TSA Carry On Weapons Confiscation...

[alfred1222]

I used to fly A LOT. In my opinion, TSA is 100% better than the private security airports used to use. I am a big fan of TSA, and I'm happy to put up with pat downs and scanning for increased security.

[Gio]

Go TSA!

[DSB]

For those who are anti-TSA, what suggestions do you have for improvements in airport security? I agree TSA is not perfect, but it is better than previous airport "security."

[dieselpower]

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."-Benjamin Franklin

I hope you are kidding. If you think checking people for weapons after what they did on 9-11 is giving up your liberty, then you have no clue what liberty is. You have no Constitutional right to fly in a plane, nor does the Government owe you a plane ride without searching you first. The Airlines are a form of mass transit...thats it. Our country needs this to run properly. You dont like that they have rules on who can fly and what is allowed in THEIR AIRPLANES...go buy your own.

It would be completely IDIOTIC to NOT search people going onto planes. Our Country is safer. Our freedoms are being defended BY searching for enemies.

[DSB]

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."-Benjamin Franklin

Very nice quote, but I don't really think it applies to airport security. When Ben Franklin was talking about essential liberty, he was not referring to bringing potential weapons onto an airplane.

[dustoff31]

For those who are anti-TSA, what suggestions do you have for improvements in airport security? I agree TSA is not perfect, but it is better than previous airport "security."

How so? In large part they are the same people. Or generally the same quality of people.

Prior to 9/11 the FAA was responsible for supervising the private security at airports, at which they failed miserably. Post 9/11, those same people were simply transferred to the TSA, and continued in essentially the same job.

Most of the private security people were hired, many times en masse by the TSA. Why? Because they had experience in baggage screening.

As Rep. Marsha Blackburn said, "if we really want quality people in the TSA, maybe we could do better than running ads for TSA security officers on pizza boxes." (Apparently, this is the case in DC.)

ETA: As far as improving airport security. I know it isn't popular, but let's insist that people be responsible for their own activities. Put the airlines back in charge of their own security. They can establish whatever procedures they and/or their passengers will tolerate. Of course, it would follow that the airlines would then face strict and unlimited liability for whatever happens on their airplanes. Passengers could then choose whatever airline they felt safe flying with. Problem solved.

[pontiacpratt]

I posted that quote because they are slowly encroaching on the idiotic to make us safer. Why do i need to take a belt off? Why do i need to walk around a dirty screening area with no shoes on? Why do i need some guy running his hand up my thigh? 9/11 was tragic for sure but the PTB have used it to strip us of plenty of our personal freedoms. It's a slippery slope.

[bohoki]

. Our country needs this to run properly. You dont like that they have rules on who can fly and what is allowed in THEIR AIRPLANES...go buy your own.

It would be completely IDIOTIC to NOT search people going onto planes. Our Country is safer. Our freedoms are being defended BY searching for enemies.

it is the airlines plane they should be checking their passengers instead of passing the buck

and let the market correct itself we have these stooges frisking babies with no accoutablility

if the airlines had their own security checkpoints then you could boycott or patronize if they provide good service

[DTOM CA!]

Wait till there is a MacDonald's terrorist plot and you have the Hamburgler patting you down before you get your Happy Meal. MMMMMMgooood.

[wayneinFL]

I used to fly A LOT. In my opinion, TSA is 100% better than the private security airports used to use. I am a big fan of TSA, and I'm happy to put up with pat downs and scanning for increased security.

I fly a lot. I wish there were airlines for people like me and airlines for people like you. If I'm still flying to keep my job, I'm quitting by the end of the year. I have to wonder how far you would allow the gov't to go to protect you. Or to protect others from you.

First- what we're doing isn't necessarily going to stop the next airline related terrorist attack. They are thorough. Yesterday, they patted down my back to make sure the picture on my shirt wasn't a real gun- after they had already run me through the backscatter imaging machine that searched me all the way to my balls. This is approaching the treatment we give prisoners, but not quite there yet. And people in prison still manage to come up with weapons. If someone can get a weapon in a prison, they're sure as hell going to have a weapon on a plane.

Second- each concession in the airport is just going to lead to more concessions at the airport. Each concession we've made, trading liberty for security, has led to another. The last one- someone boarded a plane with a bomb in his underwear. Now we're checking everyone's balls for a bomb. The next step is for someone to board a plane with a bomb up his ***- then we're all going to happily consent to x-rays or cavity searches to get onto a plane.

Third, why stop at airports? Some of you say we don't have a right to fly- flying is voluntary- so any search to get onto a plane is a reasonable search not protected by the Fourth Amendment. You don't have to drive either, right? The roads belong to the public. So why wouldn't any search on the roadside be unreasonable? (The courts are already whittling away at this one, BTW.) What about sidewalks? The same could go for a school, church, retail store, just about anywhere but your home.

We demand that the government protect us by stripping us of our rights as we enter an airport. Then we wonder why the government protects us by taking our guns.

