Our Goverment not allowing Japanese swords!!!

[drbvac]

How big was the arrowhead - i cant imagine it being considered a deadly weapon ! I was stopped after X-ray in Toronto with a steak knife in my leather travel bag ! I use it as a lunch bag at work and usually throw a knife and fork in there every morning - it had been there for 3 days AND at all the other security check ups from home to Toronto but no one found it.

 

The security guy just said = cant take that on the plane - I said fine and left it with him no more hassles at all. I guess all these pseudoterrorist cops ( most of whom actually look like terrorists) have quite a bit of leeway in what they do when finding something. In your case does the security gut have to appear at your hearing?

 

Unlike Ron I would get the best lawyer you can afford, and I am sure the lack of previous history and your reputation will place you in a pretty good position anyway. All the best.

 

B

 

ps I watched a guy in Heathrow with about 2 gallons of shampoo and other stuff being told he couldnt take it on the plane and holding the line up. There was a security guy on break watching all this and commenting on stuff so I asked him some questions.

 

How come you can't take 120 ml of shampoo on a plane but "Duty free" will bring a 40 OZ of 151 Proof rum to your seat. It will burn better than Kerosene with a nice high heat blue flame and would probably reduce the row of seats or carpet in the place to a real mess in 20 seconds - even better would be to dump it on a carry on of clothes and let it go. He said it is an industry onto itself run by fear - if nothing ever happens it is a success and must be continued - if anything does happen they will have to double security. None of it is worth a damn if someone decides that they are taking down a plane.

[kauai1800]

Aloha Fred -

 

Is there an update on what happened to your tanto? Bummer it's been held up.

 

I've got a vested interest since I have a tanto with rayskin going through Fedex Alaska soon and I want it to have as few hassles as possible.

I've had a problem like this before and they generally want you to send them a form certifying it is not on the CITES list. It goes through the Fedex customs broker generally.

Seems like by now it should've been resolved. Hope so.

-John P

[kusunokimasahige]

Question, In a few other posts there was talking of special customs numbers/codes which state that something is an antique.

Are these also valid for the USA ? Mr. Duindam of Token Sugita told me recently that FedEx still ships swords without trouble internationally. Anything known about the domestic/international rules for the USA or do they differ state by state ?

 

I am sorry to see people stopped at customs for arrowheads, though the difference between hand luggage and hold baggage is clear, as are the rules.

 

KM

[paulb]

before heading off topic and down the wrongful killing route ( regrettably examples are becoming common in every part of the world and many have been frequetnly discussed here and else where, I wanted to let Fred know he was not alone. I recently had a sword stopped on its way in to the USA. It was in a Naginata naoshi in shirasaya and witha full length Oshigata. Customs wanted to know the composition of the steel, the type of wood used in the shirasaya and the type of paper used in the oshigata. Fortunately once given the information they were happy to let the sword go and it only delayed things by 24 hours. I think there is a lesson about timing things not to hit customs on a weekend!