If the government wants to save lives, they will not arm TSA officials. They will retire them.

Last Friday, a fatal shooting took place at the Los Angeles International Airport that resulted in the death of a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer, according to an article by CNN.

The attack has ignited a debate about whether TSA agents should be armed and allowed to conduct arrests. Boosting airport security would be an extremely costly and disproportionate response to the attack, and would contribute to the growing police state.

According to CNN, the alleged gunman, 23-year-old Paul Anthony Ciancia, “walked up to checkpoint at Terminal 3 where Hernandez was working, pulled a[n]… assault rifle out of his bag and fired multiple rounds,” wounding two TSA officers and killing Gerardo Hernandez. Hernandez is the first TSA officer killed in the line of duty since the program began 12 years ago.

Hernandez’s death was extremely unfortunate and unnecessary. However, responding to this incident by calling for increased airport security would produce far more negative effects than positive.

By allowing TSA officials to carry guns and perform arrests, the agency would transform its 45,000 screeners into law enforcement officers. TSA already commands a budget of nearly eight billion dollars, according to an article by Bloomberg Businessweek. The cost of initial training and arming alone is likely to cost billions more.

Whether money is considered an important factor or not, the United States does not need or want 45,000 new law enforcement officials in our airports. The hassle of airport security is increasingly viewed as a form of harassment that innocent Americans are forced to endure in order to board a plane. Arming TSA officials would heighten these negative feelings about airport security.

Over the years, countless headlines have conveyed cases of theft, sexual assault and abuse concerning TSA officials and travelers. It should come as no surprise that many Americans are choosing alternative forms of travel. Unfortunately, the harassment and stress of the airport security process is encouraging travelers to take the drastically more dangerous option of traveling by road.

TSA was created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, in order to prevent future terrorist attacks that could result in more deaths. Yet, researchers at Cornell University and Indiana University propose that people switching from air to road transportation in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks led to an increase of 242 driving fatalities per month, according to a study published by the Social Science Research Network.

Ironically, this means that significantly more people died on the roads as an indirect result of 9/11, than the number of people who died from being on the planes that terrible day.

Most importantly, despite what the media feeds you, the attention paid to terrorism in the U.S. is considerably disproportionate to the relative threat it actually presents.

Politicians use cases like the LAX shooting to promote the fear of terrorism, in order to proceed in taking away our rights. Unfortunately, the government is not met with considerable opposition when they strip citizens of their rights in the name of national security.

Sadly, more often than not, the public actually asks the government for these changes. They believe – just like the media propaganda has taught them – that it is for their own good.  Yet, in reality security programs like the TSA are unnecessary and harmful to the public.

The existence of TSA is not only inconvenient, but deadly. Arming TSA officials will only further push people to choose other means of travel that are far more dangerous than flying. 

The level of harassment of innocent Americans concerning airport security, and the growth of the police state, has increased disproportionately to the actual threat of an attack.

If the decision is made to station armed officials at airport checkpoints after a shooting, what will stop the government from putting armed officials in shopping malls, movie theaters, and grocery stores? The line has to be drawn somewhere; preferably before it’s too late.

-Ashley Lynn Fisher is a junior English major from Gig Harbor. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this Column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.