Accur81’s recent post on the topic of the rendering of full honors to the TSA agent who was murdered at the LAX airport got me thinking. I can certainly appreciate his law enforcement officer’s perspective. I’m not a cop and as such will never be able to see things the same way as a cop. That said, from where I sit, I don’t see the problem with rendering honors to Gerado Hernadez. Mr. Hernandez was a federal agent and is the first person from that agency to fall in the line of duty. When Mr. Hernandez took the job of TSA screener, I really don’t think that he considered that his life may one day be on the line, but it was thanks to the actions of a mentally disturbed individual. Mr. Hernandez was shot and killed simply because he worked for the TSA . . .
The TSA takes a lot of (often deserved) crap from this website and many other sources, but I want to offer a slightly different perspective. For every TSA agent who has a mall cop attitude, there are probably ten more who are professional and who do a job that is important. They meet with nothing but derision from their fellow citizens and that is wrong. I don’t travel as much as I used to, but every single time I have traveled, the TSA agents I have met have been nothing if not polite, professional, and courteous. The rules for transiting the security checkpoints are clearly posted and if you follow them, you will usually have a smooth experience. The people working the security lines don’t make the rules, but it’s their job to enforce them. Granted, some act like jerks, but every barrel is going to have a few bad apples.
Recently when traveling with my family, we approached the checkpoint which was using the full body scanners. I asked the agent if there was an alternative to the scanners for my kids (both under 10). The agent informed me that kids DO NOT go through the scanner; rather they go through the magnetometer. My wife was told that she could also skip the scanner so that she could remain with the kids. Even when a bottle of water was encountered in my young son’s carryon (he slipped it in there without our knowledge), the screener was professional and simply removed the offending item without any comment or issue.
I’m not saying that the TSA is not without its flaws. We should continue to complain about the ludicrous restrictions that are imposed from on high and the preferential treatment they give celebrities, cops, and fellow TSA employees, but we do need to remember that the TSA like the private airport security screeners who worked the checkpoints prior to 9/11 does serve a vital function. Most people are probably too young to remember air travel before security screening became ubiquitous. From 1969-1972, airline hijackings and bombings were in their heyday. More than a few flights were hijacked to Cuba, hijacked in the Mideast, or blown out of the sky by bombs smuggled aboard. Airplane hijackings were one of the reasons that Delta Force was created in the early 1970’s. In 1974 mandatory security screenings went into effect and terrorist incidents against U.S. aircraft went to nearly zero.
Sure, some of the rules seem silly – remove your shoes, remove your laptops, no water bottles, no liquids in larger quantities than 6 ounces, etc. but remember that these rules all came about as a result of actual incidents where people tried to blow up planes. I’m not wild about the full body scanners but I suspect that those will be done away with as more research is done into their effectiveness and risks. Besides, they are not used 100% any more. I’ve been on flights recently in several major airports when they were not being used at all. Anyway, I don’t mean to turn this into an apology for the TSA in total but rather a reflection that the TSA performs a necessary function. I’ve traveled for more than three decades and can honestly say that aside from some of the newer minor annoyances I mentioned above, traveling through security checkpoints is not that much worse than it was twenty years ago (it really all depended on the airport).
Back to Mr. Hernandez – if they want to send him out with honors, I don’t see a problem. Just because he did not carry a gun or was ostensibly in harm’s way as much as a police or fireman is not the point. The fact that he was killed by someone specifically targeting TSA agents because of who they worked for certainly would suggest that perhaps the job of TSA agent is not quite as safe as we thought it was on October 31, 2013 (the day before the shooting). Although he is not considered a police officer, he was a Federal Agent and was killed in the line of duty. What I do have a problem with is the potential politicization of this act by the President, Holder, and others. This death should not be handled a like a political event. It should be an opportunity to offer respects to a man who was killed in the line of duty – a duty that helps to keep America’s skies just a bit safer.
