By way of example, the 9/11 attacks demonstrated that power can be won and havoc soon produced by a handful of men with a few simple box-cutters. But opponents to pocket knives on planes need merely look down mid-flight to see the same debate has already defeated them.
Right now, the US Congress is considering federal changes to gun laws. And the Second Amendment argument presented by gun reform opponents works just the same at 30,000ft. If a well-armed society, with machine guns and concealed pistols, truly ensures the greater safety of its citizens, then surely the same thing applies to a well-armed commercial plane. If every passenger on the 9/11 flight had been armed with a box cutter or pocket knife, maybe the Twin Towers would be standing today.
Perhaps then, the relaxations will be extended. Perhaps we'll soon be allowed more than thumb-sized pocket knives: an assortment of weaponry on planes.
Perhaps, even, the skies of America will follow the small town of Nelson, Georgia, where council representatives are preparing a new law requiring households to keep guns. We'd all have to pack heat for the red-eye. What could possibly go wrong?
A 6cm pocketknife sounds sensible. But if, for the sake of debate, you extrapolate the argument for a better armed, protective society, the reality of semi-automatics in the sky seems nothing short of a Steven Segal plot: pure, fantastic lunacy.
So too, though, do 30,000 gun deaths a year.
