More lawmakers object to TSA’s knife policy

The group is urging TSA to hold off on enforcing the new regulations allowing knives in carry-on baggage as long as they do not lock, have blades longer than 6 centimeters and are less than a half inch in width.

The new rules – which also allow toy baseball bats, pool cues, ski poles, hockey sticks and golf clubs – are set to take effect on April 25.

TSA maintains the new change would allow officers to concentrate on more serious risks, including explosives. But the lawmakers argued groups with a direct stake in the policy, including Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC), should have been consulted.

“Developing policies in a vacuum that will impact millions of passengers and thousands of front-line workers is a disservice to the American public,” said Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Earlier Monday, Rep. Edward Markey (D_Mass.) expressed his own discontent over the policy change, saying that it “needlessly places the lives of airline passengers and flight attendants at risk.”