Anyone have knowledge/experience of TSA's policy on the various types of "tactical" pens? No mention of them on their website, one way or another, but I don't want to have a $100 tool confiscated by some ill-trained idiot at the airport... Mine, a Benchmade, is for any practical purpose a kubotan, a specifically prohibited carry-on item, but isn't mentioned in its role as a writing instrument. I guess I can carry it, along with a knife and pistol, in checked baggage, but after aggravating and costly experience have come to suspect the TSA and airline employees as thieves, and/or inept, incompetent, indifferent, and ill-informed, like many employees of government agencies and large institutions.

Just gotta ask, why invite a problem. Put in in the checked baggage.
You don't think you're gonna need it on the plane do you?

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Pete.

A fair, good question --- no, I don't think there's any satisfactory way to be effectively armed on the plane, or any particular danger as a consequence. However, what with long layovers and so forth, one can spend a lot of time in unsecured areas, where others may be armed, and you, as a traveler, may not be. This is fundamentally inequitable --- some gangbanger can bring his "9MM" into the unsecured airport area, and while traveling, with my weapons inaccessible in checked baggage, I'm disarmed.

Any suggestions to ameliorate this problem?

Duck, probably works best, and yes you are disarmed and the feds want you that way. If you chose to fly commercially that is what you have to accept. Sad, but a way of life now.

First, haven't heard of any shootings/assaults in airports in which an unarmed traveler was victimized by an armed attacker.

Face it, there will be times where one must be without a gun on his/her person. Doesn't happen to me with regularity but doesn't trouble me when it is me in that position. Truly. In fact, due to some scheduling conflicts I will be without LEOSA credentials for a couple weeks late this summer. Am fairly sure I will survive; and, no, I will NOT change my daily "routine" or alter my lifestyle in any way.

Once again, I daresay I travel more than most on this Forum...much of that travel being on commercial airlines. NEVER, EVER, have I had an item(s) STOLEN from my luggage...checked or otherwise.

Will be traveling to San Diego very soon and will be conveying a j-frame in my checked luggage. No, I am not a bit concerned.

Be safe.

Canes are legal on planes and you don't need a doctors order to use one. There are courses available in many areas in what they are calling Cane Fu. I wish I could find the study I saw years ago that found that even quite elderly people were significantly less likely to be mugged if they were carrying a cane. I know one prominent firearms instructor who flies with a cane and another local instructor who will not go to our local vermin infested mall without a cane. I've had a couple of classes and think canes are a highly effective tool. One interesting debate is whether a straight cane or the traditional hooked cane is more effective. The ability to hook the attacker's arm, leg, or neck is a plus for the hooked cane but the straight canes I have are faster to slash and jab with. I go back and forth.

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I like Ike.

Ame...amel.....are we talking about that Earhart woman?

You're never disarmed when you can use words like ameliorate.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

I figure a roll of Eisenhowers in a tube sock would be more effective.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

I didn't know anyone actually purchased those things. Ponders.

Anyway, a fine point Bic, the kind with the clear body, is a favorite for prison shankings. Or a nice sharp number two pencil - buy only American made ones.

For a striking/blunt instrument tightly roll a magazine. Classically in the days before the internet and mass sold gadgetry it was generally sardonically suggested to use a copy of Soldier of Fortune. Soldier of Fortune even once ran an article on just how to use a copy to kill. Personally, I always liked Entertainment Weekly better. Though the Fortean Times also works well.

If you want to keep it rolled, get some number 64 postal grade rubberbands. You want the ones made in America - I think the factory is in AR - and that specifically say that they are USPS approved. Or just ask your lettercarrier/mailperson/favorite postal employee if you can have some.

Someone remind me later and we can cover how to weaponize a Slinky....

Years ago I read a survival article on inmpovised tools. The writer sharpend the edge of a credit card to the point where he could shave with it AND still buy gasoline.

I guess you missed the attack at LAX 3 or 4 years ago where a Muslim shot up the El Al ticket counter area.

And, if you are a frequent flier and have never had your luggage rifled, count yourself as lucky. When I worked at an airline, I saw evidence daily of luggage having been broken into.

Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Drive? Works for me.

Perfect suggestions. I fly frequently, and I can tell you at least a half dozens weapons that someone could potentially have access to. If I'm on a flight and a terrorist does something, I'll be prepared:

My laptop bag - yeah, it would suck to hit someone and break my laptop, but if push comes to shove.....

My laptop's power cord - you hit someone in the face a couple of times with that thick cord, it'll do some damage.

A heavy metal stapler in a sock. I hunted the garage sales to find an old school metal stapler for a reason. The plastic **** they sell at the office supply stores won't cut it.

