A friend of mine travels internationally constantly for work. During one trip to Cambodia, he went to a range to shoot machine guns, and he slipped a few 7.62 nato rounds into his pocket at some point. They ended up in his travel bag, where they were forgotten about and remained for several months. The bag was brought as a carry-on on more than a dozen international flights with the bullets clanging around inside, and eventually the bullet detached from the casing on several of the rounds, causing gun powder to spill all over the pocket. It was not stopped once.

I found the bullets when he told me to grab some goggles out of his bag, and my hand came out of a pocket blackened with explosive powder. That was during a trip about 2 years ago.

I generally consider myself a part of the more libertarian wing of the Democratic Party. But as a thought experiment, lets say that one airline was given clearance by the FAA to exempt its passengers from TSA screenings. Or, alternately, simply assume this airline allowed war clubs such as the one above to be brought onboard, while some sort of pre-9/11 security screening system was in place.

Would you choose to fly on that airline?

Either situation would certainly raise concerns in my mind, regardless of my emotional reactions to TSA screenings and that sort of thing.

Before the TSA, I routinely carried my Leatherman on my person in the cabin of commercial aircraft. When I passed through the security checkpoint, I'd remove it from its sheath and place it in the basket for your keys and change and such, and hand that to the uniformed person manning the checkpoint. I was never once stopped, questioned, or even looked at twice for doing this.

On the flip side of the coin, a long swinging weapon is going to cause more issues than it's worth in the confines of a plane cabin.