A lawsuit was filed Monday by The Association of Flight Attendants, FlyersRights, and seven other aviation associations to fight against TSA's plans to allow knives in the passenger cabins.
The coalition also includes flight attendants, gate agents, pilots, law enforcement and passengers.
The 9/11 Commission Report noted that the Al Qaeda hijackers used
knives to kill several flight attendants and the pilots on all four
hijacked flights, that were then used to kill nearly 3,000 by
destroying the World Trade Center and damaging the Pentagon. The FAA in
2001 did not prohibit knives with blades under four inches because a)
they did not consider them dangerous, b) some local laws permitted
carrying knives, and c) they were hard to detect so banning them could
slow down security screening,
Others have suggested that allowing
knives will raise the consistently poor performance test scores of
screeners and thereby make the TSA look better. The 9/11 hijackers were
also reported to have trained killing sheep with pocket knives and were
well aware of the lax FAA policies on permitting small knives.
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Ernest Emerson, the maker
of tactical knives popular with military and law enforcement, is rumored
to be modifying his Hummingbird blade to be TSA-compliant. Emerson
advertises this knife as the one you'd want if you get the call, "Let's
roll".
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The petition makes five critical points:
--
Permitting knives in the cabin is an unnecessary risk to the traveling
public and violates the Administrator's duty as set out by Congress. A
TSA-approved knife could be used to stab or kill a passenger, crew
member, federal air marshal or TSA Security Officer by a terrorist,
mentally ill person or drug or alcohol-impaired passenger. A
TSA-approved knife could be used to hijack a plane.
--
It would be irresponsible to relax the TSA's existing policy on knives
when virtually every organization representing those directly affected
by the change adamantly oppose it on safety and security grounds.
-- Federal regulations currently ban all weapons on airplanes and in airport secure areas, and a knife is a weapon.
--
TSA's argument for the change is false. TSA says the change would bring
the US in line with the international standard for knives. There is no
international standard for knives: Canada, Israel and Taiwan - to name a
few - ban knives on planes.
--
One of the nation's foremost experts on knives provides testimony
stating TSA training and procedures will not allow officers to detect
locking blades without direct examination. This means security lines
would slow and officers at airport checkpoints would be distracted from
searching for firearms and explosives.
The organizations signing the petition are:
- The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (flight attendants at 20 airlines, including United and US Airways)
- The American Federation of Government Employees (TSA Security Officers)
- The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (American Airlines flight attendants)
- The Allied Pilots Association (American Airlines pilots)
- The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (federal Air Marshals)
- FlyersRights.org (largest airline passenger organization)
- The
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (largest
aviation union, including flight attendants and gate agents)
- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (thousands of aviation workers including flight attendants at Republic)
- The Transport Workers Union (thousands of aviation workers including Southwest flight attendants)
The Petition was supported by expert testimony from:
John
Bonner - Assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Served with the FBI including providing counterterrorism training to the
Iraqi police and military in Baghdad and Fallujah, Iraq. His long list
of security credentials includes Instructor at the FBI Academy in
Quantico, Va., certified as a Law Enforcement Officer by the State of
Florida, and participation in FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Bernard
Levine - Recognized as one of the world's leading knife experts with
more than four decades of experience. His books include four editions of
the standard reference work in the field of knives and knife
identification, as well as
Pocketknives, a Collector's Guide and
Identifying Pocketknives. His business website is
www.knife-expert.com.
Jon
Adler - President of the Federal Law Enforcement Officer Assoication, a
decorated officer, certified tactcal instructor, and an executive board
member of the DHS Federal Law Enforcement Advisory Board. He was also a
first responder at Ground Zero on 9/11.
Paul Hudson - Current President of
FlyersRights.org, an aviation attorney and a member of the FAA Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee. Paul was also on the FAA/TSA Aviation Security Advisory Committees and the President of Families of Pan Am 103/Lockerbie as well as several other public policy committees and a published author on passenger aviation security.
FlyersRights' Partnerships
- Flybag™
- the must-have TSA-compliant toiletry kit for the
efficient traveler. Enter code: ISTILLFLY and you'll receive one dollar
off AND another dollar will be donated to FlyersRights! Visit FlyBags.com.
Final Word!
