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The Nation's Pulse
My Mother-in-Law Is Owed an Apology
Where do TSA-confiscated items go?
My mother-in-law once gave me a Leatherman multi-tool for Christmas. The one she gave me had Phillips and flathead screwdrivers, scissors, a knife, and more. It was a good gift, and one that I was looking forward to using. Alas, it was not meant to be.
That’s because my wife and I, like millions of other people, live far away from where we grew up. We have to fly home every holiday season to see our families. The mix of long security lines, overbooked flights, and crowded terminals brings its own fresh hell every year. But if that’s the price to pay for spending some time with our loved ones, it’s worth it. The Year of the Leatherman, however, was something else.
We prefer to pack lightly, so we only brought carry-ons with us. It also helps us avoid checked-baggage fees and waiting for the luggage carousel to spit out our suitcases — if they arrive at all. The problem is that a lot of things aren’t allowed in carry-on luggage because of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations. Snowglobes, cattle prods, turpentine, and many other items are forbidden in carry-on bags. If TSA agents find any of these things, they confiscate them.
The full list of TSA’s prohibited items is here. Leatherman tools are not on the list. But since they do contain knives, a TSA agent at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport decided he couldn’t let me through.
Leatherman tools come in all-but invincible clamshell packaging that is virtually impossible to open without another Leatherman. My new Leatherman was still in said packaging, and I didn’t have another one to open it with. There was no way I could use it. Even if I were a terrorist, my fellow passengers would have been safe that day.
I explained this to the TSA screener. He said I could go back to my airline’s check-in kiosk, check my bag, and then stand in the security line again. At that point, that would mean missing our flight. Not an option. His only remaining option, he told me, was to confiscate the Christmas present my mother-in-law gave me.
This, naturally, made me rather mad. I decided to get even instead. “You can take it,” I told the TSA screener. “I understand. This thing is brand new. It’s top-of-the-line. It can do almost anything. And I can see you’ve had your eye on it. If you want it that badly, you can just have it.”
“Sir, it’s not like that,” he shot back.
“I know,” I said. “Maybe you already have one you took from another passenger. But I can’t miss my flight. I’ll just get another one when I get home. Enjoy your new Leatherman!”
My O’Hare antagonist probably wasn’t corrupt. But now it turns out that the system may be. TSA screeners confiscate thousands and thousands of items from passengers every year. What do they do with all that booty?
A lot of the items end up in state surplus stores, it turns out. The federal government and most states run surplus stores to sell old and unused government equipment. Everything from desks and chairs to computers to, yes, items confiscated by the TSA, can be bought on the cheap at these stores.
One state surplus store in Texas made $300,000 in 2010 just from “willfully surrendered” items, as store employees insist on phrasing it.
So rest easy the next time a TSA screener takes away your spear gun (yes, that’s on the verboten list). You’re not just making air travel safer by leaving it behind. You’re also doing your part to reduce government deficits.
About the Author
Ryan Young is Fellow in Regulatory Studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (93) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 6.22.11 @ 6:41AM
Or you could simply send your items home by FedEx. Its way cheaper than checking your bags, and FedEx doesnt lose things.
In fact, your mother-in-law is owed an apology from a son-in-law who apparently believes that very well known laws do not apply to him.
Shamus| 6.22.11 @ 9:04AM
The government is allowed to take your property.
You should be proud that yours goods are supplying the greater need.
Publius| 6.22.11 @ 10:50AM
Ridiculous, Appleby. In 2011, do you really feel it's possible to endanger an airplane with a Leatherman?
lydia | 6.23.11 @ 10:40AM
I blame the demonic cult of the 19 men who on 9/11/01 made bodies fall like rain from burning buildings.
I am a 28 years old doctor, mature and beautiful.and now I am seeking a good man who can give me real love , so i got a username Andromeda2002 on--s'e'ek'c'ou'ga'r.c óm--.it is the first and best club for y'ounger women and old'er men, or older women and y'ounger men,to int'eract with each other. Maybe you wanna ch'eck 'it out or tell your friends!
Publius| 6.22.11 @ 10:50AM
Ridiculous, Appleby. In 2011, do you really feel it's possible to endanger an airplane with a Leatherman?
PaulyD| 6.22.11 @ 1:43PM
I keep my pocket leatherman on my key chain primarily to remind me to avoid flying, whenever possible.
Tony Weiner| 6.22.11 @ 1:45PM
Sometimes I email pictures of my Leatherman to teen girls.
