I Pocket Knife: A Tale of Petty Tyranny and the TSA
By Sam Staley • Friday May 4, 2012 6:28 AM PDT • 26 Comments
By the time you read this, I’m probably little more than a glob of metal, like so many millions of my brothers and sisters. And I did nothing wrong. For a while, I blamed my owner—didn’t he know that the TSA wouldn’t let him take me on an airplane? But, of course he did. In fact, his diligence in trying to protect me is partly responsible for the mental slip that flipped me into the box with all the other innocents, victimized by the bureaucratic absurdity of US airport security rules. Yet, avoiding that slip would have meant keeping me in a dark drawer, and, for a pocket knife, that is a life not lived.
I know this because my owner had held on to me for 27 years. I know exactly when I was born, because I was a loving gift from his girlfriend and future wife. And I was practical, which made the thoughts behind her gift all the more special to my owner. And it gave me purpose. We’ve been through a lot: I have scraped ice from the nozzles of frozen hose couplings used to make snow at a ski area in subzero weather. I have stripped electrical wire forty feet in the air. I have cut scores of feet of duck tape for various types of repairs. I’ve opened hundreds of presents and gifts under Christmas trees and at birthday parties. I opened the box to my owner’s first published novel. Most recently, I opened the boxes of local authors at a spring festival, releasing fresh ideas and creative genius onto an unsuspecting public. I reveled in the joy and satisfaction I brought to my owner, his children, and the scores of people I helped, even in the smallest ways, through their everyday lives.
But there are some things that my owner and I never did. We never cut a person or animal. I was never opened out of anger. I was never used to threaten, cajole or intimidate. My owner simply would not have done that. I should know since, until that sad day in April, I was his companion for more than half of his life.
I have every reason to be livid at my owner. How could he let this happen?
One look on his face when the TSA agent pulled me from his backpack was enough for me to comprehend the emotional pain his oversight caused. My anger melted with his hopes and dreams. Gone was the surety of knowing I would be there to help him with tasks simple and big. Gone was the warm comfort of being there at holidays and birthdays. Gone was the plan that I would be passed down to his son at the right time. And, most importantly, gone was a cherished symbol of affection that he had so carefully protected until that fateful error at the airport.
And the TSA security guard knew, too: Seeing my owner’s expression, he asked him twice if he wanted to go back and mail it home. And my heart sank along with his dispirited voice as my owner uttered the inevitable “no.” He had already waited in line too long, and if he went back through security he would miss his plane. Cancelling meetings and paying hundreds of dollars in rebooking fees was simply too much, even with our long attachment and personal bond.
No, I am not angry at my owner. I am not even angry at the TSA employee. I am angry at the TSA. Despite all the technology available to them and other law enforcement agencies, they couldn’t figure out that a middle-aged man in a stable marriage, with no criminal record, with two decades of steady professional employment, two well-adjusted teenage kids, and more than 500,000 frequent flier miles under his belt was not a threat to himself or the passengers on that plane. In fact, to the TSA, my owner was indistinguishable from the Jihadists that murdered thousands of innocents more than a decade ago. He was invisible, not even a cog in the wheel. He was a nonperson, without rights or claims to civil liberties. In that airport, he lived a life contingent on the good graces of government and its bureaucratic rules, not his record or good deeds or contributions to society.
Perhaps the only thing worse than the absurdity of my confiscation is the fact the TSA consciously and self-righteously tramples on the very civil liberties that this nation was founded to protect. The consequence of these petty tyrannies is not just my demise, but a break in the very bonds that keep humans and families together. They sap the willpower and personal strength of a civil society founded to stand up against larger tyrannies. And they cede the power of life, freedom, and mobility to the rule followers and the small minds that can’t distinguish between real and imagined threats to persons and property. I deserve better. My owner deserves better. Americans deserve better. But it’s too late for me.
