TSA Gunpowder? test

[DCR]

Couldn't find a previous discussion on this one.
I was in the Atlanta airport tonight. Several TSAs gathered us up at our gate and brushed our hands with what appeared to be a paper disc and then inserted the disc into some kind of reader. Were they searching us for gunpowder residue perhaps?
Now the big question is, what happens next if one of us had spent time at the range prior to going to the airport?

 

[dukeboy_318]

Couldn't find a previous discussion on this one.
I was in the Atlanta airport tonight. Several TSAs gathered us up at our gate and brushed our hands with what appeared to be a paper disc and then inserted the disc into some kind of reader. Were they searching us for gunpowder residue perhaps?
Now the big question is, what happens next if one of us had spent time at the range prior to going to the airport?

yeah they are checking for one of many dozens of chemicals that could be used in bomb making. we had one here at my job site, it was junk, if you took a sample off the side of anything rubber it came back as ammonium nitrate every time. But as far as going to the range then to airport, wash your hands and it wont pick it up

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Not too long ago I was pondering having a bunch of people spend the morning reloading and shooting followed by a trip to the airport for a flight just to see how they would react to all the false positives.....Could make for an interesting lawsuit....Group endeavor anyone?

 

[IndySSD]

Couldn't find a previous discussion on this one.
I was in the Atlanta airport tonight. Several TSAs gathered us up at our gate and brushed our hands with what appeared to be a paper disc and then inserted the disc into some kind of reader. Were they searching us for gunpowder residue perhaps?

Yes, they were.

Now the big question is, what happens next if one of us had spent time at the range prior to going to the airport?

They hand you a pamphlet that looks like this and tell you to try and relax, you're about to feel a slight "pinch" in your nether regions:

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

They're not looking for gunpowder necessarily.

Explosives residue, yes, but that's a much more broad spectrum than "gunpowder".

In July of '08, when my wife and I went on our honeymoon to the Dominican Republic, we had to walk through a "sniffer" machine to get to the terminal. That machine does the same things as the swabbing.

However, just a few weeks ago, we flew from IN to HI and didn't have to do anything more than the standard metal detector. And yes, my wedding ring set off the metal detector. I guess I have the dubious distinction for being the only time those particular TSA employees had ever seen a wedding ring set the metal detector off.

-J-

 

[grimor]

Not too long ago I was pondering having a bunch of people spend the morning reloading and shooting followed by a trip to the airport for a flight just to see how they would react to all the false positives.....Could make for an interesting lawsuit....Group endeavor anyone?

Those wouldn't actually be false positives. Those would be REAL hits for GSR and gun powder. A false positive would be something like having lotion on your hands and it picking up ammonium nitrate.