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OPINION
Columnists' Opinions

LAX shooting heats up gun debate: Opinionline

Passengers walk out of Los Angeles International Airport after a gunman killed a TSA agent Friday.

Tiffany Hawk,CNN: "Is it time to start arming Transportation Security Administration officials? No way. ... If you're the kind of person who thinks that every teacher and hall monitor and mall cop and cinema usher should be armed, then you'll probably feel safer if we give guns to TSA officers. And maybe flight attendants and customer service reps and baggage handlers. And probably bus drivers and ballpark ticket takers, and hospital staff. ... Terrorism is a real concern for airlines, but like it or not, as Americans, we also have to worry just as much about angry neighbors with guns."

Sanjay Sanghoee,The Huffington Post : "The recent shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, which claimed 13 victims and left eight others injured, and now the execution of a TSA agent in Los Angeles, are destined to become just more entries in the timeline of gun violence in America and fade in the national memory over time. Gun control, for sure, is going nowhere fast — if at all. What we need, then, is to examine our attitude about guns as a society, and to come to a rational, practical understanding of how guns actually create violence rather than just being the convenient instruments of it."

George F. McHendry,BagNews : "The TSA is a deeply detested organization. ... It should be no surprise that mere hours after the shooting, individuals were already suggesting the TSA 'deserved it' or that the carnage justified eliminating the agency. ... The TSA has long justified its presence in airports as a last line of defense against terrorists who would threaten air travel, yet that mission exists in the absence of evidence the TSA has foiled any plots. ... We must think about how we want our airports to be secured. ... The presence of violent rhetoric toward TSA employees, the increasing presence of firearms in airports (menacing or not), and the stress that surrounds airport security have created a cauldron of danger for TSA employees on the front line."

Charles C.W. Cooke,National Review : "Over and over, we were told that the shooter at LAX used an 'assault rifle.' This is now being repeated widely. There is one key problem with this: It's not true. We can argue all day about the silly 'assault weapon' term, but 'assault rifle' actually has a meaning. An 'assault rifle' means that the rifle can be switched between safe, semiautomatic and automatic fire. Weapons such as these are heavily regulated under federal law, have never been used by a civilian to murder anybody and are strictly illegal in California."

Rebecca Leber,Think Progress : "The NRA has vigorously campaigned to make it easier to bring firearms into airports and criticized TSA agents for their aggressive efforts to ensure guns don't make it onto a plane. ... The NRA will likely argue that this shooting is more proof gun restrictions should be weakened, not strengthened in public areas, since a bystander could intervene in a shooting. All the best research points to this being even more dangerous."

Marcos Breton,The Sacramento Bee : "I've been through that airport so many times, I could easily imagine myself running for dear life with the names of my loved ones welled in my throat. Who couldn't imagine it? Our public places have so often become terror chambers where the mundane morphs into the unthinkable with the speed of a bullet. But fresh blood won't be enough to change our gun narrative."

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