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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."
While i think the TSA sucks bozack.. you'd think after the 2nd or 3rd time you'd learn how to avoid losing things to them
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 had to look that up to figure out why you were trying to take a P-38 Lightning through TSA.
I don't carry knives, don't even like them. I use spears.
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!
The problem isn't the TSA
Just because you've had different experiences doesn't mean the problem isn't the TSA.
"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.
The problem isn't the TSA
The problem isn't the TSA either way. The TSA realizes that the restrictions on small knives and tools are silly and a waste of resources. They wanted to make the change. But they got too much push back from politicians and "think of the children" citizens. So they caved in.