Knives BACK on the Planes...And THIS IS What You Are Afraid Of?

There has been much discussion over the past few days about a rule change that the TSA has made when it comes to knives on planes. They will now allow someone to carry on board the plane a knive with a blade no longer than 2.3 inches. I know there is some confusion when it comes to this, so let me try and show you with pictures, like I would with children, what this means.

Via Home Depot

This is a knife (above) with a blade 3 inches in length. This knife would NOT be allowed on a plane. This knife, unless someone would sneak it onto an aircraft, would not have anything to do with the new regulation changes and would still be restricted from the aircraft.

Via Home Depot

This is a knife that would be ALLOWED on the plane. A basic pocket knife with a blade of 2.25 inches in length. This is the knife that some would have you believe will bring down the next aircraft and are running around crazy because they are afraid for their lives. People are afraid to get on planes because someone might have one of these. While your fear may be warranted to some degree because we allow any dope in the world to get on a plane (unless you are a child with the same name as a suspected terrorist), at the end of the day the knife I showed you above is NOT the worst problem we have when it comes to airport security.

Here in the United States we face a problem. The problem is the TSA in general. Their rule making process is about as open and honest as a backroom meeting during the ObamaCare talks. They will search your children and basically toss around your grandmother for fun, but security is not the first thing on these people's minds. Remember, it was back in 2009 someone was able to fly through U.S. airspace with a bomb in their underwear, or the man we now call the "Underwear Bomber". In an answer to that failed attack, the searches in the United States got worse. We were then searched with devices that could see us nude. We were subjected to all-out ridicule in the security line if we objected to the way we were being searched.

Now, we come to today, and there are many people all over the web and beyond who cannot believe this could happen. How could we allow knives on planes when the hijackers had something close to a knife, which were really box cutters, but I guess that means nothing. I am now made to believe this is the BIGGEST threat to aviation. I am not buying it, and neither should all of you. I should be able to protect myself while on a flight if some nutcase decides to stand up and take it over. What is so wrong about that? Why am I wrong for wanting to protect myself on a plane?

I do not think the regulations go far enough, to tell you the truth. More individual should be able to carry their firearms on planes. As we know, there is a lack of air marshals patrolling the skies, so why could we not allow our military personnel to carry on planes? Why can't we allow certain other people to carry a firearm on a plane? I am not saying every little person who gets on a plane, that would be crazy. But really, if you really want to stay safe do you want to try and fight off a guy with a bomb with a pocket knife or would you feel safer if you knew that service man or woman was packing heat, ready on a whim to try and save the lives of the passengers on that plane? It may not make a difference if the guy has a bomb, but at least something could POSSIBLY be done.

The argument here is that someone could try to hijack a plane with a pocket knife, and that no one else on the plane with the same size knife would fight them. I do not see how that argument fits here. Your argument is based on the fact that everyone is a suspected terrorist, and that is the same logic the TSA uses when we go through screening at an airport. They suspect everyone of being a person who would want to take down an airliner, and that is why we are searched the way we are searched. There is no profiling involved when you have to search everyone like they were about to be put into a cell.

I give the American people MUCH more credit than those who say someone who carries a knife, no matter who it is, must be a threat to the plane. I should be able to protect myself if something happens, right? If that is all I have, then so be it. I do not think it goes far enough, as I have said, but it is a place to start. We cannot live our life in fear of something that may or may not happen. We are no more secure or less secure today after the rule change than we were before it. I am not sure what is so hard to understand about that. Until the people who are against this change are willing to admit to themselves that we have a larger problem on our hands, then nothing will get done and we will keep fighting each other while TSA touches little kids in private areas of their body.

At the end of the day, I want an advantage over the guy on the plane who may try to hurt me. If I cannot have that advantage, I want to make sure I have something that will at least give me and others on board a chance to win the battle. So, when you say you are against these small knives on planes ask yourself hat protections are you willing to give people to protect themselves and others? Do I have to pray there will be an air marshal on board the plane so I will be safe? That is not the American way. Yes, it is a plane but really people, is it any different than being on a Greyhound bus or even high speed rail? There is a risk in everything that we do on a day to day basis when we are at war with an enemy that hates us to the point that they would kill themselves to kill us. These people do not think straight, and for that reason no matter what regulation you put in or take away, at the end of the day it will not make you safer or even less safe than the day before unless people are allowed to protect themselves when they fly those friendly skies.

I will not change anyone's mind on this, but on the show at 11pm on Tuesday we will be talking about this subject in more detail. I get that it might scare some people because they think NOW will be the time another airliner is jacked out of the sky, but we are AMERICANS and we REFUSE to live in fear of something that MIGHT happen. Most of these new regulations after 9/11 do nothing to make you safer than the day before 9/11, yet we follow them because they MAKE US feel better. It does not matter if they work or not, as long as they make us feel better inside.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is not what I want for America. I want simple rules to make sure that something does not happen again. We cannot rule out that someone may try it again, no matter what the rules are. So, if your ONE interest is safety, then there are many objects we are allowed to take on planes that could injure people. Why are you people not fighting for the abolition of all carry-on packages? Seems simple to me. If you are really looking for the safest environment, do not allow people to take anything on the plane with them and force them to check everything.

Stay consistent, or you end up looking like a fool!