Anthony "Shovel-Ready" Weiner| 6.22.11 @ 8:10PM
Youse call dat a multi-tool? I'll show ya a multi-tool! I got yer multi-tool right here!
John Navratil| 6.22.11 @ 7:16PM
Appleby,
It's rare that we disagree, but you did notice that the claim was that a Leatherman was NOT on the list of banned items. If not, perhaps it was a bit uncharitable to suggest the gent believes that should not apply to him when the rule does not, apparently, exist.
If a man is a danger with a Leatherman, his is a danger without out.
TrueBlue| 6.24.11 @ 10:59AM
Considering that it was still in the packaging for one, I think it's a load of bull that they took it.
Secondly, if I wanted to hurt someone on an airplane I could do it with the plastic utensils they give me, or bring on my own since those don't cause the metal detectors to go off, and can easily be hidden in pockets sewn into your clothes (or even some of the huge pockets on some brands). There's also your average every day pen and/or mechanical pencil. Several of those huge paperclips wound together while you're sitting in the lavatory also make a pretty sturdy stabbing weapon. The list of possible weapons on a plane goes on, but they're all silly because the limited space on an airplane makes it easy to stop someone using them. Heck, you can get guns with no metal parts that'll get you past the detectors, only those patdowns would find them, and they are "random" enough all you need to do is bring along a hot woman to go before you.
Oh yea, and to make things even more fun, now they're going to be union too! http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsal.....ing-rights
D| 6.22.11 @ 7:09AM
Ryan, you're not going to get alot of sympathy here for giving up your Christmas gift unnecessarily. You should have arranged to have it shipped home.
Stephen H Worden| 6.22.11 @ 7:18AM
Leatherman is not on the List of prohibited items. Neither is the Swiss Army ... BUT KNIVES, and a Knife by any other name is still a knife. Also there is a reason for the "getting to the airport 1-2 hours early" - so you can take you knife back to the counter and check it in. And you say you would need another leatherman to open th page the leatherman was seal in? Which came first, the letterman or the packaging. And the trust me on this, I have been injured more often by the plastic that seals these things then the items they contain. And to end this, the note below this text request that my comment "be respectful". This comment is much more polite than the rude "enjoy your new leatherman" comment made to the TSA Screener who's job is make sure you get to your destination so you can whine about them!
Publius| 6.22.11 @ 10:51AM
It's best to be respectful to your government masters. If you are, the TSA might not grope your wife, daughter or girlfriend quite as much.
Arbeit Mach Frei!
CalMark| 6.22.11 @ 12:10PM
That's right.
Our Lords and Masters in Washington tell us we can't do something...we MUST obey. Without thinking, without hesitation--or else. Like good little Citizens of the All Powerful State.
Because everyone knows that men with names like "Paul Young" typically belong to groups high on the list of terrorist threat.
Teaghan| 6.22.11 @ 12:34PM
I'm still in disbelief that we have been reduced to being forced to be molested by total strangers right there in front of God and everyone. I am pulled aside EVERY time I fly. A blonde middle aged very scotts-irish looking woman, being felt up by some huge black woman in front of my fellow passengers. It's disgusting.
Stu Orgone| 6.22.11 @ 1:47PM
As TSA puts it, they feel for us.
CalMark| 6.22.11 @ 4:42PM
Just a new twist on an old saying: "TSA agents prefer blondes."
Along those lines, I am amazed--AMAZED--at the number of cute young babes who are threats to national security. Always getting pulled aside to have their suitcases pawed through by grinning TSA dudes. Dudes who, need I say it, are of a quality that few presentable women would even look at.
TrueBlue| 6.24.11 @ 11:08AM
I'm not amazed, those are the types of people they try to employ given the number of them that have been hit with various legal actions, to include molesting little girls outside of work. Or the fact that their background checks don't extend to activity further back than the last 10 yrs.
Sheila| 6.22.11 @ 5:40PM
So why do you continue to fly? I refuse to submit. You, apparently, find it tolerable.
Occam's Tool| 6.22.11 @ 7:21PM
Occasionally, I must fly. As my children had foster parents in Guatemala, that's one place. As I am only allowed one week at a time vacation, and work 12 days out of every 14 otherwise, Alabama is another place I must fly to, to see my in-laws.
