Flying With Scissors
From Yahoo News:
"Airport security screeners are reportedly going to let passengers bring sharp objects on board airplanes again. Today's Washington Post says the Transportation Security Administration plans to announce security changes Friday.
"Sources quoted by the paper say the new rules will allow things like scissors in carry-on bags. The reasoning is that such items are no longer regarded as the greatest threat to airline security.
Homeland Security Department officials are said to be more concerned about preventing suicide bomb attacks at airports. Officials want screeners to focus more on finding things that can explode rather than things that are sharp.
"The Post reports the newly relaxed rules would allow scissors under four inches long tools shorter than seven inches.
"TSA spokeswoman says the new initiatives will be positive for both security and customer service."
As someone who has had smallish scissors, nail clippers, disposable razors, tweezers, and a tiny, mostly plastic corkscrew confiscated, I'm very pleased to read this. I've always a hard time picturing anyone taking control of a plane with any of these objects - would pilots safely ensconced in their cockpit really respond to threats that unless a different course is charted, the flight attendants' nails will be clipped painfully short? Or that the passengers' eyebrows will be involuntarily tweezed into arched unattractiveness? With nothing but bare hands a motivated bad actor could inflict a lot of physical pain on other people, but it's pretty hard to arrange it so that folks fly without their fists. Any time common sense and airline security seem to intersect, it's a very positive development.