Tags: Civil Liberties, Civil Society, Criminal Justice, Family, Personal Liberty, Terrorism, The State, Totalitarianism, Transportation 
I know this is true ....it happened to a friend of mine who had carried his knife for 40 yrs and forgot about having it in his pocket the TSA also offered to let him mail it home at the risk of missing his plane... this is so ridiculous that we are treated as terrorist... facts are... if the terrorist wanted to do something they wouldn’t be carrying a pocket knife... they should have to pay for taking peoples valuables... This is still America and we are a free people...but we aren’t treated as such anymore... the TSA gets its jollies touching children and old people and those in between in places that shouldn’t be touched.... xray those suspicious characters who you think are terrorist... or whatever but stop keeping our stuff... how many of our things are now in the TSA’s homes.
jane | May 4, 2012 | Reply
That’s so sad and so wrong. :-(
Sam | May 4, 2012 | Reply
That was fantastic. Thank you for writing and sharing that. I have a small knife like that, a gift from my husband many years ago. I keep it in my purse, and it has been the most useful thing to have, much like in your story. Your story was spot-on.
Alaskanance | May 4, 2012 | Reply
The TSA did similar to me in August 2003. My wife had given me a gift when we were just boyfriend and girlfriend, back in 1973. It was a souvenir reissue Zippo lighter that i used for the next 30 years. That lighter was inscribed on the outer casing, with a message of love. At Phoenix Airport, the last stop on my way home to L.A., a pimple-faced, jack-booted TSA agent told me the lighter had to be confiscated.
He refused to consider my suggestion of removing the flint, and the fluid-soaked cotton wadding, which would have rendered the lighter entirely non-functional. He told me that he would see to it that I missed my flight if I gave him ANY argument at all.
As much as I would like to confine my resentment to the TSA itself, this fascist punk made it personal. I will never forget the feeling of violation and de-humanization that I went through right here in “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.”
What a sick joke America has been turned into.
Matthew Holt | May 4, 2012 | Reply
Hmmmm...........didn’t I just hear that the War on Terror was over?? Pretty Sure I Did! So, that means that the TSA is no longer needed!!! Yeah, We Won!!!
NOT! Once a Beauracacy is created, it never goes away!!
AZTom | May 4, 2012 | Reply
The very same happened to me coming out of Dallas-Fort Worth airport except my mother gave me my knife and it had fallen into the lining of a old purse I was carrying. I did not know it was there and I carried that purse on 2 other flights. It was Christmas day and we had already missed 3 flights because of ice in Columbus, Ohio, and we had my 4-year old grandson with us and was anxious to get home for Christmas. He said I could either miss the flight or throw my knife in a bucket he had there for that purpose. I almost cried, this knife was pearl handled and was 1 inch long, a real weapon. I had no choice but to throw it in his bucket and I noticed all the other collectors pieces that people had been forced to throw away. I believe he could have sold several of them for a good amount of money. I am 75 years old and we were flying home from a Bowl game, all dressed in our teams jersey. It was totally un-called for.
Patricia Woodrum | May 4, 2012 | Reply
Senator Ryan is trying to get TSA dissolved. I hope it works but as AZTom said probably not going to happen.
Dau Tieng 59 | May 4, 2012 | Reply
It’s duct tape, not duck tape.
Nice piece.
anon | May 4, 2012 | Reply
What happens to all these beloved pocket knives?
The state has no constitutional right to confiscate anyone’s knife (property) without due process.
It is crucial therefore that the state (TSA) formally document the property seizure, mail it out to a court, and the court determine whether the state can confiscate it or not. Otherwise, the property MUST be returned to the owner by the state.
Imposing a SEVERE cost on the state for such confiscation is the only way to ensure that such exercises will ultimately come to an end. Else there will be no end to such intrusions, since the cost is borne by the innocent citizen.
In my view this confiscation WITHOUT ANY DEMONSTRATED OFFENCE (e.g. killing someone with the knife) is a direct violation of the American constitution, and should be redressed through a writ petition.
Sanjeev Sabhlok | May 4, 2012 | Reply
It is time that the TSA be dismantled. It turns out that the “cure” is worse than the disease. Hundreds of thousands of people, heck, millions of people, have been humiliated, groped, insulted, frightened and coerced into compliance with the most inane, ineffective rigmarole than man can devise. TSA screeners are mostly life’s losers, put into uniform and given temporary power over productive Americans. Their resentment is palpable, their delight in afflicting us unconcealable, and, as always, their efficacy is doubtful – that is the greatest sting of all. They are useless.
