A bomb is something to worry about when flying, but is a smaller weapon such as a pocket knife something to be so concerned about?

According to CNN, the Transportation Security Administration is telling their screeners to stop confiscating small knives and start focusing on the real threats such as guns and bombs.

After 9/11 people began thinking that no weapon should be allowed on planes, whether it be a pocket knife or a gun. Pocket knives aren’t as dangerous as people like to think. They have every day uses such as cutting rope and opening plastic packaging. Someone may not need it specifically on the plane but before and after.

Even though knives have the capability of stabbing through human skin, knives are not something that can be the weapon of a mass killing. If a person were to get out of their seat on a plane and stab a flight attendant and attempt to take control of a plane, there are more than enough people on the average commercial flight to overtake that person or small group of terrorists.

Allowing knives on a plane is a positive but controversial issue, but that doesn’t mean that the TSA should start allowing all kinds of knives. There are restrictions on the types of knives allowed onto planes. The blade cannot be longer than 2.36 inches when opened up or locked into place. The passenger may also not have more than one knife in their carry-on luggage.

Knives are not as much a security threat as a bomb or an automatic weapon. People need to stop worrying about people carrying a pocket knife. It’s not as if that person can commit murder with a little pocket knife. If a person has a bomb or an automatic weapon in the airport, those people are usually involved in something that could harm the lives of the innocent. Just because a knife has the capability to kill a person, does not mean that all people carrying a knife are out to take down a plane.