It was about 9:20 A.M. on Nov. 1st, when terror struck the world famous LAX airport. A 23-year-old shooter, Paul Ciancia, pulled a .223-caliber assault rifle from a bag and began opening fire. His first victim and the only one to die was TSA officer, Gerardo Hernandez, whom he shot at point blank range. He then continued on through the airport while injuring a few other TSA agents. After a gunfight, the LAPD finally shot the gunman down and put him into custody. Luckily, everyone reacted very well when they heard gunfire and got to cover right away. After further investigation, it was learned that Ciancia had no intention to kill anyone except for TSA agents because he wanted to instill fear in the agents’ minds. It was a very unexpected attack that goes to show that you never know what can happen.

This attack raises a very important question; what’s next for airport security? After talking with Justin Daly, an Ipswich Police Officer, it seems that security is going to be stepped up indefinitely.

“This attack definitely raised a lot of questions as to how safe airports really are,” said Daly. Anyone can walk into the airport with any type of weapon or explosive without anyone knowing about it because there are zero security checkpoints in order to get into the airport.

Agreeing with officer Daly, David Conway said “This is something that should definitely change; it could be something as simple as a metal detector, but it would make the airports a lot safer.” It doesn’t really matter what it is, but some type of checkpoint needs to be passed in order to get into the airport. This will ensure the safety of the people inside. Aside from security checkpoints, another issue was uncovered with this attack. Whether or not TSA agents should be armed or not has been an argument for many years now, especially after this attack since TSA agents were the targets.

Officer Daly said, “TSA agents should not be armed because it may become too much of a liability.” It could potentially do more harm than good for airport safety. There are just too many things that could go wrong if they became armed.

The airport has their own police force that has been trained very well and has had extensive background checks. The response time of the LAX police force was within 60 seconds after the first shots were fired. That is outstanding! This gives more reason not to arm TSA agents. It will cost less, as well. Security equipment will cost a lot less than training all the TSA agents in the country. Plus, the investment will be worthwhile because the security equipment can be trusted where as TSA agents may not be trustworthy. The only positive to arming TSA agents is that it could deter these types of shootings. That is a very strong positive, but there are still just too many things that can go wrong. There are more negatives than positives when it comes to arming TSA agents, which is why it is such a controversial topic.

After this incident, don’t be surprised if traveling through airports becomes a lot more difficult than it usually is. This is the sacrifice that has to be made to ensure peoples safety. You would rather miss a flight than have your own life and well being put in danger. Sometimes, you need to take a step back and realize that anything can happen.