Headlines:

"Man at the window with weak bladder was shot on the inbound flight from London by passanger with aisle seat"

Better exists than those, and I would be a little suprised if they weren't California complient, with a bit of metal in them, even though BQ has them as a no-Cali item.

And I've looked at all of those in the current catalog. Other than two items in there, I won't say which, they are no more dangerous than a plastic butterknife of a pencil, IMO. They are letter openers, I can make just as good a shiv with a CD. A pair of non-blunt scissors would be better.

*shrugs*

Because weapons on planes aren't (and weren't) the problem. The years of conditioning, by our own experts, to always do exactly what the Bad Guy says was the problem.

I think it's patriotic that they provide a means for an individual to defend themselves in a society gone temporarily insane.

"... they are no more dangerous than a plastic butterknife ... They are letter openers"

Plastic letter openers are lethal weapons and have been used as such numerous times. They may not slice salami, but they are excellent for stabbing. A friend of mine used to work for the LAPD, and a perpetrator who stabbed someone with a letter opener said "it went in like a hot knife into butter".

MANY things are more dangerous than they may first appear, and have been used by the knowledgable or the desperate: hatpins, frozen rabbits or cats, ice, plastic bags, belts and shoelaces among them.

Anyone who thinks that removing all dangerous weapons will prevent a crime from happening is deluding themselves.

Sue

I know, and I can use a ball point pen just as effectively.

I'm not dismissing it utterly, but I'm saying that you can already carry just as good on a plane even under the restrictions.

QUOTE: "MANY things are more dangerous than they may first appear, and have been used by the knowledgable or the desperate:?. frozen rabbits??? "

The whole airline security illusion can be discouraging at first. However, I am not afraid, possessing a 10th degree black belt in Fro-Rabb-Do!!! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

TR

Great idea. There would have to be a way to keep up with these people. I proposed the BLEACH (Basic Law Enforcement Airline Carried Handgun), and the US ACTIVATED (United States of America Certified Trusted Individual Verification and Tracking Every Detail). US ACTIVATED will roll up the TSA SECURE FLIGHT with DOD background checks for 1 stop "trusting" certification. Law Enforcement officers can be US ACTIVATED BLEACH. The program as a whole would be called AIR HAWK (Airline Handgun Ammunition Weapons and Knives). AIR HAWKs will work in conjunction with AIR EAGLEs (Airline Effective Airborne Government Law Enforcment) (formerly AIR MARSHALS) to hunt RODINTS (Rouge Organizations and Derranged Individuals Terrorizing Society).

Looks like the issue is already starting to become politicized: Link.

“Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., said Thursday they intend to introduce a bill called the "Leave All Blades Behind Act" to preserve the current prohibition on sharp scissors, tools and knives in airliner cabins.
"On Sept. 11, we witnessed the devastation and death that can be perpetrated onboard a plane with commonly-used items like boxcutters, and TSA wisely took action to ban such sharp objects. Now is not the time to overturn this ban, since we know that Al Qaeda continues to put passenger plans near the top of its terrorist target list," Markey said. "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."

Now that's catchy: the Leave All Blades Behind Act. Makes me feel all warm and squishy just thinking about it.

Vince

All "everyone's armed, so everyone's safe" scenarios assume more (usually a lot more) good guys than bad guys on a particular flight. This could easily not be the case.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Administration's official press release can be read here