I disagree with almost everything you have said. He deserves no more honors than if you and I were killed. The TSA is not law enforcement. They are thugs. They do not deserve honors, they deserve to be disbanded. It’s a shame that guy got killed, but no more so than anyone else killed in any other shooting. I think the publicity surrounding this guy is purely political with the end game being more power for the TSA and less rights for you and me.
A gun is nothing more than a tool, and as a tool whatever happens to tool or what it is used for isn’t any longer your responsibly when leaves your hands to someone else. Also by supporting backround checks you are willing or not support GunControl.
Fair enough to the op – different strokes.
But I could understand A. Why this would be more appealing and B. Why it’d be less of a hassle to someone in the firearms industry.
Regular folks don’t have the resources nor the scrutiny that someone with an FFL doing thousands of sales per year gets.
Also if I sell a gun to someone legally without a backround check, and that person chooses to use that gun to commit a crime how can I liable in any sense?
I don’t travel as much as I used to, but every single time I have traveled, the TSA agents I have met have been nothing if not polite, professional, and courteous.
I can say that TSA hasn’t been a problem for me except in Chicago. At O’Hare I have three out of three times found that the TSA people could not speak standard English, and could not readily understand it. I was stunned. I had to have my son speak with them. He had enough urban experience to understand the dialect and speak to it. (I’ve avoided O’Hare for decades. I only end up there when it offers the only connection to the place I’m going.)
Salt Lake? No problem. Boston? No problem. Philadelphia, no problem. As for the “Agent” bit, you must be kidding. Do we have “full honors” funerals for Federal Meat Inspectors? Postal Employees?
There is something special about Chicago. I guess it’s becoming obvious.
“I’ve traveled for more than three decades and can honestly say that aside from some of the newer minor annoyances I mentioned above, traveling through security checkpoints is not that much worse than it was twenty years ago (it really all depended on the airport).”
So, in your opinion nothing has changed in terms of what the TSA has done for our country. If that is the case, then I fail to see why this man is deserving if full honors.
TSA – Thousands Standing Around. They are a giant union created to funnel money from the federal coffers in an effort to transform us into a police state on the contrived notion that we should search 10 and 80 year olds and make wheelchair bound individuals with prosthetics go through embarrassing scrutiny. We do this because we are too weak politically to only look for the actual problems (Muslim terrorists) as somehow profiling is unacceptable. You have had a few encounters with a few TSA agents that were just folks doing their jobs. Like librarians demanding you check out your books in an orderly cue.
They do NOTHING to make us safer. They will use the power of their union to demand to be armed, not for the public’s safety, but for their own. They are yet another example of the two Americas. The general public and the ruling class. The ruling class likes its pawns to keep us serfs in line.
I have no problem with a funeral. People are sad a guy died. Fair enough.
But . . .
“For every TSA agent who has a mall cop attitude, there are probably ten more who are professional and who do a job that is important.”
I disagree whole heartedly with that. Underwear inspectors are not professional by definition. If they had any self-respect they would all quit tomorrow. They have done nothing for the safety of our travel and have not caught a single attempt to attack a flight.
Furthermore, if the water bottle that your child carried were so dangerous that it can’t be brought into the airport, why can it be so casually tossed in the trash? Shouldn’t they have a bomb squad inspect it first? It is kabuki theater run by underwear inspectors. I despise the job and the people, and I won’t apologize for that.
The water bottle thing… that is a valid point. If they’re concerned that every water bottle that makes its way to security could be that dangerous, why are they just setting them aside in an area that’s almost always packed with a huge crowd of slow-moving people?
Liberals and progressives don’t want the rest of us to have guns for this exact reason… they don’t trust themselves with them.
The “party of tolerance” at its finest.
Were any charges filed for this? I mean, its on tape! Kinda hard to double talk damning evidence.
How about a background check for cars knives and bats. Anything that can be used ina crime. Why only guns?
