A weapon the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) considered powerful enough to blow up a military tank was confiscated from a passenger’s checked baggage at an airport in Texas after the passenger failed to declare that he was traveling with the weapon.
The TSA at the San Antonio International Airport seized the portable weapon from a male passenger on Monday, January 16.
The San Antonio Police Department said the passenger was supposed to fly to Las Vegas, where he was going to attend a trade show for outdoor shooting and hunting. The passenger told authorities he planned to exhibit the weapon at the show.
Authorities said the weapon was an 84 mm caliber recoilless rifle that resembles an M3 Carl Gustaf.
The TSA explained that they allow passengers to bring firearms on planes only if they are transported in checked bags. Anyone who wants to travel with a firearm must declare it to the airline as soon as they hand over their luggage. The only way weapons can be allowed on planes is if they are unloaded and placed in a hard-sided secured case.
Patricia Mancha, a TSA spokeswoman, said that the passenger did not declare the weapon to TSA agents as required, prompting the agents to confiscate the case. She said that they do not encounter that caliber of weapon often.
Swedish manufacturers produced the first model of the Carl Gustaf rifle in 1946. It is one of the most portable anti-tank weapons in the world.
Texas law allows people to own an anti-tank rifle, but the owner must register the weapon with the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Bureau (ATF) and undergo an intensive background check.
Speaking to a local news outlet, spokeswoman Mancha said it was alarming for someone carrying that kind of weapon not to follow set rules, adding that the rules are easy and accessible to travelers.
Weapons experts, however, said that the gun might have been a replica or an inert display gun.
The passenger provided paperwork to authorities showing that the weapon was de-militarized and no longer in use.
Flyers are not required to declare replica weapons placed in checked bags, but they are forbidden from flying with items that look like explosives.
TSA said the passenger could not fly with the prop weapon, so he got a family member to retrieve it.
The San Antonio Police Department said on Tuesday that no charges would be filed against the passenger.