A good solid pen...hell, any pen. If you know how to use it, its deadly.

and from the good flight attendants.....

A couple of cans of soda in a pillow case.

A bag of ice cubes.

The spare seat belt/buckle that they demo

the list is endless.

The best weapon in the world is your mind. Use your brain and the possibilities are endless.

I don't fly. I drive. That way I can take what I want and keep it close if I want to. Bonus: I see more of the country, and find interesting things to photograph.

Except to Hawaii. Not fun to try to drive there from the mainland.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Yes.... I prefer to not fly. I will either drive, or my preferred method.... My 05 Ultra.

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SW40VE AF
2000 rounds so far

Okay, that was 2 weeks short of nine (9!) years ago. And hardly a random attack on an individual.

I have traveled more on more than one thousand (1000!) flights. Just short of one million (1,000,000!) miles.

Like my version of the story more than yours.

Be safe.

I'm waiting on how to weaponize a slinky-THAT would be wicked cool.

years back when we were taught by the nuns, they all carried about a 6 foot rosary looped through their sash on the habits. The older kids told us that they used them as bolas to ensnare your legs if you ran frum them. A 6 foot long rosary could be used for that as well as a garrotte for the close in wet work-plus the Crucifix on the end could do double duty as a stabbing instrument in the case of a zombie attack.

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Forum consigliere

Let's see --- among 18 replies, not one answers my original question, or even opines about it. But, some replies warrant comment...

I, too, loath what has become of traveling by air, and would almost prefer a visit to the dentist, but time/distance restraints, regrettably, require it, in the near future.

Depending on the interval between connecting flights, one might actually want to leave the airport between flights. (Think, excellent local restaurant, visit to other local attraction, etc. ...) The matter of being disarmed during this interval is, to me, troubling --- I don't have any pat answer, but, just don't like it.

The Benchmade stainless steel pen is not only the probable epitome of Mr. Kubota's original concept, it's also a quality writing instrument, with the valuable benefit of being sturdy and short enough to permit carrying it clipped into a jeans pocket next to a folding knife. For those who don't wear shirts conducive to carrying a conventional pen, this is a handy alternative. (By force of long habit, I feel under-equipped if my accoutrements do not include a gun, knife, light, and pen, in that order...)

If anyone knows the answer to my original question, I'd like to hear it...

Easier done years ago. I recall that my first Playboy Club card was actually made out of aluminum.

Ah, the good old days!

No, you CANNOT carry it unless in checked luggage.

TSA: The Things Passengers Bring

Google is our friend.

Be safe.

Okey, dokey; after complaining that no one "answered" his "question," nary a word from OP.

Be safe.

The OP actually answered his own question in the original post. It's technically a prohibited item, but whether a given TSA employee recognized it as such or just thinks it is a funky pen is just a matter of playing the odds.

Against a motivated attacker, particularly one with a firearm, I'd feel "armed" to the same extent whether I had a fine point Bic or the best tactical pen in the world. (Yes, I know, the most tactical of tactical pens are better at strikes.)

There's tactical water bottle caps, flashlights with strike bezels etc that might make it or prove useful. They all tend to provide the same illusion of security as the weaponized pens. (IE if you're good enough and cool headed enough to use one and prevail, you'd probably have prevailed with something else too and at best have purchased only a small amount of marginal utility.)

Mont Blanc's are allowed on planes last I knew, but clean the ink out of the fountain models before you take it on. Pressurization does bad things, makes a mess. I liked the Boheme personally for it's twist function. The platinum iridium nib will break skin nicely. Don't ask me how I learned that. Tends to bend it up and make is not so useful as a pen anymore though.

The metal Fisher (no relation) space pens meanwhile ARE generally allowed most everywhere, and you can strike and stab with them, and they won't leak ink. (As the name implies, you can use one in space. In days past the ads showed them being hammered through a baseball and still writing.)

As to weaponizing a slinky... They come in two sizes - large and small. I have destructive children - even been hit in the face with a large metal slinky? Hurts and is rather destructive. A creative person will find that to a degree the coils can be sharpened. They can also be used with a fishing weight, dropped into a sock or bag, as a nice black jack. The smaller slinky jr - a dollar at Target - works better for this. They can also be used as garrotes. (sp?).

Of course the ultimate weaponization is to realize that they are good spring steel, melt them and forge a rather neat little blade. Something fun to do with broken toys in the back yard.

Oh, you can use them as improvised radio antennas too. (Google it.) I used to have a shortwave set hooked up to a slinky antenna and it seemed to improve reception.

Zen and the art of the death slinky. Solemn nod.

Anyway....

Thus the "..." (plural) in my latest reply...the one prior to this.

Spot on, GF.

Be safe.