Let’s be uniform in our polices
I’m shocked. Just shocked. Really.
That guy was about as threatening as a stray cat. But the robocall thing is really sneaky and dangerous.
And if they have Robocop on their side….good God.
They’re also using door hangers on in the neighborhoods claiming that convicted felons are carrying the pro-recall petitions. Classic dirty pool.
When the cops shoot someone and we question it, we’re told not to second-guess the police. Yet when an armed citizen shoots someone, they get second-guessed by police, prosecutors, the MSM, the Democrats and their running dogs and everybody else on the face of planet Earth.
Cops get second guessed. We get prosecuted.
It’s already been stated above by the gentleman (or lady) from South Carolina, but anyone in any state can donate to the campaign to recall Hudak.
I sold something to pay for a donation of $50 myself. I’ve never set foot in CO and have no family there, but the antis in CO have enormous financial backing. If you’re not willing to actually get in the fight now and oppose them with a few bucks of your own, then you’re nothing but hot air.
Don’t just bitch on TTAG about how much you’d like to see something done. Do something yourself and make a donation.
http://www.recallhudaktoo.org/
I find it kind of odd that the minimum donation amount is $50. I was considering donating between $15 and $25.
Wait, is effective as it works so well… but somehow it blows up before pulling the trigger. What it spontaneously caught fire?
Man if they have that technology I want it. I want to point at something and make it catch fire, that would be awesome.
Yes. Thank you.
I watched Stossel in the days after Newtown blab on about gun control, background checks and assault weapons. Seems as if he’s had a change of heart.
A lot of people seem to be seeing a lot of things in this debate that simply weren’t there. This was not a policy decision, but an intellectual debate meant to spark conversations. From where I’m sitting, it was well moderated and carried out completely fairly.
In his introduction, Robert Rosenkranz clearly defined the resolution and effectively summarized the position of both sides. I was thoroughly impressed with how the whole thing went down, except for Dershowitz. He was a tool.
If it’s the results that have everyone upset, look no further than the audience. The outcome of the debate was based completely on a heavily biased audience. I thought that the pro 2nd Amendment side made a much better argument, but let’s be honest, I’m pretty biased myself.
There was no chance whatsoever that those guys were going to convince me that the 2nd Amendment had outlived its usefulness. I believe in the utter necessity of the 2nd Amendment, and I have damn good reason for that belief, but I am still just as biased as that New York City audience.
The fact is, the outcome would have been the same in D.C., San Francisco or Seattle. Now, host that same debate with those same players in Atlanta, Houston or Phoenix and that’s a different story.
Hmmm, Let me see, I get up in the morning, put on my clothes; then I clip on my OWB holster and magazine holder along with my Sure Fire light and Leatherman and walk out the door into the metro area of Albuquerque.
Did I check to make sure that I have my license to OC my gun? Nope, don’t need one. The way it should be.
What a hell hole; to live in such a place, denied the most basic of freedoms; makes me want to vomit.
Cool.
I have had a Speed Bead on my Benelli Super Black Eagle for 3 years. The Benelli mount kept biting my right hand leaving a raw blister after a box of shells. After several efforts to remedy the problem I mounted a Weaver rail on the shotgun and bought a Weaver style mount from Burris. Problem solved and the sight can now fit on any Weaver / Picatinny rail.
The sight is great, especially on awkward, out of position shots on waterfowl. The battery life is quite short, it won’t last the full waterfowl season if you hunt 3 or 4 times a week like I do. You need to remove the sight to change the battery and then re-check the sight adjustments. A minor pain but it seems the designers could have come up with something better. Also, in cold wet weather, the lens tends to fog up making it difficult to get a good sight picture.
Despite the small irritations, I wouldn’t give up my Speed Bead. My shooting percentage on ducks and geese has greatly improved due to the Speed Bead.