And, finally, Sheila, as you well know from your previous posts, in order to foil the plots of the StormFront Commandos and Ron Paul, thus advancing the vast Jewish conspiracy, occasionally I must take my turn in our International Jew Cave in Barbados to take my turn controlling the international money supply---so I have to fly there.
Otherwise, I avoid flying if I can.
Anthony| 6.22.11 @ 3:14PM
Hey Pub, I bet they had one hell of a good time with the guy who flew wearing only women's undies. Nice color blue, too. I think they matched his eyes.
But hell, this is nothing, have you guys seen the newest in your face photo labels on cigarettes? Talk about a government that is doubling down on its attacks and control of Americans.
We truly do have a rouge, out of control, authoritarian government. Elections will not solve this problem... tick tock... tick tock.....
Sheila| 6.22.11 @ 5:39PM
Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
John Navratil| 6.22.11 @ 7:22PM
Stephen H Worden,
The TSA is the reason I fly rarely. I am among the fortunate who has a Cessna I can use for flights of limited duration so, to a great degree, I avoid the issue entirely.
Note, however, the number of complaints, the common pilfering of baggage and now the states who are considering junk-touching laws. Perhaps, just perhaps, Joe Everyman is waking up to the concept that absolute safety is, not only a Utopian ideal, but the entry for tyranny.
LindaF | 6.22.11 @ 7:22AM
Some airports allow private companies to buy lots of confiscated goods. I'm told that there is a company near Cleveland airport where the knife selection is excellent, and cheap.
Melvin| 6.22.11 @ 7:29AM
Yes, Appleby, he should of, would of, could of. But I do not think that is the point to all this. I constantly have this message drilled into my head, over and over and over. "9/11 changed everything.?
Why should I change for a bunch or religious, camel jockeys. Yes, damn straight I'm calling them religious camel Jockeys and if I could get away with worse here I would.
For those that read my posts realize that I'm not to awfully politically correct, political correctness in my book has nothing to do with multiculturalism or diversity. It's about moral superiority, I'm better than you and I can come with bigger words and phrases than you. But that is beside the point.
I have traveled around this globe over 2-1/2 times, until the chicken squeeze mentality took a hold of us, I traveled with pocket knives, and yes, the dreaded weapon of mass destruction, the Leatherman.
But a few spoiled rich Camel Jockeys, have to go and destroy the way of life that I and other Americans enjoyed.
Now our government goes off the deepend feeling up granny and four year olds, all the while giving the Camel Jockeys, because they are wearing they're religious attire a pass, because feeling them up could be construed as, "Racist."
And we wouldn't want that would we? We want these people to like us.
Who was it that flew the aircraft into the WWTC? Granny and a four year old? No, It was educated, Arabs, Saudi Arabians, that did it.
We have Somalis entering into this Country, and setting up terrorists cells, and we are standing here fat, dumb, and happy, slapping each other on the back, and telling the world. "See look how diverse we are, we told you multiculturalism works, Middle Easterners and Africans like us."
Hello, has anyone every heard what Middle Easterners and Africans from Islamic states talk privately about us. They hate our every loving guts, and want to murder and destroy every single non-believer aka Infidel in this Country and set up and Islamic Caliphate. Thats right they weird beards want to put the crescent atop the capitol building in Washington D.C.
I guess the point to this whole rant is. In order to preserve our freedoms and yes, that includes flying with Leatherman's in our pockets while aboard an aircraft, we need to defeat those no matter of whom they are or where they are from.
Yes, Ryan could have send his Leatherman home by a third party, but he shouldn't have to. Sending that Leatherman home through the mail is a passive sign of defeat, and giving in to the enemies demands, and dammit I didn't spend 20 years in the United States Marine Corps defending our way of life and our cherished freedoms only to have Ryan's Leatherman confiscated, he shouldn't have to had mailed it home, he should have had the, "FREEDOM" to take it with him.
Pelligrino| 6.22.11 @ 7:54AM
Melvin, I am completely with you.
I despise those who say, "Well, you should have known better. You didn't look at the list. Deodorant is not permitted. And...nail clippers! My goodness, that's a weapon!"
Perhaps the longer flights could have a tag it and stow it onboard bin? e.g. tell Ryan, "Okay, let me place a fast tag on that with your name. Retrieval will be right after deboarding."
And this applies to things smaller than a shoebox and less than 24 oz.
At some point, we need to ID the real perpetrators. It is NOT so difficult to do. And they're not the business travellers, the families going on holiday, or grandparents thrilled to be off to see the grandkids.
