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Passengers will soon be banned from bringing butane lighters onto airplanes, thanks to a provision in the intelligence reform bill set for the president's signature.
The ban is the developmentally disabled brainchild of Democratic Senators Byron Dorgan and Ron Wyden.
Dorgan's dumb crusade was featured prominently in Micheal Moore's agit-prop documentary, Fahrenheit 911, since Moore included anything in the documentary that might reflect badly on the Bush Administration, regardless of whether the criticisms were logically consistent.
Dorgan says that if shoe bomber Richard Reid had had a butane lighter, he might have been able to blow up the plane. That might be true, but the better question is why didn't he have a lighter? I doubt it was because of security. And why the hell didn't Reid go into the bathroom to light the damn bomb?
My guess? Reid is as mentally deficient as the idea of banning lighters.
Moreover, does Dorgan have any idea why the TSA has not added butane lighters to the list of banned items, despite his continual and very public haranguing of TSA officials to do so?
It's because the TSA knows that looking for lighters is a useless, futile search that will only inconvenience and anger travelers.
Lighters aren't easy to spot in luggage and they aren't dangerous, except when used in conjunction with a fuse connected to a bomb. And fuses can be lit with matches. And bombs can be detonated with a a two dollar wristwatch (Bojinka).
When you have two million people a day boarding airplanes, you look for the immediate threats. Bombs, guns and knives.
Dorgan and Wyden are members of the Senate, not the House of Representatives. They should start acting like it.
Posted by Ryan Singel at December 13, 2004 10:52 AM
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Ryan I already had my butane lighter taken from me on Nov 30th. I found it funny however that I was able to fly from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles with it and had it confiscated on the way back. At that time the TSA agent told me it was illegal even if it was empty!!! He the proceeded to make me fill out a form after which he put it in his shirt pocket most likely for his personal collection.
Posted by: Rahul Batra at December 13, 2004 02:41 PM
Sad to have to report that butane lighters have been on the prohibited list for 2 years. Also, they are not too difficult to detect and why would you need a lighter on a plane anyway since there is no smoking? Also, your comment about making passengers angry by taking their lighters, typifies the attitude of many americans who seem to want security with actually being bothered by searches etc. Many travellers who get caught with knives etc. are just plain lazy and have that american superiority complex that questions any kind of authority. If these brainiacs ever tried that sort of attitude in some other places in the world (Israel?), they'd find themselves spreadeagled.
My advice? Grow up!
Posted by: Danny Del Rossi at December 17, 2004 07:07 AM
Danny,
Actually, lighters have not been on the banned list. Passengers are allowed two butane lighters and 4 books of matches. You can find this on the TSA website or in the cached copy on my server: http://www.secondaryscreening.net/static/docs/legal/2004/Permitted_Prohibited_8_23_2004.pdf
Zippo type lighters are and will continue to be allowed, as will normal safety matches.
My comment about not making people angry is simple common-sense. Why piss people off for little or no gain in security?
As for Americans having a "superiority complex" that leads them to question authority, I don't know that that's true, but if so, count it as one more way I'm proud to be an American. If rules and leaders can't handle healthy skepticism, they deserve our scorn, not our obedience.
And finally, people take lighters on the plane so they can smoke when they get off the plane, the same as people do with cell-phones.
If I remember correctly, many IEDs in Iraq are set off using cell phones. Perhaps those also should be banned from planes?
And once again, let's not confuse the threat level in Israel with the threat level in the United States.
Posted by: Ryan Singel at December 17, 2004 08:59 AM
Ryan,
Thanks for the comment. I think that the idea of lighters being banned is silly and unnecessary from a security standpoint. But, it is easier to ban lighters and say that you are protecting the skies than it is to actually do some work and start screening air cargo. Maybe I will just ship my lighters in the future!
Posted by: Rahul at December 18, 2004 09:42 PM