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Buzz Lightyear Confiscated: TSA Takes Toy From 5-Year-Old Boy, Claims It Looked Like A Weapon

By Louis Babcock
Published on: 15:10 PST, Nov 20, 2015

A Buzz Lightyear toy was confiscated from a 5-year-old boy who was traveling with his family. The Zilka family was on a family vacation, traveling from Pennsylvania to Florida to visit Disney World. The 5-year-old boy, Levi Zilka, was given a Buzz Lightyear toy that was bought for him by his uncle while they were at Disney World. According to Levi’s father, David Zilka, Levi was very excited to have been given the Buzz Lightyear toy.

“He loved it, brought it home. As soon as we got in the car, he wanted to open it, so he played with it over the car ride back.”

Levi’s excitement turned to sadness when the family arrived at the airport to fly back home. While going through security, a TSA agent was drawn to the Buzz Lightyear toy. Levi commented about what the TSA agent said.

“We couldn’t go on the plane yet because they said it looks too much like a gun and you can’t bring guns on the plane.”

The Zilkas were told by the agent that in order to keep the Buzz Lightyear toy, they would have to put it with checked luggage. The Zilka’s only had carry-on luggage. It was not long before Levi realized he was not going to be able to keep his toy. The TSA had confiscated it because the agent could not rule out if it was a weapon or not. David spoke about how devastated Levi was.

“Once he realized what was happening, that they weren’t giving his toy back, he immediately starts bawling, just tears streaming down his face, crying.”

The policy of the TSA states that replica guns need to be placed with checked luggage. The Buzz Lightyear toy was not a replica gun. The TSA released a statement on the confiscated toy.

“TSA officers are charged with protecting passengers and making final judgments on which items are permitted on aircraft. In our review of this situation, the officer’s decision complied with approved procedures. We recently reinforced that training on the procedures with every front line TSA officer. TSA officers have the discretion to deny passage of an item if they cannot definitively rule out that the item could be used as a weapon, or perceived to be a weapon, including replica weapons.”

The TSA has been under fire lately when reports were released that showed the TSA failed multiple security checks. Agents that were sent to test the TSA were able to get weapons and bombs through security without having them confiscated. The most recent TSA failure came just a few days ago when a man forgot he had a loaded gun in his carry-on bag. Blake Alford stated that he was not trying to test the TSA, but he simply forgot about the gun. Alford made it through security and flew to Chicago.

The TSA has a collection of guns that they confiscated off of travelers, but each gun that is missed is a possible security threat.

The Zilkas know and understand that the TSA has been under scrutiny and security at airports has been heightened due to recent events, but they feel the TSA went too far when they confiscated the Buzz Lightyear toy.

“We understand that things are scary out there right now but taking a toy from a five year old doesn’t enhance national security.”

Do you think the Buzz Lightyear toy should have been confiscated by the TSA?

[Image Via Joe Raedle/Getty Images]

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