Oh, you're a male under 60 and from the MidEast or a descendent of a family from that part of the world? Sorry, you ain't flyin'.
Folks, this is war. We don't want it; they do. So you change the way we do things. And that includes removing them from our land altogether.
That way I can again board a train with just my passenger ticket and not have to also show photo ID for a 55 mile ride.
Note: I used to fly just fine with my Swiss Army Knife and another multi-tool called a Gerber.
D| 6.22.11 @ 8:14AM
Well, despise me all you want but Ryan didn't make any of the points that you and Melvin made about freedom, terrorism, etc. Ryan was sinply bit*hing about the TSA's covetous confiscation of his and other's belongings and blaming others for his own laziness.
Publius| 6.22.11 @ 10:53AM
So, D, you feel he should have had his knife confiscated because of this attitude? Very, very scary.
Patriot Gal NC| 6.22.11 @ 11:10AM
Melvin... You hit the nail on the head squarely! I call them "rag-heads" and camel jockeys! Ya know...I am with you --I don't give a damn about political correctness. Everytime I see one of their burqua-upped "women" wandering around shopping, I want to puke in her face.
I used to be a caring, kind, compassionate (to all people I pass) kind of person...But not to these people!
To those of you who are "seasoned" airline travelers, it is great that you know ALL THE RULES. Some of us don't! I had to fly to Californina to bury my 88 yr old decorated WWII vet father. I haven't flown in years! I have hip replacements --yes! BOTH HIPS. I got ACCOSTED by the TSA people. An older lady, in a wheel chair --accompanied by her daughter was hauled off to the "zone" and searched! They even tested my fingers for gun powder! YES, REALLY! My own daughter who was traveling with me, was HORRIFIED that her mama was being treated this way. THEN... one of these covered-up with the scarf, the long dress --whatever the hell you call it just STROLLS THROUGH like she is Shirley Temple! Made my skin crawl. I wanted to make a scene --believe me! Where are MY RIGHTS to demand that the TSA search the burque-d up woman???
The result is that I will NEVER fly again. I will freaking DRIVE from NC to California if I have to.
Ryan, your article is well taken. I agree.
And for you seasoned travelers --I have yet to see a Fed-Ex or UPS kiosk set up outside of the search and seizure areas. Perhaps they would make a fortune!
Teaghan| 6.22.11 @ 12:38PM
I'm with you Pat Gal. Did you really see a muslim woman go through with no patdown? Did she go through the full view scanner? I hate that those towelheads have reduced us to this, but obama loves it. We know that.
Rick Z| 6.22.11 @ 5:57PM
There are no mailboxes ANYWHERE at Newark (Liberty) airport - one of the three serving New York City.
CalMark| 6.22.11 @ 12:30PM
Now, now.
Must be nice to the people who want to destroy us. It's only polite.
Our way of dealing with terrorism reminds me of the way Republicans in D.C. deal with Democrats. Carefully, with great fear of giving offense, and with the deepest, most craven respect. While our enemies bash our brains in, laughing.
Occam's Tool| 6.22.11 @ 7:24PM
As you have no doubt noted, in these pages I have mentioned before that I would have no additional security on planes beyond what was there 9/11. I would have protected our transportation by holding Mecca and Medina as Nuclear hostages to Islamic countries and citizens proper behavior, and nuked one additional city for each additional act of terrorism beyond the second one.
Red Phillips thought that was barbaric. I think it would have been VERY effective. Thoughts?
jjmurphy| 6.22.11 @ 8:09AM
What ticks me off the most is the fact that we have to put up with this TSA crap to begin with thanks to Islam. We dare not profile and focus on the cause of why we have all this so-called security. No, so let's take Christmas presents from the 99.9% of the people who have no intention of doing anything wrong. I'm sure the neanderthal thugs of the TSA, who are apparently incapable of independent thought, enjoy taking the best stuff.
Yes, he might have wanted to mail that Leatherman home, but the larger point is that he shouldn't have to.
Oh, and I love the "willfully surrendered" words.
And, even better, the TSA is rolling these wonderful security checks out throughout the country now.
Pecos Pete| 6.22.11 @ 9:01AM
The TSA "security checks" are just beginning to roll out around the country. We ain't seen nothing yet. I now believe that we have instituted our own Gestapo called the TSA.
But, let's not patrol the borders. Those pesky southern borders just need a moat with alligators.
Teaghan| 6.22.11 @ 12:40PM
Well, when the manwoman Napolitano is taken down from her post in 2012, will things ease off? Maybe the new administration will stop some of this insanity.