James T Lay Jr | May 5, 2012 | Reply
Someone wrote, “The state has no constitutional right to confiscate anyone’s knife (property) without due process.”
This is true BUT the State did not confiscate the man’s knife, the State simply refused to let him take it on the plane. He could have mailed it home or even better, he could have read the instructions that came with the airline ticket when he purchased it explaining what items will not be allowed on the plane and then decided to leave it home.
If the State was not in charge of the TSA, then no doubt the private airline companies would still forbid certain items upon their planes. The airline has the right to do so. If they did not, then people would be afraid to fly and they would lose money. I flew from the East coast to California in October of 2001. There were only three other passengers on the plane. I assume that the airline lost money on that flight.
You could argue that the government created the TSA after 911, not really (or solely) to protect the public, but to protect the economic interest of the airline industry.
You could argue that it was not the place of the government to spend your tax dollars to pay the TSA workers; that the airlines should have hired their own security workers. That is perhaps what John Galt would say. But that is a completely different argument than the one about the action of confiscation.
Jeefus | May 5, 2012 | Reply
“The state has no constitutional right to confiscate anyone’s knife (property) without due process.”
They get around all that by making it voluntary. You’re not obligated to turn it over to them. There are alternate choices so they’re not confiscating anything. You are given the choice of getting out of line and doing what ever you need to do to avoid handing over personal property. The decision is yours and having lost three pocket knives to TSA due to forgetfulness, the dilemma is as described in the article.
For the first few years after 9/11 they just took your pocket knife, screwdriver, nail clippers, manicure scissors, etc, etc, threw it in the box with all the rest and auctioned off boxes full of these confiscated items. Then at some point mailers appeared, stacked at the security points and you could send the object in question home for $10 or get out of line and handle it in what ever way you saw fit.
I’m not defending TSA. I hate this (what I consider) breach of civil liberties. I hate this inconvenience. I hate not being able to carry my pocketknife with me where ever I go as I had done for the previous 50 years. But, given all the nut cases out there, both foreign and domestic, I understand the reasoning behind it. I’m just not smart enough to come up with a viable alternative.
Forged on the anvil of discipline.
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D. | May 5, 2012 | Reply
I am not even angry at the TSA employee. I am angry at the TSA.
What futility! The “TSA” doesn’t exist. It is a concept — an abstraction. Only employees — functionaries — OF “TSA” (“Your-Tax-Dollars-At-Work”)exist.
Your only hope that I see would be to encourage your fellow jack-knives to Abstain from Beans — assuming pocket knives could become eligible “voters”. Not at all impossible the way “votes” are counted these days.
http://www.anarchism.net/anarchism_abstainfrombeans.htm
Samarami | May 5, 2012 | Reply
Here’s my question. Why can’t the TSA keep envelopes and a postage meter at the check in point so that those who inadvertently carry in banned items can simply place them in an envelope, address the envelope to themselves, and swipe their credit or debit card to pay the appropriate charge for the envelope and postage?
Would that not eliminate the TSA harvesting knives and other items from the absent minded public? Would it not eliminate the necessity of leaving the check in area to mail the contraband item back home?
Is there not one legislator out there who would be willing to sponsor such legislation?
Phil | May 5, 2012 | Reply
The fact is the TSA itself operates illegally,and people submit to it,it violates your right to travel freely without molestation,it violates your right to be free of illegal search and seizure and your right to privacy,all these fundamental to freedom and protections from a tyrannical state and democracy,let the socialist’s and communist’s fight for democracy,I’d rather fight for freedom and a Constitutional Republic where all men’s Rights and Freedoms are protected .
jim m | May 6, 2012 | Reply
TSA is an arrogant and abusive agency that does nothing to improve security and only adds to the already high level of misery in air travel. Just last month a TSA screener was convicted for smuggling drugs through security and four more this week in LAX. Another four were arrested in the past year and are awaiting trial. These drugs could have as easily been bombs and for all of TSA’s groping of children and strip searches of grandmothers wouldn’t have stopped an attack.
