TSA Knife Policy by Brandon Desjardin
September 11th destroyed the lives of thousands and made
many worry about their safety when they travel by air. September 11th
was a good reminder that there are people out there who seek to crush the United
States, and now we are going to give them another chance by reversing the
policies that we put in place to protect the lives of all travelers. It’s
something that makes absolutely no sense and seems like we are taking a few
steps back because nothing has happened in the past few years. Well news flash
for you, things haven’t changed, people in the Middle East still don’t like us
and that opinion has grown to several other countries, so allowing people to
carry knives on a plane is absurd.
The
policy itself just seems ridiculous. The TSA says it will allow things such as
pool cues, lacrosse sticks and no more than two golf clubs. As we learned from
9/11, someone will find a way to make any object a weapon. We never thought of
the idea that a plane could be used as a weapon until we woke up to news
coverage of burning buildings and it shocked us all. Someone could break a pool
cue over their knee and use it towards someone. It’s mainly just common sense, I
don’t know anyone that takes one or two golf clubs on a golfing trip. Overall,
this whole plan seems to be a joke, do you really think someone can’t find a way
to make a lacrosse stick, golf club or a pool cue a weapon?
Allowing this policy to take affect will also be increasing the danger of
a potential hijacking. In the 9/11 incident, it was found that the terrorists
used knives such as box cutters and Leatherman’s tools to overtake the plane.
Those kinds of things would also be allowed with this new policy. The TSA
confiscated almost 850 pounds of banned goods over the 12 year run to the ban of
knifes on planes. Now people feel that this will leave us open according to CNN
says that the when it comes to the safety of the flight attendants and the
passengers we are basically on our own. The author of the article even says “I
find this blatantly offensive”. This is
somewhat disturbing to many and for many, it may change their minds when
traveling the world or even the country.
It
seems that a part of this policy is to please those people that think the time
to go through security takes too long. Well when it comes to the safety of
hundreds at a time, you time is insignificant. Security workers at airports have
even been known to agree that the attitudes before and after a traveler goes
through, change dramatically. One Security officer said that “you see their
faces go from happy and laughing to frustrated and angry”. Many people from the
TSA screeners union also disagree with the policy saying that safety should not
be rushed. Allowing people to have that little bit of leeway on what they can
and can’t bring on an airplane is bad enough, but rushing through security to
make sure the customer is satisfied is something that is
irresponsible.
The
TSA policy overall is irresponsible and actually kind of stupid. You really
think that someone won’t find a way to make a pool stick or a golf club a weapon
because it’s almost guaranteed that they will use a knife as one. That makes it
almost pointless to try and allow people to carry those thing on a plane.
Rushing Security checks is also wrong, you never risk safety for speed. This is
a touchy subject for many due to the fact that they may have lost loved ones in
the 9/11 tragedy and for the rest of us the fear of something like that
happening to us or our families is something that scares us
all.
Works Cited
- TSA screeners union opposes new knife carry-on policy | NJ.com." New Jersey Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NJ.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. <http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/
- "Is TSA serious about letting people carry knives? - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/07/opinion/hawk-tsa-knives/index.html?hpt=op_mid>.
- "Is TSA serious about letting people carry knives? - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/07/opinion/hawk-tsa-knives/index.html?hpt=op_mid>.
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