Few people who were alive on Sept. 11, 2001, need to be reminded of the dangers that small knives can pose to air travel. So the Transportation Security Administration’s recent decision to begin allowing non-locking knives less than 6 centimeters long to be carried onto planes was truly stupefying: Hopefully, as the outcry grows, the TSA will quickly reverse itself.
The terrorist acts that brought down four planes, destroying the World Trade Center and damaging the Pentagon, were committed by assailants who slit the throats of pilots with knives and box cutters. So the TSA, which took over airport security after the attacks, focused on keeping knives and knife-like cutters off of planes. It was a reasonable move, and there have been no further problems with knives. Now, the TSA seems to feel the threat has passed: Its blog said the agency was relaxing its rules in order to better focus its efforts “on finding higher threat items such as explosives.” Various sporting goods, such as souvenir bats, ski poles, and golf clubs will soon be allowed on board, as well.
Comments
We met with a guy who is in the promotions business to see if we wanted to do a promotion with him. He gave us a few samples including a couple of tiny Swiss Army knives with two inch blades. He said that prior to 9/11 they were his most popular item but since then you can't even give them away. I used to have one but of course the TSA goons confiscated it.
The Globe running this misguided editorial accompanied by a picture of a full size Swiss Army knife with a four inch blade and a corkscrew is way over the top. A four inch blade is a weapon. A two inch blade is a toy.
Finally, the Globe editorial ignored the most important change since 9/11 which is the protocol followed during attempted hijackings. Prior to 9/11 the protocol was "don't resist, we'll land the plane and negotiate on the ground". Well, we all know how that turned out. Some jamoke who stands up and brandishes his two inch Swiss Army knife or his putter and says "Take this plane to Havana" is going to get wrestled to the ground by a swarm of passengers and crew. Let's roll.
Harry, if the blade in the picture looks like 4 inches to you, your dad has so explainin' to do.
This is the point and should be repeated. Since airliner cockpits have been reinforced and locked, there really is no justification for forbidding small knives. That the TSA is continuing to confiscate many knives is an indication that people don't really think of them as weapons. I am an electrical engineer and my swiss army knife is a tool and a convenience. I was lucky that the one time I forgot and got to an airport with it, I was able to check it for the duration of my trip. On this one issue, Pistole is right: the TSA should have bigger fish to fry and they should be focusing on real threats. Pocket knives are not any longer real threats.
The TSA apparently lacks any common sense.
Bumpy, we have been trying to tell you that about the government, nice to see you finally got it!
It's not the TSA that lacks common sense, it's the Globe editorial writer.
The TSA just wants more time to harass people in wheelchairs, mothers who are carrying breast milk in containers, little old ladies and anyone else they think needs a good shakedown.
One of the points of the DHS/TSA is to make sure all the peasants know who is in charge and that if we think we have any rights, think again. Some thug who was flipping burgers last week can now intimidate to his/her hearts content for all that abuse at the drive up window.
Evidently the author of this "piece" likes the idea of a police state, check points, pat downs and "Papers please!!!"
What people need to be reminded of is: If you sit in fear, and wait for the other person to do something, you are going to die.
6 cm is 2.36 inches. Granted, that is a very small knife, but the blade on your typical "box cutter" (i.e., razor knife) is only about 1 inch. They can all be used as weapons. I carry a pocket knife 100% of the time, most pocket knives have 2.75 inches (7cm) blades or longer so they are not supposed to be allowed on the plane. It is not a hardship to ask passangers to stow their pocket knives in checked luggage, or leave them at home. The biggest issue here - as Harry above couldn't recognize a ca 2.75 inch blade from a 4 inch blade, how are the TSA agents going to visually tell whether a blade is > 6 cm. Be prepared for a bunch of hold-ups and arguements a the security check.
Actually, the TSA thugs couldn't find their posteriors in a well lit room with both hands. What they are good at, is making fools of themselves.
If you want to see them in action, just search them up on YouTube and watch them work people over. They just love the idea that they are working for the "government" and think that allows them to abuse everyone else.
As for putting things in luggage? There is a joke, the thugs in the luggage area steal anything and everything of value. BEFORE the advent of TSA I regularly checked valuable items through in my luggage. Once TSA arrived at airports, the theft rates went through the roof. They also steal things at the security check points.
Wouldn't TSA still have to check the pocketknife to make sure it is allowed on board? If so - how would allowing them on save anytime?
Just one more example of why Janet Napolitano has to go.
I will be turning 75 this year and supposedly will not have to take off my shoes and jacket when going through security. We'll see about that. I only do 3 trips a year thank god. And yes allowing knives on the plane makes no sense just like a lot of TSA's policies.