you a pass. A gross misdemeanor can get you up to 364 days in jail.

I really don't think you will get your weapon back in such a case.

CarJunkieLS1 said:

I wouldn't doubt if many of the confiscated firearms are taken home and kept by TSA agents. I know for a fact that TSA agents routinely take expensive items from people's bags and keep them for themselves. Jewelry, electronics, expensive clothing, and I would not doubt firearms.

IME TSA ain't nothing but a bunch of thieving crooks who haven't done a dang thing to stop any type of terror attack.

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Like taking them out of an evidence locker? Or “confiscating” them out of a locked and legal safe?

I would imagine most are destroyed if the crime is serious enough. I would bet if its a minor crime a criminal can apply to get them back like other minor crimes.

Traveling with a firearm is really easy. Ive never flown into/out of a place like NYC but its a non-issue in most places.

CarJunkieLS1 said:

I wouldn't doubt if many of the confiscated firearms are taken home and kept by TSA agents. I know for a fact that TSA agents routinely take expensive items from people's bags and keep them for themselves. Jewelry, electronics, expensive clothing, and I would not doubt firearms.

IME TSA ain't nothing but a bunch of thieving crooks who haven't done a dang thing to stop any type of terror attack.

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TSA Agents are not LEOs. They are not armed and no arrest powers. If they seize a firearm it has to go to the Federal, State, or Local agency that is going to handle the prosecution. TSA can't hang on to it. It would be handled on a chain of custody which is needed for a criminal prosecution.

If the prosecuting agency decides it was an honest mistake and the case has no prosecutive merit they may handle it administratively.

TSA Agents have no chance of stealing a gun from evidence.

CarJunkieLS1 said:

I wouldn't doubt if many of the confiscated firearms are taken home and kept by TSA agents. I know for a fact that TSA agents routinely take expensive items from people's bags and keep them for themselves. Jewelry, electronics, expensive clothing, and I would not doubt firearms.

IME TSA ain't nothing but a bunch of thieving crooks who haven't done a dang thing to stop any type of terror attack.

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There are so many cameras it would be very difficult for a TSA agent to steal anything. It does happen and they are caught pretty fast. I worked at an airport with, not for, the TSA. They did have a case of a TSA agent selling confiscated items but he did not steal them from luggage. He was caught and fired quickly.
The items that are confiscated are sold by the government so they didn't like him cutting them out of their take.
You are correct about them never stopping a terrorist attack. The TSA is just for show.

The TSA does not "confiscate" anything. Passengers are simply told they must "surrender" items voluntarily or they will not board the aircraft. THAT is why they can do this legally. Once you "surrender" your items to the TSA they can do anything they want with it. Give it to the State Police - or sell it on Ebay. They have been doing this for years. People selling stuff on Ebay have been making a lot of money off of this crap. Buy a pallet of pocketknives by the pound and sell them on Ebay.

I worked as a supervisor for TSA for about a year. Never had a gun come through our little airport, but we had a bucket of various knives. We would also go through the terminal occasionally and check the potted plants for pocket knives people would stash and found a few.

Normally, we would offer to mail the knives we found to the owner, or even keep them in the office until they came back. Usually people would be so embarrassed they would just hand them over. I still have a couple of Swiss pocket knives and little Leatherman Mini keychain tools.

I was in charge of a small screener force in a little regional airport and made it about a year before I just couldn't look at myself in the mirror any more. I used about as much common sense and courtesy that the government would allow and I still hated myself for patting down old men in wheelchairs and little kids.

As a supervisor, I had to run tests on my people by stashing fake IEDs, hand grenades, large knives, and pistols in random bags to see how they did. My people were pretty decent and reasonably intelligent and found every single item. Except the IEDs. I would put them under a laptop or mixed in with other electronics and they never found a single one.

Of course now. they make you remove your laptop, so maybe now it is more effective. I worked there when it was still under the Department of Transportation.

The day after I completed the Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands I was at the El Paso Airport in line waiting to go through security. About 8 people ahead was a guy that forgot he had a knife on him. At that point I realized I had a Bench Made folder on me that I didn’t check. At the exact time I was explaining to the TSA rep that I forgot to check it a guy in the other line was tagged for a knife he forgot. Airport was crawling with hundreds of military at that time flying out from the March.

TSA rep was cool about it. Took the knife, got my flight info and said he would put it in my checked luggage. As I was putting my belt and flip flops back on ( feet were hamburger...couldn’t wear shoes) I saw the guy leave. Picked up my luggage at the other end and knife was in a plastic baggie in my ALICE backpack. Guy did me a solid.