BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Coming across bizarre weapons and weird items is just another day on the job for TSA agents.
They proved that Friday by showcasing some of the things people surrender at airports every day.
Knives, tools, and a martial arts sword are just the top of a long list of items the TSA shared with reporters.
They're all things, classified as weapons by the TSA, that people have tried to bring with them to fly out of the Buffalo Niagara Airport.
"We've seen about 400 pounds of prohibited items come to the checkpoint here in the last three months alone," said Lisa Farbstein, a spokesperson for the TSA.
Farbstein said she's amazed that more than 12 years after 9/11, some travelers still don't think before they pack.
Popularly surrendered items are pocket knives and credit card knives.
"The fact of the matter is as long as it's a knife or described as a knife, defined as a knife with a blade on it....you cannot carry it on," customer support for TSA Brett O'Neil said.
It's not that these items are illegal, they just need to be checked rather than carried on with you.
Firearms are a classification all their own.
Someone bringing a gun needs to declare they're carrying, fill out some paperwork, and check it in a locked case.
TSA's description of weapons covers a wide spectrum, and for that reason, some bizarre looking items end up in these piles.
Luckily, there's a TSA website and app to help you figure out what's safe for carry-on before you leave home. TSA.gov lets you type in the item you're curious about, and the program tells you if it's okay, if you need to check it, or if it's prohibited entirely. You can download the app to your smartphone, too.
Basically, TSA agents want you to leave the sharp things at home, or check them.
Finally, we asked, where do all the surrendered items go?
"They're turned over to the state," Farbstein said. "The state has a state surplus agency. They take it, they sell it, and they keep the profit."
That's the case almost everywhere except in New York State!
Farbstein says New York doesn't have a surplus agency.
Instead, our surrendered items actually go to Pennsylvania and are sold there for profit, rather than in our own state.
