I heard about this on It's Been A Bad Week, but I really wanted a slightly more reliable source as they are reknowned for just re-telling urban legends without any actual research.

Bugs Bunny sparks security alert

A girl of six triggered a security scare at an airport – with a pink Bugs Bunny water pistol rammed full of sweets.

Kelly Vinnicombe was bought the £2.50 toy in the departure lounge by her mother Sarah, and packed it in her bag.

But, as they went through the X-ray security machine, guards hauled them to one side.

Ms Vinnicombe, 34, was told the toy was technically a 'weapon' and would have to be registered at the firearms desk.

She spent an hour explaining where the gun came from – just metres away in an airport shop – before the toy was tagged and packed in a separate part of the plane.

Ms Vinnicombe, of Plymouth, Devon, said: 'It's bright pink with Bugs Bunny on it.'

The pair were reunited with their cargo at Heathrow Airport after an 11-hour flight.

A Cape Town airport spokeswoman insisted: 'It's is better to be safe than sorry.'

(Source: Metro, 14 June 2006)

A BBC local news article, Water pistol causes airport scare, includes a picture of the firearm and a bit more information.

Thank god for security staff, I can't tell you the level of worry I have that armed guerilla squads of disgruntled Brownies and Cub scouts will burst through cabin doors and threaten a diabetic captain with hyperglycaemia effects unless the will of their leader, Al-Wonka, is met. I suspect we may end up with a DibDab amnesty in the UK, if you hand over your sweets to the local police station they'll take them without question.

Yeah, better to be safe than sorry, and when you see a gun shape, good thinking is to trigger an alarm. But there are two elements more here, 1) a shop in the airport was selling it, 2) after uncovering a pink plastic water pistol it had to get logged as a firearm.

On the former, this is craziness. On the latter, this is partial craziness, it could have just been moved to baggage. I could only imagine the insanity of a young Devon girl on a sugar rush, in a confined plane, dashing about with a pink pistol.