Shooting at LAX: TSA agent, alleged gunman wounded [video] | Hacker News Reader

Shooting at LAX: TSA agent, alleged gunman wounded [video]

latimes.com

18 pointsck221 comments

I can't help but think that the by-product of this incident will be more invasive and even less personable processing by the TSA in the months to come.

You know, for our safety.

It's an inevitable slide.

Some wanker tries to make a point by shooting a government officer, and they retaliate even harder. Now, patdowns as soon as you leave the vehicle, with gunpoint attendees at the airport front door.

Think it's outlandish? Just you wait.

More screening at the security line as a response to people getting shot outside the sterile area!

Breaking News: The TSA has announced that, due to the recent incident with a firearm at a checkpoint at LAX, all passengers must be screened prior to entering the screening line.

Due to fear that passengers in the prescreen line may still have a firearm, the TSA is proposing another screening line before the prescreening line.

A Møøse once bit my sister...

Since 9/11 we've made it "impractically difficult" to hijack an airplane. The flight deck is behind blast doors, and even if someone did manage to sneak a weapon on board, other passengers would more than likely risk life and limb to hold down anybody who got too uppity. This is the real deterrent to terrorism on an airplane, not the TSA.

Yet even though the above came into effect very shortly after 9/11, the public has demanded (and the government has provided) such an extreme overreaction of a response that it borders on insanity.

So now it's too difficult for a terrorist to hijack an airplane. Are there any other areas where people are densely packed, and where it would be easy for a terrorist to bring in heavy weaponry? Perhaps the circus of a security line that's supposed to take away said heavy weaponry? This is a problem of our own creation!

Honestly, anybody who has thought about it for more than a few minutes should have seen this coming. But if you draw out your conclusions (queue jokes about security lines to get to the real security line), it should also be completely obvious that, short of imprisoning the entire country, security from this sort of terrorism is impossible. Yet we continue to escalate rather than de-escalate!

What really scares me is the possibility that we might start to see TSA-like "super" agents armed with assault rifles, just as we see militarization of the police forces in our cities. And we're the ones who are going to suffer for it. Some poor guy is going to get shot while taking apart a stroller or something because it "looked dangerous."

The time to put an end to this stuff is now, before it spirals out of control. One could argue that it's too late, and that the situation is already out of control. But I would like to believe that the tragedy at LAX today can give people pause to really think long and hard about what's possible and what's appropriate rather than immediately jumping into overreaction mode again.

At peak times, like a Monday morning, at a big airport, there will be more people in line than in an entire plane. A terrorist could easily could more death and destruction by bombing the security line than an airport. Not to mention that the incident would likely ground all incoming/outgoing air traffic to that airport.

Thank god it wasn't another school but these people are ruining gun control for the rest of us.

I don't own a gun yet but its looking like I might never be able to unless I hurry up.

TSA is going to be worse now too.

Shootings = people die, stricter rules, less rights for everyone. Its bad for everyone in the US.

I like it, someone shoots people, apparently 2 people dead (gunman + TSA agent), several others wounded, and your priority is hypothetical restrictions on your rights.

That's some pretty slippery slope there. I'm sure many people posted "I like it, thousands die in WTC crash, and your priority is hypothetical restrictions on your rights" shortly after 9/11, and look at where we are now...

So mine is slippery slope reasoning, but "Oh god, not another shooting, assholes are fucking it up for the rest of us now I won't be able to buy a gun" isn't?

EDIT: We're at 17 school shootings this year with 17 dead, 21 wounded. Are gun control advocates significantly closer, with dead children as their evidence and motivation, to getting rid of gun rights? In this circumstance it's two dead adults, granted in a very public place. Gun control advocates have all the ammunition, so to speak, to achieve their goals if they're ever going to achieve them this incident or another tomorrow is not going to change the equation.

Just a few weeks ago California was a governor's signature away from banning semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines. In other words, nearly every modern rifle in existence.

Perhaps because I live in the South I've not seen some of the impact, but why did the governor not sign the law? What was the expected enforceability/constitutionality of the law?

http://gov.ca.gov/docs/SB_374_2013_Veto_Message.pdf

That's his letter stating his decision.

Thanks, so he vetoed it based on a belief that it went too far in restricting a right while not providing sufficients benefit in terms of gains in public safety.

I'm in the South too and many people that I know enjoy being safe with their guns.

Instead of outlawing gun control how about we outlaw crazy people from carrying them. Or better yet hold the parents of children responsible who go off and do shootings in schools. If they let their kid stockpile weapons in their basement then they should be responsible in some way for what their child does. (I am talking about Columbine type stuff, not the LAX shooting)

I am concerned because crazy people are messing with my constitutional rights. (are amendments rights?)

Edit: Dont you see what happened after 9/11 and the NSA. I dont want another repeat.

Nevermind the TSA, why didn't the NSA prevent this attack?

News sources are now saying that the TSA agent is dead.

Every time a child is forced to give up a bottle of water to a TSA agent to protect the country against terrorists - the parent feels a need to take matters in his own hands....

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