One of the biggest non-issues out there for aviation’s gulag right now is the “knife rule.” John “The Pervert” Pistole, head cheese at the TSA, has decreed that passengers may carry “small” pocketknives onboard planes as of April 25.

I can’t get excited about this change one way or the other: there is no benefit for liberty when a dictator allows what he previously banned. The government, not its subjects, is still deciding how those subjects will live their lives, the “choices” they will make, and what items they may have at what times.

Nonetheless, various groups have vehemently opposed this alteration in the status quo. One of the loudest has been the unions that control aviation, though why they care so much, I can’t say. Perhaps they fear that allowing knives will ultimately yield less “work” for the thugs they represent at the checkpoints and that their membership will decline as the TSA hires fewer deviants.

Whatever the unions’ motives, I had to laugh at the pot’s calling the kettle black in the press release they churned out: “After intense lobbying by knife manufacturers and knife industry groups,” they huffed, “the policy change that will allow small knives on airplanes is set to take effect April 25.  While knife advocates had their voices heard at TSA headquarters, TSA failed to consult with the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents 45,000 Transportation Security Officers.” Aaaawww, poor babies.

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