"Rich Grise" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 18:05:18 -0700, Mark & Juanita wrote:
On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 20:49:52 GMT, "R.H." wrote:
I wonder if these things would get past airport screenings?
(I wouldn't try it but my guess is that others would)
It's listed in the FBI's Guide to Concealable Weapons:
http://datacenter.ap.org/wdc/fbiweapons.pdf
but the one they show is the older version that isn't disguised as a
wrench. The original had just regular round holes where there are now
hexes. Even though it's on the list, I would bet you could get it past
99% of airport security by casually saying it's a bicycle wrench.
It's not sharp or pointy, nor is it a gun or explosive. Those are
really
the things that fall into the category of banned items, thus one would
be
hardpressed to have it rejected. Just about anything can be turned into
a
weapon by someone sufficiently skilled.
I saw some guy on some talk show, who had just won an Emmy. He says,
"Here's this 20-pound chunk of metal, with sharp pointy things sticking
out the top, and they let you walk right on the airplane with it!" I
suppose they figure an actor isn't going to hijack a plane using his
Emmy award as a weapon. ;-)
By that line of thinking, most people can be classified as "not likely to
hijack a plane".
And therefore one could argue that they should be able to carry anything in
an airplane, including sharp or dangerous objects.
But then, you could also argue that a hijacker can use someone else's object
to hijack the plane, but then, no planning is possible. Not even a hijacker
would start spending his money from flight to flight, in hope that some day
he will stumble on an object belonging to someone classified as safe, be
able to steal it, and use that object to hijack the plane.
But then, if other dangerous objects are allowed to be carried by safe
people, he doesn't know if someone else doesn't have a gun, that can be used
against him. Therefore I think it would be safer if anything was allowed to
be carried by people classified as safe.
Consequently, the safer they want airtravel to be, the more unsafe it
become.
Of course, the process of determining who is safe and who isn't will give
the ACLU a field day.