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TSA says 54 of 65 guns found in carry-on luggage this week were loaded

WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) -- A record 65 guns were found in carry-on bags at U.S. airports this week, including 54 that were loaded, the Transportation Security Administration says.

Of the firearms that were loaded, 19 had bullets in the chamber, the agency said.

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The TSA said on its website Friday the previous record had been 50 guns found in one week.

One of the loaded weapons was a .22-caliber gun a passenger in Salt Lake City had inside his boot and strapped to a prosthetic leg, the agency said. It was discovered during a pat-down after a high-tech screening indicated something unusual.

The passenger was arrested.

TSA notes travelers can carry firearms in checked baggage, but must first declare them to the airline.

TSA said its personnel also came across three inert replica or novelty grenades at airports in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. While not explosive, they are not allowed on aircraft.

Neither were the dozen stun guns discovered this week in carry-on bags at various U.S. airports, including two each in Las Vegas and Sacramento, and others in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Detroit, Washington Dulles, Phoenix, San Francisco, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and St. Louis.

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Other weapons that turned up included a 3-inch knife blade concealed inside a DVD case at Newark, N.J., a razor blade in the lining of a passenger's undergarment in Tampa, Fla., and a razor blade in the sole of a shoe in Dayton, Ohio.

The TSA said sometime travelers don't always utter the wisest things, noting one passenger in Orlando, Fla., who was asked to present his identification wisecracked, "I also have a bomb," while another a passenger in Houston told an officer the water bottle in his bag was a bomb.

"Statements like these not only delay the people who said them but can also inconvenience many other passengers if the checkpoint or terminal has to be evacuated," the TSA said.

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