Originally Posted by Gatwick Alan
Perhaps i dont get it being English, Are lighters being banned because they can be used to set off explosives? Doesnt security find explosives before you get on the plane? If this is not the reason then why is it that lighters are being banned
Lighters are banned because the two US Senators who snuck this provision into the Bill are on an anti-smoking crusade.
To illustrate the amount of
thought which went into this, they limited the ban to disposable butane lighters (Bic, Cricket etc.) only, claiming that had Richard Reid used one of these he
might have lit the fuse. Now a Bic needs the mechanism to be held down to provide a continuous flame*, a Zippo-type only needs a single flick, thereafter it will flame until the top is closed. The Senators did not think this was sufficiently 'dangerous' to ban those too
* if you've tried to light a candle with one, you know how awkward that is. Oh and since Reid had been wandering around in the rain for two days, I doubt a flame thrower could have ignited his shoe.