The shooting incident on
Friday at Terminal 3 in Los Angeles (LAX) airport that left a TSA agent dead shattered the sense I had that airports are safe inside the security zone. Yes, it’s illegal to bring a firearm anywhere inside an airport building, but of course that does not help to stop anyone bent on shooting people. In this case TSA agents were targeted. They are not armed, so the shooter got into the secure area and all the way to the food court by the departure gates before getting shot by police. He confronted one passenger with his assault rifle, asking if he was TSA, and then moved on. What was the motive? Who knows? Does it really matter? Another 50 or 60 people will be killed across the country this weekend in gang violence, domestic disputes, by mentally ill people and in accidents, pointed out Tom Ridge, the first head of the Dept. of Homeland Security, in an interview on CNN. We are our own worst enemy.