Chef Schnauzer| 6.22.11 @ 8:23AM
Any American that doesn't taste a little bit of bile in the back of his throat when reading about these clownish-brownshirts called the TSA deserves to lose the freedoms that are a grace from God.
Bruce| 6.22.11 @ 8:24AM
Next time, Ryan needs to pack up his computer with a cable lock inside. They aren't prohibited (yet), but any good terrorist could probably make a nice garrote from one. I never ask the dumb question "What about this?" when I travel, because the company says I have to lock my computer up when I travel.
Denver Todd| 6.22.11 @ 8:24AM
A leatherman has knives, and it also has tools. Tools are verboten too. I don't think that anyone in their right mind would attempt to go through security with a Leatherman.
Ole Sarge| 6.22.11 @ 10:52AM
My husband is a Federal Law Enforcement Agent, he's had the training to fly "armed" with his government issued weapon. He is also a computer crime specialist and usually carries his "Felix the Cat" bag with him (cables, connectors, extra hard drives, government issued laptop, and of all things a screwdriver to remove and replace hard-drives.)
He is flying with a semi-automatic weapon and several clips of bullets, BUT HIS damn mini (3 inch) SCREWDRIVER is confiscated!!!
"It can be used as a weapon."
Fellow Americans, it isn't just the average citizen, these NON-Law Enforcement (no arrest authority) types are just as "gleeful" to do crap to real Law Enforcement as they are to do things to the average John or Jane Doe.
Occam's Tool| 6.23.11 @ 12:39AM
But of course they would do this, Old Sarge. They are morons.
Harry the Horrible| 6.22.11 @ 8:35AM
Coming home from Miami last week, I sat and watched a TSA employee patted down a little old lady. It was a professional job, but I couldn't help but wonder, why her? She was just a little old lady with jeans and t-shirt. Probably had a hip implant or something that set off the metal detectors.
Frankly, these days I'd rather disband the mostly useless TSA and take my chances with Al Qaeda. Let me carry my knife and I'll go down fighting. Better yet, let CCW license holders carry their pistols. And arm the pilots and cockpit crew. That would be a lot more effective than anything the TSA has ever done.
PolishKnight| 6.22.11 @ 9:31AM
Harry, keep this in mind: When I was at a BBQ attended by purple stater leftist friends of mine, some of them openly considered conservative suburban CCP fathers who went to 4H as serious a threat as Al Queda. Let's look at that thinking in reverse: What's to stop some leftist including a granny from not wanting to be unPC and looking into a package that a nice Muslim girl she met at a "Yes we can!" rally onto the plane and to give to her friend?
All this security screening is nuts precisely because these terrorists, like hackers, are out to exploit every hole in security they can find.
Tom| 6.22.11 @ 8:43AM
Real classy of you to accuse the TSA screener of being a thief.
Melvin| 6.22.11 @ 8:47AM
Well Tom...that pretty much fits the description of the government in general nowadays.
Chef Schnauzer| 6.22.11 @ 9:12AM
With the social contract disbanded and pissed on by the government, and the confiscation of our God given rights and protections, the last thing I give a crap about, Tommy Boy, is the Marquess of Queensberry's rules. While you sit there and fret over the treatment of some brown shirt government eunuch you are losing much much more.
Publius| 6.22.11 @ 10:55AM
You can add me to the classy list, Tom. Ask any TSO what happens to the more lucrative items that the TSA confiscates.
Teaghan| 6.22.11 @ 12:44PM
I've heard of things of value being stolen by baggage checkers from suitcases. So don't act like the TSA are some angelic group.
CalMark| 6.22.11 @ 12:21PM
Apparently, Tom lives with his head in the sand...or up another, darker, less-pleasant smelling opening.
He apparently hasn't heard about all the TSA atrocities. We have to be nice. Otherwise, our enemies might not like us.
Someone earlier called the TSA a Gestapo. Damn right. Those people are thugs. You can see their eyes shining with pleasure as they exercise their absolute power yelling instructions, police-state-style, at crowds of harmless folks.
This is how a police state looks. Blame it on GWB: the Department of Homeland Security (sounds more than vaguely Nazi or Soviet, doesn't it?) then caved on TSA.
Gretchen| 6.23.11 @ 7:40PM
Do you mean his posterior fundament?
