<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Points Scrounger:
I always assumed that the rationale for the gate checks was to catch cell members who had infiltrated the sterile zone. In other words, any weapons caught then would have been a presumption of an inside job.
If gate screening was intended as a second filter to catch the items missed the first time at security, I'd say it was unnecessary.
Terrorist profiling plus *truly* random checks at security works fine for me. I'm willing to assume that everyone at the gate area is legit.</font>
If it were an inside job the weapons would already be on the plane.
It was there to catch what the initial screeners miseed.