Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/09/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]on 9/19/01 10:13 AM, Rodgers, David at david.rodgers@xo.com thoughtfully wrote: > I agree that anyone who really wants to get a weapon on a plane probably > can. But the idea is to make it difficult, and thus increase the risk of > getting caught. Decrease the likelihood of success, in other words. I take > it you're not willing to give up some convenience for that end. I'm unwilling to give up "convenience" for the sake of a very very tiny incremental increase in alleged security. If you wanted to have a "secure" flight you'd require that people strip, wear airline provided coveralls, be shackled in their seats and full body x-rayed. In other words treated like carrying high-risk criminals. Clearly that extreme does not make sense. High heel shoes are weapons. Should they be banned? Ball point pens? Paper clips? How about that little screw driver you use to adjust your glasses? A metal cola can can be ripped to make a lethal edge. There are levels of risk. I question the level of risk that bringing a briefcase, a purse, a computer really involves. I suggest that the problem involves the screening of people and contents by qualified individuals who know what they are about. These people CAN be trained. It's a law-enforcement function, not an airline function. Our society is terrible about figuring out what is dangerous and what is not. They are much more worried about very low-risk accidents than much higher-risk ones. (There's an article in a past Scientific American that investigated the perceived risk vs the actual risk and the huge disparity between them. Shark bites are a case in point. People imagine they are much more common than they are - by orders of magnitude - SEVERAL orders of magnitude. Do we kill all sharks to keep them from biting one or two people a year? I don't think so. Close all beaches? Stop surfing? No. It's not a credible risk.) I think none of the proposed measures would have stopped what happened. Stopping carry-on won't either. Adam Bridge - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html