Stupid airport security III (Walter E. Williams)

Townhall.com ^ | April 20, 2005 | Walter E. Williams

[Atlas Sneezed]

The real reason the terrorist do not hijack planes any more is the passengers will kill them.

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That, and because terrorists seem uninterested in the endeavor.

[Real Cynic No More]

Well, I've read all your responses to my post, and it seems the consensus is that the TSA isn't doing enough.

I certainly agree with that, but the gist of Walter Williams' comments is that they need to stop doing certain things.

I use the daughter test: if my daughter is going to fly somewhere, what security precautions would I accept for TSA to eliminate?

There's criticism about the prohibition against lighters. Well, let's say that 5 people in collaboration got on a plane, each with about 3 or 4 lighters on themselves or their carry-on baggage. I can conceive of an easy means whereby these 5 people could assimilate these or fewer lighters into enough of a firebomb to bring down the plane. Same thing with matches, they should also be prohibited.

Each of the objections I've read complain about little things being prohibited. Every one of these items could reasonably be used, without much imagination, in a manner and in cahoots with similar or complementary items brought by another person(s) to create a real threat.

TSA should do more, not less.

[fireforeffect]

You did not read my post. More? No. Better. Stop going after the easy marks and search the obvious threats. Go to true random searches, many air ports let the ticket agents determine who gets searched. Where the agents/Security pick the search, they pick the ones least likely to complain.

By your logic. There should be no carry-on luggage, all luggage is sent by a separate plane. All passengers will be nude so they can not hide anything. Full X-rays to board or body cavity searches.

[Just another Joe]

Every one of these items could reasonably be used, without much imagination, in a manner and in cahoots with similar or complementary items brought by another person(s) to create a real threat.

And every one of those things could reasonably be used to thwart a hijacking.
I don't like depending on the government for my personal safety.

[Real Cynic No More]

Full X-rays to board or body cavity searches.

That might be kind of fun. Go for it.