Does the TSA hold a special grudge against Sikhs? (not that it would surprise me, just asking why you pointed that)

In theory, Sikhs must carry five items of faith, one of which is a "kırpan", which is a type of dagger.

Interesting, I had never heard about this before. Apparently it "only" dates back to the year 1699, and it was a commandment for the "Khalsa" Sikhs, which to my understanding is a subset of Sikhs. Wikipedia says that:

> In the United Kingdom, there have been tensions between the Khalsa Sikhs and the non-Khalsa Sikhs. Many Sikhs in Britain have insisted on their right of not conforming to the Khalsa norms while maintaining that they are truly Sikh. On the other hand, some of the Khalsa Sikhs think of the non-Khalsa Sikhs as having abandoned the Sikh faith altogether.

Anyway, for reference, the five K:s are: Kesh (uncut hair), Kangha (a wooden comb for the hair), Kara (an iron bracelet), Kachera (100% cotton tieable undergarment, not an elastic one) and Kirpan (an iron dagger large enough to defend oneself).

See for example

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/01/the-tro...

https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/06/asia/sikh-hate-crimes-us-...