TTransportation Security Administration Administrator John Pistole is poised to lose a knife fight.
A new bill introduced today on Capitol Hill by Sen. Chuck Schumer and three other senators would permanently block Pistole’s plan to permit passengers to carry small knives aboard commercial air flights from going into effect.
Schumer, joined by New York Sen. Kristen Gillibrand and New Jersey Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez insist that lifting the ban, which has been in effect since the aftermath of 9-11, is dangerous and ill-advised.
The senators point out that the TSA seizes 2,000 such knives daily – and the new law will make everyone safer.
“The TSA’s dangerous new policy will put passengers, flight attendants and pilots at risk and we must reverse it to make sure our airplanes are secure,” said Schumer, in a statement.
“Knives should should continue to be kept off passenger planes and this legislation will make sure of that, once and for all,” he said.
Sen. Gillibrand echoed those sentiments.
“I am deeply concerned the decision made to allow these small knives on planes could put the safety of passengers and flight attendants at risk,” Sen. Gillibrand said.
“As I advocated to [Department of Homeland Security] Commissioner Napolitano directly, allowing potentially dangerous weapons anywhere near a plane simply does not make sense.”
The TSA announced in March a plan to rescind the post-9-11 prohibition and to allow passengers to carry knives on airplanes if the weapons had non-fixed bladesless than 2.36 inches in length.
The TSA argued that changing its policy would speed up checkpoint screenings and allow TSA screeners to focus on items that cause greater security risks.
The new plan was due to go into effect on April 25.
Three days earlier, however, amid fierce opposition by members of pilots’ and flight attendants’ unions, federal air marshals and families of 9-11 victims, the TSA announced an indefinite delay in implementing the new policy.
A legislative source said Pistole, a former FBI agent who now runs the TSA, was expected to be on Capitol Hill tomorrow to lobby legislative support for his agency’s initiative – and the senators’ legislation is meant to blunt his efforts.
The senate bill, which is expected to come up for a vote at a later date, is likely to attract bipartisan support, the legislative source said.
A similar bill has already won the support of 145 congressman, the source added.
A spokesman for the TSA said the agency does not comment on proposed legislation.