posted
aspirin, nail clippers, safety pins, etc. Oh, and one kid got booted out of school for carrying banned weapons: it was an inch&half long snap-on plastic Lego spaceship gun.
posted
You know if someone really wanted to they could kill you with their shoe. I've seen some severe spike heels that could hurt! You can use just about anything as a weapon if you really think about it. At least now I know to leave my bookmark at home. I have one like that and with my luck they'd either shoot me or give me that "special search" you need gloves for! Posts: 601 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
I saw a fight at a hs football game and nobody needed anything other than hands to get blood everywhere...
Posts: 1209 | Registered: Dec 2003
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quote: It has been three years since al Qaeda struck New York City. Before that, the last foreign terrorist attack on U.S. soil -- not counting a lone Palestinian gunman who killed a tourist at the Empire State Building -- was the one in 1993. If three years without an attack validates George W. Bush's policies, what do eight years without one do for Bill Clinton's? If a three-year respite makes Bush a hero, what does an eight-year respite do for his predecessor?
Or is fighting terrorism perhaps a little more complicated than all this?
posted
When Jenni and I were on our honeymoon, we went to the Smithsonian in DC. I forgot I had my Leatherman, complete with a 2 1/2 inch serrated blade, in my ocket.
I went to the desk and told the guard there that I had it, and if neccessary I could go back to the car.....but I had parked it in Sinler Springs, 40 min away.
HThen I asked if they could hold it at the desk for me.
They took it, and put a measuring tape against it...and it measured 2 3/8 of an inch...so they gave it back to me and said it was ok, since it wasn't 2 1/2 inches....
Is that last 1/8 of an inch the fatal part? I was trying to do the right thing, and they wouldn't let me!
posted
With respect, almost anything could be turned into a weapon.
The disposable crystal bic pens are pretty close to shank material if applied with the proper force.
Any bit of rope or cord could be turned into a garrotte with minimum effort.
Bare hands lack a certain visual impact, but it wouldn't take much to turn an unarmed person into a far more dangerous subject than an idiot with a boxcutter.
The pocketknife has now made it through airport security seventeen times. This time they even ran my purse through again, after seeing something funny the first time. They let it go.
I'm starting to wonder if inch and a half long blades are okay. It's just not possible that that many screeners are incompetent.
Posts: 1163 | Registered: Jan 2005
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At least not according to the official list linked to HERE (I didn't do a direct link to the pdf file, just to the page linking to it, if you want to check)
quote:Bare hands lack a certain visual impact, but it wouldn't take much to turn an unarmed person into a far more dangerous subject than an idiot with a boxcutter.
Yeah, those with black belts in a martial art shouldn't be allowed to take arms or legs with them on the plane!
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I keep pepper spray on my keychain, also a forbidden article. I try to remember to take it off before I fly and check it, but, you know, with packing and all, sometimes I forget. It's gone through 5 airport checkpoints with me so far, without even a glance, occasionally in my purse, but usually right out in the open on my keychain as I empty my pockets and divest myself of loose articles. And only two of those times were with the baby, who I guess might be a distraction.
posted
I assume that your point was that airport security cannot protect passengers completely because some people are dangerous with their bare hands (or with other innocuous objects).
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Whereas Katie and I are pretty harmless, even with a knife and pepper spray. But isn't the point to keep anything that could be easily used by a terrorist to cause harm off the plane, just so they don't have access to it? We can't protect against all harm, no, but we can make it tougher.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
T, in a small area like a plane it would be fairly easy to do some damage with your hands, but far easier to do even greater damage with a blade or pepper spray.
Or is your ponit it is all usless and they shouldn't even try? Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
My point is most of these precautions tend to be knee-jerk reactionary measures that may or may not have a meaningful impact on someone's ability to cause damage or seize control of an airplane.
In some ways, much like the zero-tolerance crackdowns in schools.
As opposed to steps like ensuring the door to the cockpit cannot be accessed from outside the pilot's cabin.
And if we've gotten to the point of not allowing nail clippers on board, we might as well disallow all personal and carry-on items.
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I was trying to do the right thing, and they wouldn't let me!
