Comments on: TSA will allow small knives, golf clubs onto airplanes

By: dustindriver

dustindriver — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:50:00 +0000

But what about golf clubs with blades on them? I’m asking for a friend…

By: GawainLavers

GawainLavers — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 15:27:00 +0000

That’s wonderfully logical and has nothing to do with how it will be reported in the media or assessed by those who determine Mr. Pistole’s employment.

By: yadayada

yadayada — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:31:00 +0000

However, aviation employees are beefing and saying that this represents the TSA’s convenience, not theirs.

Yep. They ran out of storage space, and those auctions didn’t bring in as much money as they hoped. A couple of more years and they’ll let you bring bazookas on board.

By: fgraver

fgraver — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:37:00 +0000

Ok, so if someone’s carrying a driver on board I won’t worry. But what if they’re carrying a 1-iron?

By: L_Mariachi

L_Mariachi — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 08:21:00 +0000

That argument doesn’t hold water. If someone gets stabbed with a formerly-banned item that you’ve decided to allow, the blowback isn’t any greater than when someone gets stabbed with an item that was allowed all along. The idea is not and never has been to keep passengers from getting stabbed with whatever object comes to hand (why should you expect to be safer from random stabbings on a plane than in a bus or train car or walking down the street?), it’s to secure the airplane from hijacking. Any measure that does nothing towards that goal should be dropped, regardless of how much better it makes ignorant people feel.

By: paulj

paulj — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 06:28:00 +0000

The Leatherman Micra has a blade that’s just over 4 cm, and even has inch/cm markings on the case. It’s about the most useful thing I carry, and it was worthwhile to replace it after forgetting to leave it at home the last time I had to travel by air.

By: Jeremiah Blatz

Jeremiah Blatz — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 05:26:00 +0000

Someone with murderous intent can kill a fellow human with a *LOT* of things. Nothing magic about box cutters.

By: JohnOCFII

JohnOCFII — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 03:42:00 +0000

Remember, any one less than 12 or older than 75 does not need to take off their shoes or light jackets. I guess there are no young or old terrorists. Also — every airline hands out potentially lethal weapons to anyone requesting a can of soda. Rip it in half. Easy. Sharp. Dangerous. Security Theatre.

By: Jardine

Jardine — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:43:00 +0000

Well yes, you can kill one person on a plane with a box cutter, but you can kill one person on a plane with many items or barehanded. After you attack one person though, the other passengers will swarm you. Even if you take someone hostage, they’re not going to hand control of the plane over to you anymore.

By: timquinn

timquinn — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:38:00 +0000

Utility knives, box cutters, are very sharp when new. Small pocket knives less so.

By: etherist

etherist — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:04:00 +0000

Cory, box-cutters are absolutely lethal in the hands of someone with murderous intent. At my hospital, we recently took care of a man whose throat was slit from “ear to ear”. The police report said that he was found on the ground with a box cutter next to him. No major blood vessels were lacerated, but he lost perhaps two liters of blood from the minor ones. And his trachea was completely transected, cut in half. We normally reach the trachea with a breathing tube by slipping it in through the mouth, right? This man was holding has hand over his gaping neck wound when the trauma surgeon went to see him in the emergency department. The surgeon asked him to remove his hand so he could examine the injury. When the surgeon then saw the stump of windpipe, he simply slipped a breathing tube directly into his trachea.

No joke, I was in the operating room when he came for surgery two minutes later. Without prompt medical attention, he would have died quickly.

I’m with the TSA on this issue, if little else.

By: chgoliz

chgoliz — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:56:00 +0000

As my daughter would say: Sad Face.

By: mccrum

mccrum — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:10:00 +0000

Oh, you guys with your artificial flavoring conspiracy theories!

By: timquinn

timquinn — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:06:00 +0000

I was reading the press release . . . what does this “j/k” at the bottom mean?

By: Gerald Mander

Gerald Mander — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:52:00 +0000

I like Trevanian’s sharp-edged credit-card trick from Shibumi.

By: antabaka

antabaka — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:45:00 +0000

Also: No Nutella.

By: IronEdithKidd

IronEdithKidd — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:31:00 +0000

Yup. They’ve been sell those at ThinkGeek for years. It sounds like a joke, but it’s a thing allright.

By: ChickieD

ChickieD — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:17:00 +0000

My husband owns a “tactical ballpoint pen.” That is a real thing. It is a small baton used by police or martial artists. This one has a ballpoint pen nib stuck in it so that it is now a “pen” and not a “weapon.”

By: ChickieD

ChickieD — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:17:00 +0000

Thank goodness, though, they still have that ban on a full bottle of shampoo! We are still safe!!

By: Scott Rose

Scott Rose — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:45:00 +0000

Passengers can soon carry on bats http://cbc.sh/ibtaWSY | Concerned that bats can carry rabies? Read about the TSA’s secretive Ozzy-marshal program.

By: andygates

andygates — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:37:00 +0000

With “box cutters make me sad”, yes, they did.

By: Matthew Stringer

Matthew Stringer — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:11:00 +0000

Yes, we’ve finally won the War on Terror. Grab those golf clubs, America, we’re all heading to the links!

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:04:00 +0000

Was it ever definitively confirmed that the 9/11 hijackers even used box cutters? I heard conflicting reports on that.

By: Pag

Pag — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:53:00 +0000

A full bag wouldn’t fit as carry-on, but some golfers may want to bring in one or two clubs that are expensive, like a special driver, to make sure they don’t get stolen or damaged while the others are checked in.

By: mzed

mzed — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:33:00 +0000

What, nobody mentions Novelty Bats!?! You can now carry a bat that is less than 24 inches or 24 ounces.

Finally.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSXzZm4dWprvmQGiw4PTgDw2ROfxW6CuF_i339njhm6xGDx3iQ8

By: CLamb

CLamb — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:30:00 +0000

That was artificially flavored Vanillia. Had it been natural organic Vanilla flavoring there would’ve been no problem.

By: CLamb

CLamb — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:28:00 +0000

Regardless of TSA rules wouldn’t a full set of golf clubs occupy more than the volume allowed by airlines for carry-on items?

By: GawainLavers

GawainLavers — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:09:00 +0000

I was wondering how this would be reported here, and commented on: either approval for a step in the right direction or snide derision.

No matter what security steps you take, there’s always the chance of a disaster, and when disaster happens, anyone who suggested lessening “security measures” will be handed the blame. This is why, no matter how rational it is, knowing that eventually someone will be stabbed to death on a plane with a pocket knife must weigh heavily on the head of anyone trying to make one of these decisions.

So the TSA head makes a momentus choice, reaching out to the anti-security-theater crowd. Hope his hand doesn’t need too many stitches.

By: itsgene

itsgene — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:59:00 +0000

Wait a sec – did the head of the TSA just admit that their policies are crafted not for real security, but for emotional security?

By: Supernumerary

Supernumerary — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:49:00 +0000

I’m confused as to when the TSA has ever been cost-conscious. Halp.