Story Archive

Drop the Handbag!

Vanessa Gibbs, 17, was heading back to her home in Jacksonville, Fla., when Transportation Security Administration agents at the Norfolk, Va., airport would not let her through because of her “replica weapon.” Her leather purse had been stamped to show the shape of a gun. That, TSA agents told her, has been “prohibited since 2002.” An agent told her, “This is a federal offense because it’s in the shape of a gun,” Gibbs says. “I’m like, ‘But it’s a design on a purse. How is it a federal offense?’” She says she has carried the purse through multiple airports, but this time TSA agents refused to let her board with the bag. “Common sense,” Gibbs summarized. “It’s a purse, not a weapon.” (MS/WJXT Jacksonville) ...Common sense: a 17-year-old has more than the entire TSA.