Let’s make the malls more like the airports

But even if something did have to be done, putting a mini-TSA at every mall in America is most certainly not that something.

As I’ve written before here at Rare, despite the extensive security theater rigmarole to which we’re subjected every time we fly, the TSA has never caught a single terrorist. In fact, a leaked report showed that when undercover government agents tried to get fake bombs through TSA checkpoints at major airports like LAX and Chicago O’Hare, the TSA missed 60-75 percent of the bombs. (Private security agents, in contrast, missed fake bombs only about 20 percent of the time. I don’t know about you, but I know which option would make me feel safer.)

And then there are the ways the TSA actually makes us less safe:

First, by making dozens or even hundreds of people line up for slow-moving security checkpoints, the TSA creates a prime opportunity for—you guessed it—a terrorist attack. The most insecure part of the airport is the TSA checkpoint itself, as it gives would-be terrorists a large, stationary crowd in which to wreak havoc.

Second, the TSA lulls us into assuming that once we’re past “security,” all is safe. In reality, we’re not any safer at all. Darlene Storm notes at Computer World, “ marginally resourceful and MacGyver-esque individual can breeze through terminal gift shops, restaurants, magazine stands and duty-free shops to find everything they need to wage war on an airplane.”

Read more at http://rare.us/story/the-last-thing-we-need-is-the-tsa-at-the-mall/#LbUPexixlKTvowW2.99.

Bringing TSA-style “security”to shopping malls is a great idea, if you want to encourage more people to shop online. So maybe the brick-and-motor stores should use their political clout to protect their customers from TSA-style harassment, instead of using their influence  to imposes new taxes and regulations on online commerce.