Shooting At Los Angeles Airport — TSA Agent Reportedly Shot

[RealDeal]

Shooter used a Ruger Mini 14, stainless with black stock. CBS news just showed a photo of the shooting scene, and this rifle was laying on the floor. Great, just great. So much for this rifle being left off the ban list in the future, as it was in the last proposal/bill.

It was already banned

The revised bill that went through the Senate sub-committee, in March, 2013, had the Ruger Mini 14 in the tactical model with the collapsible stock, as the ONLY model of the Mini 14 to be added to the proposed banned list. Read the exempted firearms list from the modified Feinstein bill, and you will see it. The Mini 14 may have been banned in the 1994 AWB, but that doesn't matter right now.

[RealDeal]

I saw another photo of the weapon on another tv news broadcast, and it looked like an ar-15 with stainless hardware, similar to a stainless mini-14. I stand corrected, if it is the later, instead of the former.

[igofast]

According to Feinstein, it was a M&P AR:



Don'tchaknow, it's named M&P because it's for Military and Police ONLY.

[Sietch]

I wonder if this is going to be used to push that TSA agents have full LEO status?

They would have to restaff the entire officer population - they do not meet the standard for federal law enforcement officers in many MANY cases.
b

Short wait.

TSA Union Wants To Arm Some Agents In Wake Of LAX Shooting
Arming TSA officers hits resistance on the Hill

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

Bstrawse is right. Keep in mind that:
1. The hiring standards for the TSO/screener position are the lowest in the entire GS spectrum. A high school diploma is not required. Think I'm kidding? Head on over to USAjobs.gov and look at the posting.
2. The rate of serious crimes, including theft and smuggling, among TSOs/screeners is several times that of the national average.

I have a feeling that airport police would revolt. I've heard a few police, airport and otherwise, speak disparagingly about TSA screeners who have tried to treat with them as if they are professional peers, i.e. law enforcement officers, like presenting TSA IDs and badges during traffic stops looking for the kind of professional courtesy that some cops extend to other cops in those situations.

[RealDeal]

Yup, and the federal government, with budgeting problems, and a gigantic deficit, could afford to send all those part-time TSA agents to FLETC, right? Not gonna happen. I agree that the sworn federal LEO's would have a big problem with the whole idea.

[Sietch]

Just when you thought that they wouldn't, that they couldn't possibly get any more ridiculous in the wake of this thing:
Gerardo Hernandez, Slain TSA Officer, Honored At LAX (PHOTOS)
That is—no joke—a TSA honor guard. I know. I got some wine on my keyboard when I first saw it. I can't imagine anything sillier (excepting of course a USPS honor guard). 20$ says it was put together in the last month.

And let's not forget the squad of bagpipers. After all, what would a BS dog and pony show of a police memorial be without the Emerald Society? I also love the mourning bands on their badges. Does the TSA publish a How to Pretend That You're a Law Enforcement Officer training pamphlet, ya think? I mean, it sucks that a man was murdered, but certainly no more and no less than the murder of a process server or a pediatrician or a guitarist. I'm surprised that area police participated. LAPD Emerald Society must have been paid to show up.

[bstrawse]

Just when you thought that they wouldn't, that they couldn't possibly get any more ridiculous in the wake of this thing:
Gerardo Hernandez, Slain TSA Officer, Honored At LAX (PHOTOS)
That is—no joke—a TSA honor guard. I know. I got some wine on my keyboard when I first saw it. I can't imagine anything sillier (excepting of course a USPS honor guard). 20$ says it was put together in the last month.

And let's not forget the squad of bagpipers. After all, what would a BS dog and pony show of a police memorial be without the Emerald Society? I also love the mourning bands on their badges. Does the TSA publish a How to Pretend That You're a Law Enforcement Officer training pamphlet, ya think? I mean, it sucks that a man was murdered, but certainly no more and no less than the murder of a process server or a pediatrician or a guitarist. I'm surprised that area police participated. LAPD Emerald Society must have been paid to show up.

TSA has had an honor guard for some time. They do have law enforcement special agents within TSA as well already - they're a common sight at Reagan National Airport near DC... but there are others throughout the country.

b

[Sietch]

TSA has had an honor guard for some time.

I'll take your word for it.

They do have law enforcement special agents within TSA as well already - they're a common sight at Reagan National Airport near DC... but there are others throughout the country.

This I know, but I'm sure you take my meaning that this unctuous pomp for someone whose position was not even vaguely that of a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter, or a soldier, etc. (regardless of the police-like costumes and badges his employer prescribes), is ridiculous, as much as it would be for the US Forest Service, which also employs some LEOs, having a Backdraft-esque memorial service for an office clerk who was, say, shot to death by a madman.

Looks like I owe you $20