Security Advisory

On our trip home from California, the TSA confiscated my pocket knife. It's my own fault, because I forgot to take it off my keys and put it in my checked bag before going through security. But the guy was kind of jerky about it, as though it was a given that I had malicious intent with my tiny little knife and scissors, or I'd just pulled a flask of some sort of bioweapon out of my pocket.

But here's the thing: on our outgoing trip, nobody noticed that I had it. When I took off my shoes and put them through the scanner along with my coat and messenger bag, I didn't see any of those little trays that they use to hold your keys and change and stuff, so it didn't trigger the reminder to take my keys out of my pocket. I went through the scanner and nothing happened. No alarm, no flashing lights, no secondary screening. Nobody noticed, which made the confiscation on the way home that much more aggravating.

It's been my experience over many years of traveling that the things that security claims set off the scanner--keys, belt buckles, watches--do not in fact do so. So what does that mean regarding, you know, actual weapons like knives or guns?