Bloomer should have his permits and licenses revoked along with those of his security detail. Those getting permits and facilitating permits for the elite should be busted for racketeering and accepting bribes.
The only reason needed is the 2nd Amendment and the 9th Amendment. Being required to have a license to have one at home is absolutely insane.
What is scary is that this population centers are impacting the elections for POTUS and U.S. Senators which is taking its toll because it overwhelms the “fly over” America. This is the problem the 17th Amendment created in 1913 when state legislatures no longer elected the U.S. Senators.
I don’t have time to read all the comments on here to see if anyone else has already pointed this out, but in case no one else has said it I will; words mean things. The word “Agent” means something. The TSA itself doesn’t call their “gropers” agents, they call them officers. Personally, I think that this guy should have as nice of a funeral as possible…with his family, friends and co-workers footing the bill, instead of having him take his last ride at the expense of people who are compelled to pay their taxes at the point of a gun, many of whom don’t agree with the agency’s existence, let alone their vulgar and repressive tactics. In my own experience, far too many people have a reflexive fealty and submissiveness towards anyone who carries a gun and wears shiny buttons on their clothing, especially if they wear a funny hat. I didn’t know this guy, but I’m sure if you told him that he was going to die at work that morning, he wouldn’t have put on a brave face and went to his death bravely, caring only about the safety and well being of the traveling public, so stop lionizing these people and acting as if they deserve special respect and deference just because some of them occasionally die pursuing their paychecks. They aren’t dying in the name of freedom and liberty, anymore than the pizza delivery man who gets killed is dying to end starvation.
When will google maps have all the locations of gun ranges and events like this marked and make the glasses inoperable at those GPS coordinates? I could see how they wouldn’t want their product to be used in this manner…
I’ve seen smart gun advocates propose, in all seriousness, that the 400 million (or so) guns in private hands should be required to be retrofitted with smart gun technology. At the owner’s expense, of course.
Forcing someone to mutilate a $5,000 Colt SAA? Yeah, that’s the way to win over gun collectors!
A million bucks on developing these technologies are a million bucks in anti gun political ads that I won’t have to see. I’m all for this! I’d consider this technology if the army and local police force adopt it.
Every single person who reads that article and falls for the bull or says they’re all for it but for some silly caveat, is a damn fool. There is no such thing as “smart gun technology” – it is a bad joke.
Ignorant people need to stop acting like they have a say in things they don’t understand at all. Personal self defense tools will NEVER be dependent on RFID transponders or identification sensors of any kind, it defeats the entire purpose of carrying the tool. Uphold the KISS principle or face the consequences of your own stupidity.
Dunno if you’ve seen pics of her lately. Between the cheek filler and lip engorgement, she looks awful.
Maximal effort strength work is the fastest way to build explosive power
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) presumably. Recently I learned of a variety of that, the Tabata regimen, which is interesting because it achieved good results from only four minute sessions.
There’s a world of difference between shooting at stationary targets on a range and force on force training where the opfor is moving aggressively and shooting back. FOF training is worth it for that alone.
If the scenarios are realistic, it’s also invaluable in improving reaction time in the event you actually need to defend yourself.
No, in my experience open carry creates conflict.
I am surprised that no one has made an inexpensive, simplified version of a broomhandle for recreational shooters. It would fly off the shelves if priced right.
Must have been a simple farm girl. She’s supposed to yell, “hey, you dropped your wallet!” Then shoot the bastard once he turns around.
As for elites, the only murder in my township during the last twenty years was committed by an Ivy League professor. Elites kill each other all the time, and know it. But they are cultivated in their means and muster excellent defense teams.
I’m amazed anyone still sticks up for this dumb shitmat.
This guy, though he was found by a jury to have acted within the law his rights when he terminated the life of Trayvon Martin, is not proving himself to be a desirable poster-child for Second Amendment rights, now is he?
Hahahaha. Oh wait, he’s serious? Let me laugh even harder. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!