U.S. airport-security agency fills Instagram feed with photos of guns and grenades
With its new Instagram account, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration shows images of weaponry that people either forgot they had or tried to sneak past airport agents.
Short on good Instagram feeds to follow? Well, the Transportation Security Administration certainly has a colorful new account.
Peppered with images of Bowie knifes, handguns, grenades, and more, this account specifically features "prohibited items found at TSA checkpoints."
The TSA recently opened its Instagram account and posted its first photo on Saturday. The inaugural image is a collage of fireworks with the statement "#Fireworks don't fly. (On planes)." One of the photos in the collage also shows brass knuckles.
Other images in the feed include a bayonet and throwing knife discovered at the Long Beach airport, a loaded firearm found in a carry-on bag at the Austin airport, a derringer handgun discovered at the Charleston airport, and a stun gun disguised as a pack of cigarettes found at the Cleveland airport.
So far, the TSA has posted only a handful of photos to Instagram, but if the agency's blog is any indication of things to come, the account could soon be full of all sorts of weaponry. A recent blog post shows that in the last week, 44 firearms -- 35 of which were loaded -- were discovered in U.S. airports. Apparently, the TSA also finds hand grenades on a "weekly basis."
"In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly," read a TSA blog post on Friday, "our Officers also regularly find firearm components, realistic replica firearms, bb and pellet guns, Airsoft guns, brass knuckles, ammunition, batons, and a lot of sharp pointy things."