If you're flying, please leave billy club at home

By GORDON DILLOW
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
My mom in Arizona has been ill recently, so I've been doing a lot of flying -- LAX to Tucson or John Wayne Airport Phoenix, and 'round and 'round. And I've been consistently amazed at the knuckleheadedness on display at airport security checkpoints.
I'm not talking about the performance of the Transportation Security Administration security screeners. Although some TSA rules may seem a little silly, it appears to me that with some exceptions the screeners try to get passengers through the process as quickly and efficiently as possible.
No, what gets me is the behavior of many of the passengers who want to get on an airplane.
Most of it is small stuff. The guy who wants to bring a 12-ounce can of Coke through security, this after passing a half-dozen signs telling him not to. The woman who walks up to the metal detector wearing enough rings, bracelets and necklaces to make a coat of chain-mail, again after being repeatedly told to place metal items inside her carry-on bags.
And so on, and so on. Every time it happens, it slows down the process for everybody else.
Snoop the knucklehead
That's bad enough. But then there's the gross airport security knuckleheadedness of the sort allegedly displayed by rap music artist Snoop Dogg -- and hundreds of others like him.
As you may know, Mr. Dogg has been charged with felony possession of a deadly weapon for allegedly having a 20-inch collapsible metal billy club in his carry-on baggage at John Wayne Airport in September -- this despite the prominent TSA airport signs warning travelers that "club-like items, such as billy clubs, baseball bats and golf clubs" can't be taken through security. Although he hasn't yet entered a plea, the charge could earn him three years in the jug if he's convicted.
Perhaps expectedly, Snoop Dogg's lawyer has denounced the charge as a humbug, arguing that the alleged billy club was actually an innocent sort of wand to be used in a music video.
But Orange County Deputy District Attorney Andre Manssourian says the collapsible baton is clearly a dangerous weapon prohibited under California Penal Code Section 12020. Possessing it and similar weapons anywhere in the state, not just at airport security checkpoints, can be a misdemeanor or a felony.
Manssourian also says Snoop Dogg's celebrity has nothing to do with the case -- and he's right. In the past month, for example, Orange County sheriff's deputies at John Wayne Airport have arrested or cited four people for carrying dangerous weapons, including a set of brass knuckles and another collapsible baton.
And those are just the most egregious cases. So far this year, TSA security personnel at John Wayne have collected or confiscated some 73,000 prohibited items -- not including water bottles, shampoo, etc. -- that aren't necessarily illegal but can't be taken on a plane. Those included about 30 "club-like items" such as baseball bats, 200 large knives and thousands of small knives, about 1,000 tools such as large screwdrivers or hammers, and 60,000 cigarette lighters. Oh, and they also found 16 people trying to carry fireworks onto planes.
Fireworks! On an airplane! In this day and age! The mind reels.
Excuses, excuses
"Usually it's a case of 'I forgot,"' says TSA spokesman Nico Melendez. "But passengers have to understand that it's their responsibility to know what's allowed and what's in their bags."
And even if it's not criminal, forgetting can be costly; civil fines can range up to 10,000. In the first half of this year, almost 1,500 people nationwide were fined for trying to carry particularly dangerous items -- guns, billy clubs, large knives, and so on -- through airport security.
True, when you figure that more than 700 million passengers pass through TSA security every year, the percentage of serious security knuckleheads is actually pretty small. But as I said, it's the millions of small-time rule violators -- the guy with the can of Coke -- that slow things up.
So if you're unsure what you can and can't take on an airplane, check out www.tsa.gov for a detailed list of permitted and prohibited items. (Scissors with blades shorter than 4 inches in your carry-on? Yes. Liquids, gels? Yes, if no more than 3 ounces per container and placed in a single, clear-plastic, 1-quart zip-top bag. Swords or spear-guns in carry-on bags? Don't be ridiculous.)
Yes, I know, the rules can be confusing. And many may seem petty or nonsensical. But unless and until they're changed, we'll have to live -- and fly -- with them.
Gordon Dillow is a columnist for The Orange County Register. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.