The Strangest Items Confiscated By TSA Agents In 2021

Flying used to be a fairly ho-hum activity, one that welcomed the delicate barbs of stand-up comedians about the quality versus the amount of food on planes or arm rest etiquette. Sure, things got dicy after 9/11, and we still have to take our shoes off in security while getting a full body scan with the occasional pat down, but flying had generally settled into a routine. The pandemic changed that (along with everything else). Now, flying seems like a horror movie, and the calls are coming from inside the fuselage.

Unruly passengers, labor shortages and canceled flights in the thousands have turned flying into a complete nightmare. Gone are the days of people bitching about throwing their water bottle out at security. Now it's loaded guns and full-on adult meltdowns. And the problem is getting much, much worse. Just take a look at this graph from the Federal Aviation Administration on unruly passengers.

FAA.org

Nearly 6,000 unruly passenger reports were received by the FAA last year, with thousands of incidents starting by passengers triggered over wearing masks. Pre-pandemic, incidents reported were in the low hundreds. The Transportation Security Administration also recorded that 2021 saw the highest number of passengers attempting to bring guns on plane — around 85 percent of which were loaded — in the agency's history.

With all this stress you'd think folks would toe the line when it comes to what is and isn't allowed in a carry-on, but you'd be wrong. We're no longer acting as rational beings. Along with those thousands of guns, the TSA confiscated some more unique items in 2021. Something called a "meth burrito" only made it to number 8, if that's any indication of how wild the last year in air travel has been.

Tired: dinosaur DNA in a shaving cream bottle. Wired: bullets in a deodorant container. It's unclear if this traveler was also carrying a weapon for these bullets, but the TSA is clear on this rule: ammo belongs in your checked bags.

Even if your gun looks like an antique (we're pretty sure this is likely a reproduction) you still can't take it through TSA! Anything that even sort of looks like a gun is banned, as well as gun parts, rifle scopes and rocket launchers (note: rocket launchers are also banned from checked baggage. You're shit out of luck there.) Airport security is not the optimal place to introduce new people to your reenacting hobby. Trust me.

This seems like a "you got your peanut butter in my chocolate/you got your chocolate in my peanut butter" scenario, only less successful. But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe meth is just what a delicious burrito needs to really give it some kick. I will not knock it until I've tried it.

Call Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, we've got a From Dusk Till Dawn fan trying to get through TSA.

Another antique weapon trying to get through TSA. Why would you need to have this in your carry-on? Is the airline food that tough? (ba-zing!)

With how rowdy passengers have been acting over wearing a small piece of potentially lifesaving paper over their germ holes, I get why bear mace felt like a carry-on necessity. Modern problems require bear mace.

I'm more mad about someone trying to pass a bag large enough to store a machete as a carry-on. You know you're gonna end up checking that at the gate. I bet the person who tried to put this in their carry-on doesn't return grocery store carts to the corral either and parks way too close to cars while parallel parking. Basically the worst kind of person.

This person planned to do much more than just simply clap for the pilot when the plane landed. No one has any sense of occasion anymore! Especially the killjoys at the TSA.

Somewhere in America, a rootin' tootin'-themed wine cellar remains incomplete. DAMN YOU TSA! The feds certainly take that "no replicas of guns allowed" rule very seriously.

Come on, there's no way this was going to fit under the seat in front of you or in an overhead compartment. Unfortunately, you still need to leave your emotional support chainsaw at home while flying.