Why Don't I Feel More Secure

She's been in the job for a while now. She's brought us some great policy trial ballons like no blankets or pillows in airliners. No peeing during the last hour of flight. No reading of books either. Well maybe just a little bit because even the lapdog media thought those were ill-advised, ineffective and ridiculous. At least it shows she's trying.

But, she assured us that the system worked on the BVD Bomber episode until she thought it through and realized it didn't. At least we know she is thinking about it either before or after she speaks.

Yesterday it was announced that selected participants with no shoes, no belts, a lap-top in a separate tray drifting down the conveyor to a waiting thief and a briefcase full of important documents following close behind will be asked to have our hands swabbed for explosive residue detection.

This Will Wash Off in a Week or Two

Now, I've got ask what happens in this scenario. You are legally transporting a firearm in your secured checked baggage. It is properly in a locked hard case and separate from the ammunition. It has been declared and you have dutifully opened it, demonstrated that it is unloaded and replaced it in the locked case and your baggage which is now tagged and sealed. You've just be handling a used firearm with powder residue inevitably still present despite conscientious cleaning. Yep, you're going to be positive when swabbed.

Today we've got this:

It Must Have Got Lost or Maybe My Dog Ate It

They "lost" 200 guns in a year? Handguns, shotguns and rifles? These are security experts who are licensed to carry loaded weapons throughout our society? What's with these buffoons? Consider that most citizens upon finding a gun in a bowling alley, restroom, snack-bar or curbside would turn it in to the slack-jawed guy in the cheap sportcoat and polyester tie standing near by. He looks like a Fed so it must be his. That means probably a lot more than the 200 were mislaid or overlooked but the "security" officer got rescued.

If you really want something to ponder, however, consider this:

Although the number of guns lost is only a small fraction of Homeland Security's 190,000 firearms, any lost weapon "is a very serious matter,"

How many? They are nearly half the size of the current US Army active duty component. Do they really need that many armed goons? And, if they do, is Janet Napolitano the general who should be in command?