TSA approved less-than-lethal?

[SmackD]

After reading the TSA carry on regulations, it appears to me that a seven-inch long Phillips-head screwdriver is probably the best for carry on baggage.
Every "tactical pen" I've seen is either a TSA no-no or has a logo that would attract attention. Also, tactical pens are so expensive I wouldn't want to risk it being confiscated.
Does anyone have alternate ideas (other than checking a bag)?

 

[Phillip Gain]

2-4 D batteries (or a nice hefty laptop battery). And a pair of tube socks. Insert batteries in socks...instant blunt-force weapon. In lieu of batteries, rolled coins, keys, or basically anything heavy will also work.

A nice texas-sized belt buckle works too, and you don't even need the socks. Also, the seat belts on some aircraft are held to the seats by easily-opened clips.

Any kind of cord or shoe/boot lace can be used as a strangulation weapon or restraints.

A laptop bag (especially with a laptop in it) can be used to shield your vitals against a stabbing attack. Especially if it's the backpack type (just wear it on the front). A less effective (but perhaps more available option can be your seat cushion.

Carefully selected rings can be a decent substitute for brass knuckles. So can keys.

A variety of heavy blunt objects that can readily be converted to improvised weapons can be found in any airliner's galley.

The list goes on and on. Just because my firearm is in my checked luggage, doesn't mean I'm disarmed.

 

[Caribou]

Considering the time to and from the airport, check in, travel time, and baggage claim you can drive many places faster. I won't even consider a plane if I have to go less than 500 miles. If you can find a prop plane you don't have to deal with TSA. Only the concourses that have jet flights have to have TSA. Smaller airports are more likely to have the smaller airlines.

 

[Glock Fan]

I think a walking cane would work better.

 

[6shootercarry]

Wilderness Original Instructors belt or the like (511, Blackhawk etc..). Really heavy buckle and a long heavy belt...

A good metal pen/pencil like a Parker or Cross... I have them in my carry on bag when I do fly, have yet to be questioned...

 

[Nightmare45]

My walking cane due to limp, solid brass tip on hickory cane, being from Texas western buckle on end of three foot strap, good cross pen, use your brain and you can come up with a lot of defensive or offensive weapons.

 

[Rick Benn]

I've always been partial to the seat belt extender. It's already on the plane and it's got a hell of a bludgeon on one end!

 

[CathyInBlue]

Also, tactical pens are so expensive I wouldn't want to risk it being confiscated.

All of the TacPens that I've seen were so expensive that I wouldn't want to risk getting aggressor goo on them by stabbing someone with them.

I would look into a kubaton, such as these from BudK.

Budk.com - Search Results for kubaton

I'm planning on buying the Link Removed Once I finish writing up my shopping list.

Disclaimer: Not an owner, employee, or investor in BudK, not an immediate relative of anyone who is.

 

[Kevin Kinzer]

I think Kubaton might raise an eyebrow with TSA at some locations, and go right through at others, sort of depends on the airport.

 

[ezkl2230]

There is no such thing as a TSA-approved, less-than-lethal defensive item. There are just some items that they have decided to permit in your carry-on that happen to be potential dual use items. The kubaton, mentioned in another response, is on the prohibited list. A small breaker bar (1/4" x 5-3/4") or 3/8" x 6" or 1/2" x 5" ratchet extension, however, might function in the place of a kubaton, and there is nothing on the TSA web site to indicate that they are prohibited items. Personally, when I fly, I have a supply of long, heavy duty zip ties with me. Not much of a weapon, perhaps, but they might come in handy afterwards!

Former TSA officer.

 

[golocx4]

TSA after 11 years of preventing untold hijackings keeps thinking of more things to do to justify their existence and keeping us feeling safe.
Shaking head.

 

[ezkl2230]

TSA after 11 years of preventing untold hijackings keeps thinking of more things to do to justify their existence and keeping us feeling safe.
Shaking head.

You know, if the directors of the TSA would get their heads out of their back sides and let the officers operate using accepted criminal profiles, as most TSA officers really would like to be able to do, airport security would be a completely different proposition. I was a TSA officer at the beginning when Norman Mineta ruled that accepted, active criminal profiles that considered race (used by every other law enforcement agency in the nation) would be forbidden because, just maybe, some officers might take it too far and start full-blown racial profiling. No director since has had the guts to change that directive. Make that one change, and TSA officers wouldn't be obligated to search senior citizens and children. They could concentrate on those who are most likely to commit this particular crime instead of using the dragnet approach with which they have been saddled for so long. While there are certainly some bad officers out there who have no business dealing with the public, most of the problems we face today in airport security are the result of politically correct decisions made at the top of the organization by directors who take their cues from so-called security "experts" (otherwise known as Beltway Bandits) rather than from those in the field who have actually done the job and know what would really work.

A former TSA officer.