…they’re debating whether to allow scissors on planes.
Bob Hesselbein, the [Air Line Pilots Association]’s national security committee chairman, said pilots think it’s more important to focus on passengers’ intent rather than what they’re carrying.
“A Swiss army knife in the briefcase of a frequent flyer we know very well is a tool,” Hesselbein said. “A ballpoint pen in the hands of a terrorist is a weapon.”
Compare this statement from partisan hack Ed Markey (D-Mass) who just sees an opportunity to bash the opposition:
“The Bush administration proposal is just asking the next Mohamed Atta to move from box cutters to scissors as the weapon that’s used in the passenger cabin of planes,” Markey said.
Then there’s this amazing bit of bad logic:
The Association of Flight Attendants supports Markey’s initiative. So does the Southwest Airlines flight attendants’ union, Transport Workers Local 556.
“I have not spoken to a flight attendant at any airline that isn’t outraged by this,” said Thom McDaniel, the local’s president.
McDaniel said the premise for the policy change is ludicrous. “They want to focus more on explosives, but they’re not even mentioning that the biggest threat to commercial aviation right now is still the fact that most cargo is not screened.”
Huh? Is he really implying that the solution to poor air cargo screening is to take scissors away from passengers?
It’s true that several flight attendants were stabbed by terrorists on 9/11, but that has nothing to do with airplane security. The 9/11 terrorists stabbed the flight attendants as part of a plan to take over the planes. But that wouldn’t work anymore because cockpit doors and bulkheads have been upgraded to turn the cockpits into strongholds that will last long enough for the pilots to land the planes. Meanwhile, the terrorists would be facing attacks from a hoard of passengers stiffened by air marshals with guns.
Sure, relaxing the prohibition against sharp objects would allow the terrorists to stab a few flight attendents. But that’s all they could do. The terrorists know this too. And if all they want to do is stab a few people, they don’t need to get on an airplane to do it.
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