You obviously don't know much about this case, or there is another conclusion to be drawn that I am too polite to post. This guy had very carefully concealed the sharp items inside toiletries (IIRC it was a liquid soap bottle and a deodorant bottle, or something like that).
This wasn't a case of a clueless fool who doesn't fly much carrying items onboard that he thought were innocuous. It wasn't a case of someone who unknowingly left an item in a carryon bag that gets daily use for some other purpose, and had a prohibited item in it. This guy knew exactly what he was doing, and that doing it was prohibited.
You obviously don't know much about this case, or there is another conclusion to be drawn that I am too polite to post. This guy had very carefully concealed the sharp items inside toiletries (IIRC it was a liquid soap bottle and a deodorant bottle, or something like that). Yes, the initial reports implied exactly what you are saying. As I recall, they said the scissors were imbedded in a bar of soap. The next report that I read said, to effect, Oh, sorry, we admit that the scissors were not in the soap and the box cutters were just in the toilet case with the other stuff. In other words, there was not attempt to conceal the items.
I have become very skeptical of what I read in these cases. Most of the time, it is the "Authorities" who the reporters get their story from, and they have a vested interest in making the report look as bad as they can. If you watch this with gun cases, you will see what I mean very soon and very clearly. Unfortunately, by the time the truth comes out, most people have already been mislead, and the follow up articles are buried on the inside page somewhere.