Guns, knives and a grenade found at Chattanooga airport

photo TSA Supervisor Rhonda Spurgin talks at the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport about items that are prohibited in carry-on bags.

On Oct. 12, a passenger attempted to board a plane at the Chattanooga airport with a .32 caliber handgun in tow. The gun was loaded. A round was chambered.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration confiscated the gun, like the agency does with all contraband discovered at the airport's security checkpoint, and added it to a growing list of illegal items that could have ended up on a plane.

"The majority of what we get are liquids and pocketknives," said Mark Howell, regional spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration.

Officers have also found countless sets of brass knuckles, stun guns, pepper spray and even an inert grenade at Chattanooga's airport.

The agency's daily seizures of contraband have become so popular with the public that it has created an Instagram account to document the items.

Passengers in possession of prohibited items can be fined as much as $7,500 or even be cited and arrested if the item is concealed in certain ways.

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