Fliers undeterred by screeners WASHINGTON (AP) =97 Despite reminders that potential weapons aren't allowed= =20 in airliner cabins, people are still trying to bring tens of thousands of=20 knives, dozens of guns and thousands of box cutters on board planes every=20 month. Airport screeners have seized more than 4.8 million items =97=20 including guns, knives, a kitchen sink pipe and a circular saw =97 in the 13= =20 months the federal government has been in charge of security.=20 Transportation Security Administration spokesman Brian Turmail said more=20 education is needed to alert the traveling public to the items barred from= =20 aircraft cabins. Since February 2002, TSA screeners confiscated 1.4 million= =20 knives, 2.4 million sharp objects, 1,101 guns, 15,666 clubs, more than=20 125,000 incendiary items and nearly 40,000 box cutters. The TSA on Monday=20 released those figures, its most thorough accounting of seizures at the=20 nation's 429 commercial airports. Turmail said the agency is working with=20 airports to put passenger information on airport radio stations, but some=20 people seem never to learn. "If you don't know by now that box cutters are= =20 inappropriate, no amount of public education is going to make a=20 difference," Turmail said. Local police arrested 922 people at checkpoints, though how many of those=20 resulted in convictions is not known. Among the more unusual items=20 collected by screeners: a 15-piece cutlery set, a machete, a trailer hitch,= =20 horseshoes, that kitchen sink pipe and circular saw and metal wall hangings= =20 depicting the Greek god Apollo. "Those are found with some regularity,"=20 Turmail said, referring to the wall hangings. The sharp points around the=20 figure's head make it similar to a throwing star used in martial arts, he=20 said. Paul Hudson, executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action=20 Project, an airline safety and security advocacy group, called the number=20 of confiscated items mind-boggling. "If that's how many they've found, how= =20 many still got through?" he asked. A test last spring by the Transportation Security Administration showed=20 screeners found knives only 70% of the time and missed one in four guns. Turmail said the TSA tests screeners regularly, and he's confident that=20 screening has improved. David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers=20 Association, said the vast majority of confiscated items are things people= =20 simply forgot to leave at home. Even frequent travelers sometimes forget to= =20 go through their bags for scissors or cigarette lighters before leaving on= =20 a trip, he said. He credits the TSA with making air travel safer. The agency has changed the= =20 list of forbidden items over the past year, now allowing tweezers, nail=20 clippers and toy transformer robots that once were prohibited. The agency=20 posts the list on its Web site. During March, the first full month the TSA was in charge of screeners,=20 409,801 items were confiscated, including 4,711 box cutters and 55 guns.=20 Last month, 326,793 items were taken, including 1,132 box cutters and 61=20 guns. The number of so-called incendiary devices, which include butane=20 lighters, nearly quintupled from September and October and stayed above=20 10,000 a month ever since. Turmail said it's because screeners now know=20 better what qualifies as an incendiary device. People do seem to be getting the word about box cutters, which were banned= =20 from aircraft cabins after Sept. 11, 2001, because authorities believe the= =20 19 hijackers used them to commandeer the planes. Last month, screeners=20 confiscated only about a fifth of the record 5,145 taken from passengers in= =20 April. Airports have various ways of getting rid of items taken from=20 passengers. Washington Reagan National Airport sends them to a metal=20 grinder before they're melted down, while several California airports =97=20 including San Jose Mineta International Airport and Oakland International=20 Airport =97 offer them on the eBay online auction site, Turmail said. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.tha.gov.tt/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************