Let's give the dirty old men and women at the park a government issued pistol….

That will help stop terrorism in our skies.

I'm not much of a fan of the Department of Homeland Security in general and of TSA in particular. I don't question terrorism in the continental United States must be confronted, but prior to 9/11 that was the responsibility of the Department of Justice. In typical government fashion, instead of fixing the problems and limitations of DoJ in combating terrorism, we simply make another cabinet department. And an outgrowth of that spawn is the TSA, Transportation Screwup Administration.

The stories of feeling up old ladies and five year old children make the dirty old men in the parking lot of the neighborhood park turn green with envy. Not that it will stop Middle Eastern males between the age of 17 and 38. We let them slide. All the time while paying these people with weeks of training several times the money the rent-a-cops they replaced so they can steal from travelers and harass people in buses, trains and while driving, all the time giving us less security.

With that as background, we see the latest idiocy from the minds of DC. They wanna give these rent-a-cop wanna-bes pistols. Man, this is too good.

Arming TSA officers hits resistance on the Hill

…(The November first) slaying of a Transportation Security Administration officer at Los Angeles International Airport is fueling calls from union leaders to give some of the agency’s employees guns, handcuffs and the power to make arrests.

But that would be a tough sell for many conservatives in Congress, where some lawmakers until recently were trying to take away TSA agents’ badges.

The fatal shooting of Gerardo Hernandez and the ensuing gunfight at LAX called attention to a long-running debate over the powers of TSA, whose screeners aren’t considered law enforcement officers even though many of them wear badges...

…Both lawmakers and the Obama administration have called for reviewing airport security procedures after the shooting spree. But union officials are already offering a concrete proposal: create a new category of TSA agent in addition to the 45,000 existing screeners. People in the new positions would be law enforcement officers, who could carry handcuffs and firearms as well as make arrests.

Union leaders say the enhanced status would help protect an unfairly demonized workforce, as well as security checkpoints like the one where Friday’s mayhem began.

“We feel a larger and more consistent armed presence in screening areas would be a positive step in improving security for both [security officers] and the flying public,” said J. David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees. “The development of a new class of TSA officers with law enforcement status would be a logical approach to accomplishing this goal.”

On Friday, union officials initially suggested simply giving every agent arrest powers. But they said Monday that that would be only a half-step.

“Just saying you can arrest somebody, how far is that going to get you?” asked AFGE general counsel David Borer. “The focus needs to be on how do we deliver the right amount of security at the checkpoint.”…

Thankfully this stupidity seems to have died but it will be back. As a Texas Peace Officer, I am required to have three months of training to get my license. My agency requires around three months more to get on the street with your firearm. Then there is three months of field training and a membership program afterwards. These morons want to give these idiots this powers without going through a background check like ours, nor the training. Sounds like the wet dream of a moron in the Congress.

I pray a conservative congress and president in the future eliminates this agency from it's critical job of harassing the traveling public. Whenever someone says we can't but the federal budget, here is the greatest example of where to start.