There's No Such Thing as a Temporary Security Measure: TSA Abandons Plan to Allow Small Knives Back on Planes
The Swiss Army will have to keep checking their bags. In response to panicked shrieking by Congress and airline employees, the Transportation Security Administration is backing down from its plan to allow small knives and certain types of sports equipment onto planes. The Associated Press reports:
The Transportation Security Administration is abandoning a plan to allow passengers to carry small knives, souvenir bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment onto planes in the face of fierce congressional and industry opposition, the head of the agency said Wednesday.
By scuttling the plan to drop the knives and sports equipment from TSA's list of prohibited items, the agency can focus its attention on other priorities, including expanding its Pre-Check program to identify ahead of time travelers who don't pose a security risk, TSA Administrator John Pistole told The Associated Press.
Pistole had unveiled the proposal to loosen the rules for carry-ons in March, saying the knives and other items can't enable terrorists to cause a plane to crash. He said intercepting them takes time that would be better used searching for explosives and other more serious threats. TSA screeners confiscate over 2,000 of the small folding knives a day from passengers.
Well, it's good to know that free birthday presents for the children and relatives of TSA employees will continue to roll in. On the other hand, perhaps we should be grateful that we won't have that sports equipment competing for the overhead baggage space.
Follow this story and more at Reason 24/7.
Spice up your blog or Website with Reason 24/7 news and Reason articles. You can get the widgets here. If you have a story that would be of interest to Reason's readers please let us know by emailing the 24/7 crew at 24_7@reason.com, or tweet us stories at @reason247.