Slashdot Mirror
TSA Decides Against Allowing Small Knives On Aircraft
New submitter lemur3 writes "After multiple months of discussing possible changes to the prohibited items list, the Transportation Security Administration in the United States has determined that it is best to go ahead without any changes to the list of items passengers may have in their carry-on baggage when traveling by air. Under the proposed change (discussed previously on Slashdot) pocket knives and other items, such as hockey sticks and ski poles, would have been allowed."
I always carry a Leatherman Micra. I lost one once, and managed to buy a whole bag of them from those confiscated from an airport. At least one (given to someone) has returned to where it came from.
Well, hockey sticks and the other stuff should be fine. Actually small knives would be, too.
Prior to 9/11, the policy for a skyjacking was sit tight and wait for ransom demands, or to fly some idiot to Cuba.
That morning it changed forever. Passengers will revolt. Pilots will bounce people around in the cabin. Threats to kill people will correctly go unheeded and the cockpit door will stay closed. Even flights with insufficient other passengers still won't lose control.
So...so what about small knives and X-acto box cutters? Such a takeover will never work again.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
why do restaurants after security at Chicago O'Hare give customers metal knives, while restaurants at DFW do not?
And in the past, I have been given a metal knife when flying in first class (obviously, first class passengers cannot be terrorists!)
Do TSA rules ban equipment to sharpen metal dinner knives? I doubt it.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
"I was about to say the same thing... I've traveled many times since 9/11, and have lost precisely nothing to the TSA."
Wish I could say the same. I have not flown very often in recent years, but the last time I did, a rare and expensive (and perfectly legal) laser was missing from my luggage when I picked it up at my destination. I have little doubt it was stolen by the TSA baggage inspectors. Even if they (wrongly) thought it was illegal, they are required to inform you when they confiscate something. So it wasn't that... it was simply stolen.
Could also have been the airline baggage handlers.
The best way to "handle" this theft problem is to have windows allowing passengers to see their luggage being searched and see it being handled by the baggage handlers. There is no reason why it needs to be done privately, unless someone is up to no good.
Another TSA reminder that the "terrorist won" or I should say the opportunistic fear mongering traitors and the bureaucracies, and traitorous policies they implemented won. Every time I'm reminded of these pseudo Nazi pricks stripping and frisking my 70 year old mother and fucking up her luggage as they rifled it while on one of their "show my ass because I have authority" power trips, I have to edit what I say lest I end up in Gitmo. Imagine that, being afraid to say what you really think in America.
Take the Red Pill.
Every rights violation is a concern.
Not that I disagree, but shouldn't you be focusing on the bigger issue?
I mean getting the TSA to "allow" pocket knives whilst they continue their other abuses with reckless abandon seems to be a pyrrhic victory at best.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
There really isn't enough talk about this. The TSA exists because we have too many stupid people who continue to think it's a good idea. Period. I know it's a fairly easy way to figure out someone's intelligence by making a TSA joke and seeing who laughs, but go search for pictures of the idiotic flight attendants and pilots who were picketing against this small little rules change that would have done nothing except ease off on the harassment of the flying public. These people should know better, and yet there they were--protesting against even a tiny bit more freedom because the very thought of it sent their brains into complete and utter irrational fearful overload. People whose minds are governed by emotions have no business trying to tell anybody how to do anything, and to me, have no business being responsible for a large fast moving object full of humans. Freedom of speech is very important, even ultimately important, but it cannot come without consequences because this particular message causes direct harm to others. I do not and will not advocate that speech be restricted by the government. However, those "protesters" should be removed from their jobs and from the aviation industry permanently. I do not trust any one of them with my life after they have demonstrated a complete lack of ability to make rational decisions concerning risk.
It's illustrative of a very big and very bad point: the TSA can't change even if they want to as long as we have in our midst anti-freedom citizens who make decisions absent any hint of rationality. If they can't do this relatively simple thing, what's going to happen if they decide to get rid of the lunacy of removing shoes at checkpoints, or doing away with the stupid liquid restrictions? Remember, both of those things were political reactions to total failures of attempted "terrorist attacks". It was assumed by lots of people that at the time that this was just another TSA power trip, and it might well have been--but what if it was the TSA giving in to political pressure to "do something"? There seems to be ample evidence now that the entire Bush Administration "terror alert" system was manipulated for political gain, and the TSA with it. Sure, the terror alert system is gone, being another stupid idea in the first place, but the fear based decision making and manipulation remains.
This, unfortunately, is going to take a while. If our parents and grandparents were as stupid as some of us are, we'd never have made peace with Japan after WWII because they'd be too busy living in fear of another Pearl Harbor attack.
A starter pistol is great for this. The TSA treats it like a real firearm, but many cities and states that have strict firearm laws don't consider them firearms (especially if you don't bring the caps for it).
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.