Sheila| 6.22.11 @ 5:42PM
Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Rick Z| 6.22.11 @ 6:02PM
Well, Tommie, .... without debating classyness .... .... for sure theft is one of the fringe benefits of the TSA job. .... A number have been fired for rifling passenger luggage. ... ....
Bak Tun| 6.22.11 @ 9:30AM
Please make more of an effort to comply with the rules. They are there for your own protection. If you had your life snuffed by a knife carrying terrorist, you'd probably be whining that no one made any effort to keep you safe.
PolishKnight| 6.22.11 @ 9:34AM
While I agree with the other posters the guy's a bit of a whiner, I disagree that the leatherman rule is making any difference in security. With the cockpit doors secured and nobody opening them just because a passenger pulls a knife, there's no significant reason to prohibit pocket knives.
I agree with the other posters that he should have gotten to the airport early AND read the rules. The packaging doesn't make a difference. The agent was doing his job and would have been fired if he let the pocket knife on board.
I've been through security in other countries and they were quite helpful and even put a toy gun I was bringing on board (that's right, a TOY GUN) into a check in bag and gave it to the airline and I got it when I got home. It's a great story when visitors come in and see it on the shelf.
jjmurphy| 6.22.11 @ 9:40AM
"Please make more of an effort to comply with the rules. They are there for your own protection."
You're being sarcastic, right? Has the TSA stopped any, ANY terrorist from getting on a plane? Has the TSA adopted ANY profiling procedures for the .1% of the population that is the cause of the problem?
The TSA is a joke manned by buffoons. Unfortunately, those buffoons have been given unchecked power over you unless you "comply". Where the H&%$ is the outrage over the TSA intrusion into all parts of our life now?
tonyo| 6.22.11 @ 10:49AM
Tell that to the children who are groped, the young women who are fondled, and the aged who are humiliated, all in the pathetic hope of appeasing those who would actually seek to do us harm (hint: they frequent mosques).
Occam's Tool| 6.22.11 @ 7:28PM
I look Lebanese, and my last name in real life is a common Lebanese last name (although no, it doesn't look or sound Arabic). I have watched little old ladies being searched on flights I've been able to step on easily. Even though I'm an AIPACer, I should be searched if anyone is. This is ridiculous.
CalMark| 6.22.11 @ 12:25PM
Please make more of an effort to comply with the traditions and ideals of this country. They are their for your own right to liberty. If you had your life snuffed by a shotgun-wielding DHS thug, you'd probably be rejoicing that the government is keeping you safe.
Sheila| 6.22.11 @ 5:43PM
Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
The Bruce| 6.22.11 @ 11:32PM
Bak, if he had his life "snuffed" by a knife carrying terrorist, he'd be dead and therefore wouldn't be whining about anything.
On your second statement... for my protection? Tell you what, when the first would-be rectal bomber causes a knee-jerk reaction by the government, and the TSA starts performing cavity searches, I suggest you keep telling yourself, "it's for my protection" over and over while you're bent over being "serviced" and protected.
Jose| 6.22.11 @ 9:42AM
During the buildup to Iraqi Freedom, in 1993, I boarded a C-17 cargo plane for the long ride to the big sandbox. Like every other GI, I had a Leatherman on my belt. This being a military aircraft, we sat along the side of the cargo bay, with palletized equipment in the middle. Our gun case, with guns inside, was close enough that I was able to prop my feet on it.
The cargo master came around and dutifully collected all Leathermans and other pointy objects. He explained that as long as we were in US air space, we were subject to the same rules as civilian flights. Once we were beyond US air space (somewhere over the Atlantic), the cargo master returned all pointy objects to their owners and we continued safely to our destination.
Draw your own conclusions.
CalMark| 6.22.11 @ 12:22PM
Good thing you didn't land at Oakland Airport in California. They wouldn't have allowed you off the plane. You might be a security threat, with your guns and all.
Pelligrino| 6.23.11 @ 1:47AM
Jose, welcome here. Good to have you.
If what you relate to us here is correct...oh my.
This is the most outlandish piece of information on this entire page. So we need to confiscate sharp, pointy things from troopers when airborne. I mean, why not then when in a 5-ton truck before and after the flight? And later throughout the mission in the field dining facilities (mess halls)....I mean, never can tell what might happen if a few guys start arguing about a issue like who'll win the World Series.
The conclusions from this are ugly. And USAF cargo masters are usually at least E-7s or E-8s, right?
It was a C-17 back in 1993? Whoa, where have the years gone?
