TSA to allow passengers to carry small knives on planes

[CeeKay]

For the first time since the 9/11 terror attacks, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will allow small knives and some previously prohibited sports equipment onto airplanes as carry-on items.

According to the TSA, passengers will be able to carry-on knives that are less than 2.36 inches long and less than one-half inch wide. Larger knives, and those with locking blades and molding handles, will continue to be prohibited, as will razor blades and box cutters.

TSA will also permit sports equipment such as billiard cues, ski poles, hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks and two golf clubs. Souvenir, novelty and toy baseball bats -- such as wiffle-ball bats -- will also be allowed.

The relaxed rules take effect April 25.

TSA said the new regulations will allow its officers to better focus efforts on finding "higher threat items such as excplosives," and was made as part of the agency's overall risk-based security approach.

http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/tsa-allow-passengers-carry-small-knives-planes-1C8700194

I can hear those damned Canadian terrorists already sharpening their hockey sticks......

[CeeKay]

looks like this won't affect Michigan (and potentially other States):

Enacted after 9/11, Michigan Aeronautics Code section 259.80f made it a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one-year imprisonment or a $1,000 fine, to "possess, carry, or attempt to possess or carry" any of a series of prohibited items "in a sterile area of a commercial airport." The list numbers firearms, explosives, and a "knife with a blade of any length."

That would include a pocketknife. So does Michigan's law trump the TSA rule change?

"That's the attorney general's position," said Joy Yearout, spokeswoman for Michigan attorney general Bill Schuette. "The state law remains in effect."

The TSA also confirmed Michigan law still applies. “It remains the responsibility of passengers to comply with state and local laws for each point of travel and be aware that origination and destination cities may have local laws prohibiting the possession of these items,” said TSA spokesperson David Castelveter.

Detroit Metropolitan Airport spokesperson Scott Wintner says Airport Authority Police officers will enforce the Michigan law "when violations come to their attention."

The Michigan wrinkle comes from a carve out in the TSA rules that defers to the states when it comes to defining their individual list of prohibited items.

http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/travelkit/how-michigan-hockeysticks-could-throw-wrench-tsas-new-pocketknife-rules-1C8775299

[Knightshade Dragon]

The only blade I own that this would apply to would be the tiny little knife attached to the nail clippers that the TSA fears.