Transportation Security Administration officers in a portion of the Northeast are seeing a rise in a type of self-defense weapon called “cat eyes.”
Officers in Albany, New York, have seen an uptick in “cat eyes” being brought to checkpoints, leading to slowed security lines, the agency said in a news release.
They might appear as a harmless cat keychain, but the weapons are similar to brass knuckles and have pointy ears that can easily cause injury. Users can place their fingers through the eye spaces, close their fist and then strike someone with the ears. Some of the “cat eyes” are metal, others are manufactured in hard plastic and many are attached to keychains, according to the TSA.
When detected at a security checkpoint, the person possessing the item is pulled off to the side while officers open their bags and remove the weapon. Owners are then given the choice of returning the item to their vehicle, handing them to a companion who isn’t traveling, placing them in a checked back or surrendering them to the TSA for disposal.
“The frequency in which we are seeing these items among carry-on items is disappointing,” Bart R. Johnson, TSA’s Federal Security Director for 13 airports in Upstate New York, said in a news release. “…We come across these items daily and it slows down passengers who must stop and wait for our officers to remove the offending item and it backs up the line for the other travelers.”
The TSA explained that some of the weapons look more like dogs than cats, but “either way, they are intended to do harm.”