Originally Posted by
jkhuggins
Or, it's entirely possible that TSOs that are properly trained as LEOs might discover that "crap, we really don't have the authority to act like thugs". At least, they'd discover how little training a TSO gets versus what a LEO gets.
The TSA (self-identified) employees who have posted both on FT and on the blog over the years have assured us that they have "lots" of training. "Extensive" training. More training than we poor mortals (some of us with multiple university degrees) could possibly imagine.
Give them a bit more "training" for firearms and they'll just get more conceited about how much training they've had.
Originally Posted by
Caradoc
Originally Posted by
jkhuggins
Nobody's going to "hand guns" to anyone. Any TSO who wants to be a federal LEO is going to have to demonstrate that they're capable of handling all that's entailed --- and that's going to eliminate a lot of the folks who can't seem to understand even the basics of how TSA is supposed to work. I would guess that 90% of TSOs wouldn't qualify to be LEOs. (Just a guess, mind you; I have absolutely no basis for that guess.)
You have more faith than I. I believe the applications and "training" are likely to be handled just as stringently as the TSA has applied everything else to their own ranks - training, background checks, internal cross-checks, etc. - i.e., not at all.
This was my first thought, too, about jkhuggin's thought experiment. He has neglected the (very likely) possibility that the TSA will lower standards so that all (or most) TSA employees qualify for firearms. Anything for security, after all. Think of the children.
There was a story from the early days of the TSA by a journalist who applied for a TSA screening job, just to see how rigorous the "standards" were. From memory, they never bothered to follow up her references or do the real background check. They were so desperate to staff the checkpoints that they took a lot of people without any real scrutiny. I can't see that this would be any different.