Lego might well be one of the greatest toy inventions ever.
That’s not hyperbole on my part, either. I honestly believe that it is. After all, you can build what the set is designed to build–there are alternatives included in the instructions as well–or you can let your imagination run wild. It was easily my favorite toy growing up and one I wish I’d never gotten rid of.
But what it’s not, though, is a viable means of smuggling guns past TSA at Newark International Airport, apparently.
Authorities say they found a dissembled firearm hidden inside a LEGO box and a boot at a security checkpoint in Terminal A on Wednesday.
Parts of the gun, including 12 bullets, were mixed with plastic pieces of a Black Panther LEGO set, according to TSA police. Meanwhile, the gun frame was jammed in a boot and hidden below a stuffed sock.
“He kept changing his story, first telling us that it was a toy gun and then claiming that it belonged to his brother,” said Thomas Carter, TSA’s Federal Security Director for New Jersey. “This is an example of someone who was intentionally attempting to carry a gun onto a flight.”
Now, this isn’t the most bizarre way I’ve seen someone try to smuggle a gun past TSA.
That’s a toss-up between the guy who hit it in a jar of peanut butter and the guy who hid one in a raw chicken.
But those were a couple of years ago and this is probably the most interesting discovery the TSA has made since then. Of course, since they missed the woman with the Bond villain gun last year who cleverly hid a gun by putting it in her suitcase, so…
Realistically, though, the security director’s comments are true. This is someone who was trying to bring a gun on the plane and the fact that his story kept changing means he knew what he was doing and was trying to get away with it. The fact that he started by saying it was a toy gun is evidence that this master criminal was really a functional idiot.
I mean, did he think they wouldn’t take a closer look? The TSA has confiscated shoes that just happened to have some elements that looked like guns. There’s absolutely no way they’d just give someone a pass because they said it was a toy. Then, of course, there’s the fact that there are still differences between something like an airsoft gun and a real firearm that would be noticeable under examination.
Part of me wants to get into what he should have done, but I don’t want to give the next twerp ideas.
Especially since it’s obvious he could just put it in the suitcase and possibly have gotten it through. Not just our lady Bond villain, either, but also a state senator from Washington did as well. There have undoubtedly been others. There will be others in the future as well.
But I will say that trying to use a box of Lego is not what we mean when we talk about building your own firearm.