BTW, this whole depend-on-the-government-to-protect-us thing is exactly the mentality that allowed the 9/11 attacks to happen. This is why there were people dialing 911 on their phones from from a aircraft.

[dieselpower]

I posted that quote because they are slowly encroaching on the idiotic to make us safer. Agreed...that doesn't include the TSA.

Why do i need to take a belt off? Because TSA learned behind a metal belt buckle is a great place to HIDE A WEAPON. It can also hide weapons that are not metal.

Why do i need to walk around a dirty screening area with no shoes on? Because a Terrorist planted a BOMB in shoe soles. The soles of your shoes are so low, its possible to sneak items past Screeners.

Why do i need some guy running his hand up my thigh? Because TSA and every other agency tasked with searching for contraband has learned a basic simple trueth...people HIDE OBJECTS ON THEIR PERSON...Do I really need to EXPLAIN this to you?

9/11 was tragic for sure but the PTB have used it to strip us of plenty of our personal freedoms. It's a slippery slope. Agreed, but I am pretty sure searching passengers before they board aircraft is a reasonable thing to do when that is a security concern.

A couple of months after 9-11, I expressed my concern that Americans and Californians in general cared more about $$, and are so self adsorbed that in less than 1 year they will be complaining about airport security and how much time it takes at the airport. Every person in the room told me I was an idiot. 9-11 was a life changer and the world will never again be so self-centered....Not only did all that come true...Now we even have people complaining they think its an infringement on their Rights.

I know!!!!!! lets get rid of the TSA ...and when several thousand more people die, we can all celebrate how "safe and secure" we are. Not a single Founding Father would agree with you on this. Giving up security that safeguards your infrastructure isnt wise...its how you lose a country.

Maybe we should just open up the Borders too!!!! Gee Doesn't Immigration, Border Patrol and Customs search too...get rid of them...thats a "slippery slope." Nothing good comes from having safe and secure borders anyway. We need to let everyone just walk right in...what harm could that cause?

[dieselpower]

it is the airlines plane they should be checking their passengers instead of passing the buck. I disagree, its a threat to national security. Both should be doing it..and BOTH DO.

and let the market correct itself we have these stooges frisking babies with no accountability And let the Nation die when a stupid Corporate Accountant makes the wrong call...think about it man. "Oh you didn't secure your plane and 5,000 people died, and our economy tanked even farther...so we are going to boycott you. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?...Its too great of a risk.

if the airlines had their own security checkpoints then you could boycott or patronize if they provide good service

....and once again if they don't provide good service more than just a few people will be inconvenienced.

My airline has ZERO lines, no one gets frisked, no one has to walk through an x-ray. I don't infringe on anyone... Do you think the "people" will flock to my airline? I'd be laughing all the way to the bank...everyone would be flying my airline....and who's airline do you think the terrorist are going to board?

[wayneinFL]

I know!!!!!! lets get rid of the TSA ...and when several thousand more people die, we can all celebrate how "safe and secure" we are. Not a single Founding Father would agree with you on this. Giving up security that safeguards your infrastructure isnt wise...its how you lose a country.

We already lost the country we had in 2001. We had arguably one of the freest nations on the planet. 12 years later we aren't any safer, the next attack is always right around the corner. Most Americans are so scared of people like me that they need someone to check my scrotum to make sure it isn't a bomb, and check the picture on my shirt to be sure it isn't a real gun, or they won't even get on the plane with me.

40,000 thousand people were killed last year driving in cars, yet dieselpower (I assume from his name) will still get out on the road. 2500 were killed ten years ago by terrorists with pocketknives, and now Americans turn into a bowl of quivering jello at the thought of a weapon, and turn over their rights like a Frenchman or Brit.

The terrorists already won.

[pontiacpratt]

So the "Terrorist watchlist" good in the name of national security? Someone found guilty without due process. If wrongfully or mistakenly put on the list the burden of proof lies on the accused not the accusers.
My 78 y/o Grandmother was put on that list a few years back. Why? Because she bought a few one way tickets, because my Grandfather had died and she was flying between FL and NH to organize his funeral. It took her three hours to prove that she wasn't a threat to national security.

[chim-chim7]

We already lost the country we had in 2001. We had arguably one of the freest nations on the planet. 12 years later we aren't any safer, the next attack is always right around the corner. Most Americans are so scared of people like me that they need someone to check my scrotum to make sure it isn't a bomb, and check the picture on my shirt to be sure it isn't a real gun, or they won't even get on the plane with me.

40,000 thousand people were killed last year driving in cars, yet dieselpower (I assume from his name) will still get out on the road. 2500 were killed ten years ago by terrorists with pocketknives, and now Americans turn into a bowl of quivering jello at the thought of a weapon, and turn over their rights like a Frenchman or Brit.

The terrorists already won.

You can refuse to be screened by not going to the airport.