Melvin| 6.22.11 @ 9:46AM
So it prevails....Many of us have chosen Security over Freedom.
Teaghan| 6.22.11 @ 12:46PM
Bingo~
The Bruce| 6.22.11 @ 11:35PM
Not this kid.
Jenny| 6.22.11 @ 10:03AM
The TSA won't stop with airline travel. Amtrak passenger trains are next on their list. Mark my words.
jjmurphy| 6.22.11 @ 10:07AM
"The TSA won't stop with airline travel"
Unfortunately, you are too late. They are already there, and a lot more places.
http://motherjones.com/mojo/20.....ems-yearly
froglegs| 6.22.11 @ 10:25AM
I blame the demonic cult of the 19 men who on 9/11/01 made bodies fall like rain from burning buildings.
Publius| 6.22.11 @ 10:56AM
I blame the Americans who inappropriately reacted to the threat.
Teaghan| 6.22.11 @ 12:47PM
Amen~
Radioman777| 6.22.11 @ 10:28AM
The TSA policy is nothing more than government sanctioned theft. As far as I'm concerned, the TSA and ATF are nothing more than Americanized versions of the internal security apparatus employed by the Soviet Union.
Petronius| 6.22.11 @ 11:21AM
First we need to correct the biggest abomination of air travel. When Clinton became president the first thing DOT did was force the airline to hire ramp personnel fresh out of prison. Baggage theft sky rocketed on purpose. This policy is a political reprisal against anyone who buys an airline ticket. I know a lady who saw a baggage handler open her suitcase and snaffle her digital camera. When she complained to the flight attendant, she was threatened with arrest. A colleague was returning from a major shooting event and saw his shotgun case held aside on the tarmac before deplaning. When it didn't arrive at the claim area, he went to airport security. They found his firearm in an employee break room. Fortunately, the three man crew unloading that flight got fired on the spot. If my friend had not been deemed important enough, nothing would have been done.
A person's rights in this perfidious age are maintained only when those in authority feel like doing it. The only thing that matters is, are you one of Them?
Drunken Sailor| 6.22.11 @ 11:54AM
The goverment's method of increasing airline security is "Ready, Fire, Aim"
George True| 6.22.11 @ 11:56AM
Not long after the new rules went into effect, I was told my small pocket Swiss army knife (Executive model) could not go through. At that time I was given the option of surrendering it or going back to the kiosk at the entrance to the concourse and mailing it to myself. I chose option two. The security people were nice enough to wave me to the front of the line when I came back from doing that. Today, that is not an option.
It would be easy enough, in fact quite easy, for TSA to provide common sense options sort of surrendering items that cannot go through security. Pellegrino suggested one. The TSA people could put the idem in a ziplock bag or pouch with the passenger's name on it. Those items then go into a bin which goes into the cargo hold of the aircraft, and the passengers can retrieve their items after deplaning at the destination.
Another option is having a postal kiosk in the lobby where passengers, if there is enough time, can go back and mail the item home, and then be expedited to the front of the line when they come back to the concourse.
The fact that the only option TSA will give a passenger is to surrender the item or miss their flight tells me that they do not give a sheet about the people they are supposed to be serving, and they are worthy of all the scorn that is so rightfully heaped upon them.
John Navratil| 6.22.11 @ 7:33PM
George True,
Nice idea, but it would require a bin for every flight at every security station. Not really practical.
Let's remember why we have this security at all... it's so that you and I can feel good that we not sitting next to someone who wants to blow-up his shoes. It's why, for the moment, we don't have to go through "security" when boarding private planes (everyone knows who is there) and private cars. But to the bureaucrats, these are just conveyances which should be scrutinized for the safety of the non-travelling public.
We would be much better off looking for the person with evil intentions than engaging is this security theater. Unfortunately, this charade isn't really changing - just expanding.
lgiffner| 6.22.11 @ 12:23PM
So... What is your point? ha ha get it? what is your point?
Teaghan| 6.22.11 @ 12:48PM
Lgiffner, you are so "sharp""! Soooo punny!
Dave Williams| 6.22.11 @ 1:30PM
...just more cutting-edge humor....
Srsly, the TSA exists to give jobs to otherwise unemployable morons, bullies, and creeps (of ALL races), who are now totally committed to increased government control in all areas of life. And this is but a microcosm of the world that the jug-eared narcissist would-be dictator in the White House has planned for the entire country. Vote this disaster out in 2112!!!!!
