Obviously 9/11 changed all of that. And I must admit, I don't mind the extra few minutes of screening, or taking off my shoes, or even getting into the imaging scanner. I rather know that TSA is doing their job right and the flight I'll be on will be safe and short on potential threats. I never do get the people who complain all the time. Is it annoying to wait a little longer? Yes, it is. Do TSA sometimes get on a power trip because they barely graduated highschool yet someone gave them a badge and told them they can stop whoever? Yes, they do. Can the process be more effective if other security elements were to be implemented (think Israeli airport security for example)? Yes, it can.
But truth is that deterant goes a long way, and if potential terrorist attacks are foiled just because terrorists do not want to get caught, fondled by TSA employees, or getting the full cavity search, then all the above mentioned aggravation is worth it in my mind. You are entitled to disagree of course.
All that said, I rarely truly feel safe on airplanes. History taught us that even the most meticulous screening is subject to failure. For example, about 5 years ago I went to visit my father who was in Las-Vegas for a convention. Bare in mind that five years ago security was even tighter than it is today. We all followed the colored threat level indicators, 9/11 was still fresh in our minds (for some), and some of the more advance screening methods were not yet available, which meant more hands on searching. On this specific trip I only took one carry-on since I was only to spend 2 nights in Vegas. My heart almost dropped to my pants when I opened my carry-on in my hotel room, about 4 hours after it went through the X-ray machine and was searched by a TSA "professional", and found three loose rounds and a knife. Not my standard travelling items, but left overs from a recent trip to the shooting range. Needless to say I discarded of the ammunition at the hotel and mailed the knife to myself in MD.
Point to be made: TSA fails sometimes...more often than they would like to admit it.
Being a self-defense and personal protection instructor I like keeping some control over potential threats. If I was able to board an airplane with ammunition and a knife unintentionally, one can imagine that an ill-intending individual can also accomplish that. Should we remind everybody of the underwear bomber? or the shoe bomber? to mention but two.
It is interesting to see how the list of prohibited items on an airplane gets longer every time. No liquids, no sharp items (as if I will clip someone's nails to death!), no lighters, no aerosol sprays, and...no Kubotans.
For those who do not know what a kubotan is, it is a cylindircal metal stick which was developed by Mr. Takayuki Kubota as a self-defense tool. It is often used as a keychain holder and can be easily accessible and utilized in self-defense situations. But as mentioned, TSA's "super-agents" will look for those and take them away from you if you tried boarding an airplane carrying one.
Luckily for us, some genius minds out there decided that wherever there is a rule, there is also a loophole. Enter the Tactical Pen. A re-enforced writing instrument that can be used to strike, stab, and apply joint manipulations or other control techniques. Genius!
So today there are many "ninjas" out there who carry tactical pens (like the name by the way? Tactical! Makes it sound some bad-ass!) but don't know what to do with it.
So fear not my friends, because Masada Tactical is here to help. And as we often do, we get the best instructors possible to teach specialized classes, as with the Tactical Pen seminar that will be held on Sunday, February 19, from 1 to 4pm. This class is taught by Mr. Richard Harding. Mr. Harding is a former Navy Corpsman who spent the years following his service duty in Vietnam studying martial arts in Japan. He later went on to achieve a forth degree black belt in Karate. Mr. Harding was also a Baltimore County police officer, and is today the Physical Skills Coordinator at the MD Police and Correctional Training Commission. One of the things Rick is known for is teaching Kubotan techniques to police recruits.
We look forward to learning from Mr. Harding how to use the tactical pens we all carry. Because at the end of the day, I am not sure I want to trust my safety to TSA.
Stay safe,
Tzviel 'BK' Blankchtein
Masada Tactical, LLC
No comments:
Post a Comment