There were a total of 91 TSA workers arrested in the last 16 months. This included 12 arrested for child sex crimes, over twenty for theft from bags and even one for murder. There have been five reports of TSA screeners sexually assaulting travelers this week including three children, an elderly couple they molested and robbed them of $300 in Detroit and groping a Congressman twice in one week. How many incidents need to occur before people get the fact that this agency is broken?
TSA has done more damage to our liberty, way of life and morality than Al Qaeda could have ever hoped to do. Every time someone defends this sick agency they hand another victory to the terrorists. Bin laden would be so happy.
Bill Fisher | May 6, 2012 | Reply
Sanjeev asks what happens to these pocket knives. The original author believes that they’re melted down. This is false.
Have a look at eBay sometime–confiscated pocket knives are sold in job lots. Not only are we left naked before the wolves thanks to the useless TSA, but they’re profiting from it, either by theft (many TSA employees have been busted lately for this), or by “poor man’s asset forfeiture.”
JS | May 7, 2012 | Reply
Dau Tieng 59, Actually it is Senator Rand Paul who is seeking to have TSA abolished.
David Theroux | May 7, 2012 | Reply
Not long after 9/11, Continental resumed metal cutlery for first class. At the same time TSA was confiscating toenail clippers. TSA is nothing but Security Theater, plus a sheltered workshop for the otherwise unemployable.
Alger Hiss | May 7, 2012 | Reply
In a free society, airports would not be run by governments; airlines would not have to submit to inane laws and government regulations; airlines could offer “armed” and “unarmed” flights, giving passengers a choice of being able to carry weapons, “weapons,” or nothing on a flight; pilots would not have to get government permits to carry weapons (and 9-11 would only be an obscure footnote in the history books...); the TSA would not exist; airports would not be rights-free zones; non-passengers could accompany their friends and family to gates and wait with them until departure; and we would not be humiliated in the false name of “security” that is not.
Russ | May 7, 2012 | Reply
The same thing happened to me, only the knife was a relic that my uncle carried in WW2. He used that knife for survival and self defense in Japan. It killed me to lose that knife due to my own stupidity of not leaving it in the car. I have had so many pocket knives confiscated by the American version of Storm Troopers I never spend more than five dollars for a replacement and never carry any one that is special to me including my lighters.
Sam Brown | May 7, 2012 | Reply
In order to avoid this problem I removed an expensive Spyderco knife from my pocket, zipped it inside an internal pocket inside my zipped carry on bag and then CHECKED THE BAG as luggage. It is legal to have a pocket knife inside your checked luggage and this would ensure I had my knife at the ranch with me at my destination. Simple solution, right?
Wrong! After arriving at the ranch, when I unpacked and changed clothes, I realized that my knife had been removed from my suitcase somewhere in processing. As it was only Xrayed at the departure airport, DFW, I would assume it occurred there. Want to guess what my success was in getting the TSA to even discuss this with me, much less get recovery or restitution? And the airline is protected from liability from thievery of feds.
I have missed a flight to mail an item I had inadvertently left in my backpack, but doing things according to the law, i.e. checking the item inside luggage locked to everyone except the TSA, is no protection from these power-drunk criminals in uniform.
Jack Outhier | May 8, 2012 | Reply
How many of you wrote or called your congressman and told him or her not to create the TSA. How many members of congress voted against creating the TSA. There was a rush to judgement and a whipping boy was necessary. No security procedures were violated when the planes were highjacked. The private screeners were the scape goat. Perhaps one should look at the Federal Agency that was in charge of airport security prior to the TSA and the lack of accountability throughout the Federal Government.
frederic conjour | May 9, 2012 | Reply
So much discussion over the loss of a relatively small item, a pocket knife.
A few touched upon the heart of the matter, we’ve not been active participants in our government just active complainers after the fact. If you don’t like what is happening stand up and make the changes necessary to get the brightest representatives in the right positions. If not, and you must have your pocket knife in your pocket at all times because you use it 50 times/day-like I do, just buy them by the gross like I do. I thought I was really getting better at this and got caught off guard this weekend – donating my last Victorinox Mini-champ to the Romney Rally.
Phil Lacke | Aug 27, 2012 | Reply