They chicken eyed my pen.

[jackknife]

I went to the district court house today to meet with a prossicuting attorney, and on entering went through the typical drill; empty pockets into tray and walk through the metal detector. All went well, no buzzers went off, and I went to get my tray at the end of the x-ray machine, and a court deputy was eyeing my old Cross pen.

That Cross has been with me for 40 years, it's a bit dented in a few places, the chrome is mostly worn off the lower half where I grip it when writing, and the action is a bit notchy. But it still writes well with a new filler now and then. The deputy is looking at it, and askes me if it writes. I tell him to try it and he makes a few lines on a piece if paper, and then gives it to me in a slow, almost grudgingly manor.

The whole incident made me wonder if they are getting wise to the tactical pen thing. He made a weird point out of asking me if it wrote.

Aside from running my walking stick through the x-ray machine, they didn't look at it twice, but really eyed my pen.

Weird!

[P35]

he probably just needed a pen

[Mister Scribble]

Someone who is a court officer wrote on EDCF a while back that he confiscates all steel pens.

I went to court a few days ago and left my steel pens home, but took real magic markers and
large plastic ballpoint pens stuck into a plastic pocket protector. They went through just fine.

Since it was snowing, I also brought a hefty umbrella. Also no problem.

They were more perfunctory than the last time I went. Guess it was the bad weather.

[Monocrom]

he probably just needed a pen

Or wanted to steal it, and was hoping it didn't write so that he'd have an excuse to "confiscate" it.

[porkchop]

He could have just been a pen freak. He saw your classic Cross pen and just wanted to try it out.
Sure, it sounds weird but it was probably harmless.

[Krustofski]

Because a lot of people have experience with at least one idiotic TSA officer (there are to many), they think every security guy is stupid.
Suprise suprise, that's not the case. They may not all be gearheads like us, but they do know that tactical pens, hidden blades and such [fecal matter] exists. And especially when you're not that much into gimmicks, I think it's only reasonable to closer examine a metal pen.
The only thing that bugs me about this is the "grudging manor" you describe. If he can't act about it like a polite professional, he's got the wrong job.

[Sharpdogs]

Any metal items get scrutinized at my local court house. Years ago they hassled me over a mini maglite.

[swiftness]

I think they will be on to tactical pens soon if they aren't already

[Monocrom]

Even a short, mini, pen can do some serious damage if you know the proper technique for using one.

If they ban metal pens from court houses, folks will just rely on the hard plastic ones. As a security guard myself, I can tell you that this whole issue with metal pens is just plain silly.

[bpa]

As a security guard myself, I can tell you that this whole issue with metal pens is just plain silly.

That does not stop anyone. It reminds me of the drunk looking for his keys under the lamppost, rather than the bushes where he dropped them, because the light is better.