

Is TSA serious about letting people carry knives? - kunle
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/07/opinion/hawk-tsa-knives/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

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wlesieutre
_I don't know about you, but I find that blatantly offensive. When terrorists
use box cutters and pocketknives to slit your colleagues' throats, you don't
move on so easily. And that is why I am so utterly slack-jawed at the decision
to allow the same weapons that were used to kill so many people. In 2004, the
9/11 Commission found that terrorists used knives such as Leatherman tools to
overtake the crew._

This is just as true everywhere else. Should we have security screening at
malls, on busses, and checkpoints on public streets to make sure nobody's
carrying a pocket knife?

On 9/11 the passengers had no idea that they were about to fly into buildings.
Threatening to stab someone if the pilot doesn't open the cockpit would never
work today; the assumption is that if a hijacker takes control of a plane then
everyone on board is very likely to die.

I can only assume that the author thinks sharp objects should be illegal
everywhere?

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pardner
I concur with everything I've read by Bruce Schneier re: "security theater" as
practiced by the TSA, and I think the TSA could/should backtrack a lot further
than merely re-allowing small knives.

Post-9/11, a small knife is not a threat to airline safety if for no other
reason than (a) the policies are explicit that threatening a hostage will
never again result in control of the plane, and (b) the bad guys know that.

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sfaruque
_If the search for knives truly is the culprit that's clogging up screening
lanes, maybe those who bring them should be fined._

This single sentence could potentially solve the entire problem. By having a
financial penalty, instead of just confiscating the problematic item, would
force people to reconsider what is and isn't allowed.

~~~
duskwuff
Doubtful. There's already a financial penalty: the loss of the confiscated
item. Increasing the penalty (by adding a fine) would just make the process
more frustrating -- nobody's trying to take a pocket knife through security on
purpose. (Nor would adding a fine make the search any easier to carry out.)

