Declare Your Weapons

I just went through airport security and my bag was pulled aside for
secondary scrutiny. Not an unusual occurrence.

The security man asked me if I had an electronic items in my bag and I told
him there were a few different power cords. He pointed at the x-ray image
of my bag to an item and asked if it was an electronic device. When I saw
it, I suddenly realized that I had not unpacked my rather large Leatherman
multi-tool. I was crushed! I was going to have to watch them throw out my
awesome tools!

And I exclaimed, quite loudly, "Oh no! I completely forgot that was there!
It's my multi-tool! And I don't suppose there's anyway I can mail it home
is there?" The guy looked at me and smiled and said once more that they
thought it was electronics. I told him once more it wasn't. Then he said,
"Well...I'm just going to take a look, okay?" And he said it in a way that
I immediately read as him saying he wasn't going to expose the tool. So I
quieted back to see what he would do.

He did a quick explosives swab and then just said "Yep. Here you go." And
slid my bag to me. He was going to let it slide!

I thanked him muchly, grabbed my stuff, and headed to my gate before anyone
changed their minds. I have just boarded the plane with a multi-tool
equipped with, among many other things, a 6" knife and saw.

So there you have it. Want to bring weapons on board? Just tell them you
have them! If you're not covert, you must not be a threat!