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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've carried a pocket knife since my dad bought me one for my 8th birthday, not having that weight in that pocket doesn't feel right. Since this foolishness started I've lost at least six to the TSA, since I tend to catch flights too early to be properly awake.. Going on vacation again in a couple of weeks, and I'll probably lose another either on the way there or the way back.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Besides the horrible service and the conditions (ie personal space mostly) on aircraft today, they continue with these absurd bans on common items. I never leave home without a knife, many times a SAK, other times a Spyderco or Queen. To me that would be like leaving home without pants. You just don't think about it, you just do it. When I do need to fly I'm very much aware that I'm without my knife or even the P-38 I keep on my keychain (I'm sure they would figure out how to take that away as well).
If they allowed knives back on, and any kind of terrorist attack occurred with knives, then someone would be held responsible for that decision, no matter how wise it seemed at the time. If they disallow knives, people will kick and scream, but won't actually change their flying behavior much, and everyone's job will be safe.
I am officially gone from
Instead of making folks discard completely non-threatening items, TSA should look into *actual* security.
The airport should have a series of series of checkpoints. Every vehicle that pulls onto the property goes past a guard that asks you how your day is going (screen #1). At the ticket counter, a friendly agent asks if you are enjoying the weather (screen #2). Drop off your bags, some other random, friendly question (screen #3). Lastly, at the x-ray / metal detector / body scanner, the attending agent looks you in the eye and chats with you again (screen #4). Every station should be manned by trained security personel empowered to flag you for greater scrutiny. Add to that randomized patrols and searches.
The staged checkpoints also reduce the likelihood of an attacker targeting that massive line to get through security. (In the TSA system, no one waiting in that line has been through any prior screen.)
Stagger the checks and ensure redundancy. It's not cheap, it would require TSA to hire/pay much better than they do now, but it would get you better security. Banning Swiss Army Knives and hockey sticks doesn't make anyone safer.
I don't carry knives, don't even like them. I use spears.
"Sir please remove your arms and legs, you can't take them on the plane"
crazy dynamite monkey
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!
It's the "Disney" approach. If you go to Disney, they break up the long lines with spaces, corridors, and choke points. Disney does this so it doesn't appear you are in a crazy long line for teacups. But it would work for security too.
Then you insert various detectors along the moving sidewalks and other places in the airport where "single file" lines naturally occur. The biggest thing is to have lots of "helper" agents in the middle looking with eyeballs.
The problem is that our airports were built like shopping malls, intended to be a destination to pickup/ drop off people and have dinner, etc. they have few "compartments" to their designs for the passenger spaces.
The pilot radios the nearest airport, lands, and the SWAT team takes over?
What worries the stewardess is the out-if-control passenger with a knife.
The flight crew may be safe behind their armored door.
But she is out there, utterly exposed --- and you are wedged in your seat five rows back and in no position to help her.
The TSA weaved and bobbed around answering the question of how many casualties it was prepared to accept in an incident like this --- and that in the end was fatal.
I didn't just invent this model, it's used at Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv.
The checkpoint screens take a few seconds each, they aren't reading you a long prepared statement and checking to see if you respond yes or no. They are looking you in the eye and asking you about your day; they are trained to pick up on your reaction and filter through lots of people quickly. This doesn't move the line outside the airport, as you suggest, it divides the crowds into smaller pools of potential victims and creates "rings" of security. If a terrorist detonates a bomb in the outermost ring, they will likely take out themselves, the security officer and maybe the vehicles immediately adjacent. Worst case, 10-15 people MAX. If the same terrorist makes it to the security line on a holiday weekend, how many people are within the blast radius? I think 10-15 would be a minimum.
As I said in response to the comment above, I'm more of the opinion that the risk/reward equation for a terrorist attack on an airport has shifted and the September 11th attacks would be very difficult to replicate. The passengers on three of those planes assumed (like we all did) that hijackers just wanted money, or to make a speech and that smartest move was to let the authorities deal with it. No one will make that mistake again.
Today's terrorists (homegrown or otherwise) want to maximise casualties, and leave the speeches to be found after the fact. The best way to handle this is to screen and isolate, or to accept that such attacks represent such a statistical minority of deaths from violent crime and spend our security money elsewhere.
The war on the american people started on 9/12 IT was started by the Bush administration and the Obama Administration is working hard to continue the war.
9/11 was used as an excuse to trample on those pesky rights, and the people were stupid and soaked it up. Sadly, most americans are still ragingly stupid and are happy about all the rights that were lost.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
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.
This is a very widely understood phenomenon. In countries where terrorism is actually a problem, terrorists bomb the checkpoints because of the lines. Security thus staggers the checkpoints and streamlines procedures in order to prevent any kind of lines from forming. This means that terrorists can't kill more than a few people regardless of the size of any bomb they might be carrying.
Here in the USA, these procedures are not used and checkpoints are not bombed because, as all sane people know, terrorism is not a problem in this country.
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.