Flee| 6.22.11 @ 3:26PM
I guess some surplus store got to sell my shave gel that was in too large a can. Brand new it was. And I could have certainly done a lot of damage to the crew as I sprayed them mischievously with my shave gel. A little rubbing and they would have had foam. Oh the humanity.
Pelligrino| 6.22.11 @ 5:01PM
Have we had a passenger airline incident that did not involve muslims? If so, please state the incident, date, location.
I am not saying we didn't or haven't in the last 25 years. I just cannot recall one. (But that is not saying much; my brain memory recall is not what it should be)
Hijackings have now ceased, yes? For several decades already. They were made infamous by...the PLO.
Pecos Pete is right: TSA "sponsored" security checks will now be at train terminals, bus terminals, shopping center entrances? and probably cabbie pick up points. (After all, if I am a NYC cabbie, how do I know what's in that Samsonite bag your pulling along)
Polish Knight points out (above) at 9:33 a.m. that the demonic muslim terrorists will indeed spend countless days plotting how to exploit a tiny weak point.
This is done every year when someone hands a "new friend" an object like a stuffed animal to take to hospitalized friend in Europe. The flight, bus, or train is from Turkey to W. Europe. There is not a weapon in the stuffed bunny rabbit; it is some form of narcotics.
Once; however, it was an unwitting teenage Turkish boy returning to Germany who'd been on holiday in Turkey to see family. Imbedded in his tennis shoe was a timing device for explosives. It was closely examined; the boy truly did not know. Relatives made him the uwitting 'device mule.'
And that is the point: One cannot cover all the possibilities. What one can do is point the finger right at the perpetrators and usher them out.
And... just how exactly are we covering any possibilities with our souther border open?
We do know who the perpetrators are, right?
That's right. They cannot live here; they cannot travel here. No student visas. After 35 years of complete peacefulness (think of the overall tranquility that graced Scandinavia for 40 years prior to the muslims arrival there 15 years ago) in the muslim lands, we might reconsider.
Emphasis: "Might." No guarantees.
Unless we point the finger at muslims and remove them and cease interaction, your citizen freedoms will continue to errode dramatically. And their attacks will continue.
Who is going to take the gross deceit of BO (and many others) to task: In his short, very poorly spoken inaugural address on the Capitol's steps in January 2009, he said "We are a nation of ...and muslims."
No, the USA has never been a nation of muslims. Muslims have been nowhere to be found in the entire Western Hemisphere, for that matter.
Cincinnatius| 6.22.11 @ 8:50PM
Mr. Franklin put it best: "Those who will trade liberty for security deserve neither."
Occam's Tool| 6.22.11 @ 9:50PM
And George S Patton pointed out that "no dumb sonavubitch ever won a war by dying for his country. Wars are won by making the other poor sonavubitch die for HIS country."
Therefore, since TSA is useless, get rid of it, and protect our security by making the other guy die at ratios of thousands or millions to one if our people are hurt. Let's see how much "they love death" when it comes hundreds of thousands at a time. Break them on the wheel.
POST American| 6.23.11 @ 12:11AM
----WHY are people standing for this?!
The American people are NOT the problem!
Isreal, South Korea and, before, West Germany managed to survive decades of frontline terror w/o ever resorting to such
pornographic and degrading, indeed,
unconsitutional and highly criminal intrusions.
WHY are Americans standing for this?
WHY------------------????
Luis Stecca| 6.23.11 @ 12:36AM
I wonder if D.B. Cooper was a muslim
weddingdresses | 6.23.11 @ 5:20AM
And George S Patton pointed out that "no dumb sonavubitch ever won a war by dying for his country. Wars are won by making the other poor sonavubitch die for HIS country."
Therefore, since TSA is useless, get rid of it, and protect our security by making the other guy die at ratios of thousands or millions to one if our people are hurt. Let's see how much "they love death" when it comes hundreds of thousands at a time. Break them on the wheel.
Johnny| 6.23.11 @ 6:34AM
Get the mooslums out now. Remember GWB saying shortly after the 9/11 attacks that the U.S. would not let them change our way of life??? What happened here? I noted that several posters mentioned not being PC. If you look closely that is where the major problems began. Oh, we mustn't offend ANYONE. Well kiss my redneck arse! Offend those camel jockey backwards, ignorant, murderous, bastar#% every time you have the chance by sending them all packing back to their useless sandbox of a hell hole! Screw them all and nuke 'em too!
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