Rejoice, Air Travelers! Sanity’s Restored!

Consider me a fan of airport security. I gladly remove my shoes, belt, jewelry, and loose change and happily place my 3 oz. liquids in a clear quart-sized plastic bag.  My underwire bra always triggers the metal detector. The female attendant and I exchange a little small talk, there’s a pat down and maybe a cigarette afterwards. I kind of look forward to it now. The point is that security professionals developed these procedures in response to potential threats and I’m willing to be slightly inconvenienced and sacrifice a tiny slice of my individual liberty to comply because I believe it increases my safety while traveling.

However, on my way to Indianapolis to see my beloved NY Jets take on the Colts for the AFC Championship in 2010, I was dumbstruck when I saw a prohibition against snow globes posted outside the security entrance at LaGuardia Airport.  The TSA had, after considerable debate, determined this to be a serious threat to public safety and issued a ban against transporting these souvenirs in a carry on bag.  No knives and box cutters I can understand, but snow globes?  I imagined myself as the mom who has to explain to little Addysen why her Golden Gate Bridge snow globe had to get dumped in the trash.  It was probably her only souvenir.  It’s highly unlikely she was going to find a key chain or mug with her name on it.

The LA Times reported last week that the TSA has changed its position on snow globes and will allow small ones that comply with the 3-1-1 rule to be carried onboard. That’s a relief.

And now that we’ve resolved this burning issue, perhaps we can turn our national attention towards conducting a rational debate about an actual threat to our safety and consider reenacting the Federal Assault Weapons Ban?  Just a thought.