Tagged: TSA

TSA Sought Firing Range for Firearms Training Two Weeks Prior to LAX Shooting

Kit Daniels

Infowars.com

November 5, 2013

Agency now has the resources to potentially arm airport screeners

Two weeks prior to the LAX airport shooting on Friday, the Transportation Security Administration was searching for a firing range to conduct ongoing “firearms training” using an estimated half-million rounds of ammunition annually.

Federal agents conduct firearms training at a range in Georgia.

Federal agents conduct firearms training at a range in Georgia.

On Oct. 18, the TSA posted a solicitation on the FedBizOpps web site seeking “a firearms range to conduct mandatory quarterly qualifications and other firearms training” near Seattle, Washington.

“The range must be able to accommodate the following: 9mm, .40, .357 caliber, 12 gauge and 556 frangible ammunition,” the request states.

The solicitation also estimated that 500,000 rounds will be fired by TSA personnel at the range per year.

This isn’t the first time the TSA requested a firing range.

Back in July, the agency sought a firing range “within a 20 mile radius” of LaGuardia Airport in New York.

The solicitation for this range also estimated that nearly a half-million rounds will be shot annually in the range during training.

The TSA already arms federal air marshals as well as “armed security officers” employed or contracted by the agency who meet “qualifications established by TSA, in coordination with the Federal Air Marshal Service.”

Yet these solicitations and the Department of Homeland Security’s stockpile of two billion rounds of ammunition suggest that these firing ranges will be used to provide firearms training to TSA workers who are not yet armed.

Yesterday, a union for government employees demanded that more TSA workers should be armed and even given arrest powers.

“The sad truth is that our TSA officers are subject to daily verbal assaults and far too frequent physical attacks,” Jeffrey David Cox Sr., president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said to the L.A. Times. “We feel a larger and more consistent armed presence in screening areas would be a positive step.”

If the TSA is moving to arm its airport screeners, the agency already has the training facilities and ammunition to do so.

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LAX Gunman Carried Note with Anti-Government Message

CommonDreams.org

Published on Saturday, November 2, 2013

The shooter, according to witnesses, was only interesting in firing on TSA agents

Officials involved with the investigation into Friday’s shooting at the Los Angeles International Airport, which left one TSA agent dead and several more wounded, said that the gunman apprehended was carrying a note with “antigovernment and anti-T.S.A. ramblings.”

According to the Los Angeles Times:

In the note, [Ciancia] expressed “his disappointment with government” and said he had no intent to target or harm people he considered innocent bystanders, one source told The Times.

The source added that during the attack, Ciancia allegedly asked people if they were TSA employees.

“He was only interested in TSA,” the source said.

A federal law enforcement official added that Ciancia “wasn’t a fan of the TSA.”

Leon Saryan of Greenfield, Wisc., told Mikwaukee radio station WTMJ that he was approached by the gunman.

“He looked at me and he said ‘TSA?’ and I shook my head and he just kept going,” he said.

Authorities believe that Ciancia arrived at a TSA screening area in Terminal 3 at 9:20 a.m., pulled a rifle out of his bag and started shooting. He made his way past the security checkpoint into the terminal and continued shooting.

CNN adds:

The materials [found on Ciancia] included a rant that appeared to refer to the New World Order as well as anti-TSA and anti-government claims, a federal law enforcement official said Saturday.

The New World Order is a common conspiracy theory focused on a secretive group of international elites bent on controlling the planet and forming a one-world government.

Investigators found information on the suspect expressing not just anti-federal government sentiment but also anger at the TSA specifically, according to a federal law enforcement official.

Multiple reports cite police sources saying the note included language saying he wanted to “kill TSA” and “pigs.”

The evolution of those thoughts, and how they may have led to Friday’s bloody shooting, is a story that is yet to unfold.

“We are currently investigating his background and more about him,” FBI Special Agent in Charge David Bowdich told reporters.

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TSA Loudspeakers Threaten Travelers With Arrest For Joking About Security

Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com

October 11, 2013

Prisoner training: Don’t complain about your grope down

Travelers who crack jokes about the TSA’s ludicrous security procedures could face arrest, according to a new loudspeaker warning being broadcast at airports in the U.S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkWPMeLSk6M&feature=player_embedded

While traveling through George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Matt Miller heard a security announcement repeatedly aired on the airport intercom that left him disturbed.

“You are also reminded that any inappropriate remarks or jokes concerning security may result in your arrest,” the loudspeaker message states.

These new loudspeaker warnings remind us that the TSA continues to excel at indoctrinating Americans to be well-behaved prisoners via obedience training – reminding them that they can be disappeared if they dare speak out of turn, even in a humorous way.

This is a totally unlawful and illegitimate violation of the First Amendment and is obviously designed to intimidate travelers and stop them from complaining about aggressive grope downs which in some cases involve TSA workers touching travelers’ genitals.

The message is clear – grovel and enjoy your genitals being groped or face arrest.

The prospect of travelers cracking jokes about airport security procedures is by no means unlikely given the increasing absurdity of the policies being enforced by the TSA.

As we reported last year, perhaps the mose ludicrous example is the TSA’s “freeze” policy, where travelers are ordered to stand in place like statues while TSA agents resolve some unexplained security threat.

The TSA has also provoked controversy by implementing other preposterous policies which have a tenuous security justification, most notably a procedure where TSA agents test travelers’ drinks for explosives after they have already passed through security and purchased beverages inside the secure area of the airport.

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TSA to Purchase 3.5 Million Rounds of Ammunition

Enough for its agents to fire 9,400 bullets a day, every day of the year

Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com August 19, 2013

The Transportation Security Administration is set to purchase 3.5 million .357 SIG caliber bullets, enough for its agents to fire 9,400 rounds a day, every day of the year.

According to a solicitation issued by the agency on August 16, the TSA is looking to buy “3,454,000 rounds of .347 SIG Caliber Training Ammunition”.

Although TSA agents in airports are currently unarmed, last month the TSA announced its plan to hire the use of a firing range within a 20 mile radius of LaGuardia Airport in order to train TSA workers.

The federal agency’s huge bullet buy could signal an expansion of its controversial Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) program, where teams of armed TSA officers patrol railroad stations, bus stations, ferries, car tunnels, ports, subways, truck weigh stations, rest areas, and special events.

VIPR teams currently conduct around 8,000 operations a year. As well as providing security at transport hubs, VIPR teams are now being used to keep tabs on fans at sporting events.

Earlier this month it was announced that VIPR agents would now be patting down Americans “outside the airport” by conducting stop and search shake downs at transport hubs and public events.

As Government Security News notes, the amount of ammunition being purchased, “means the TSA could fire off more than 9,400 rounds per day, every day of the year, to consume that entire quantity annually.”

Significant bullet purchases by the TSA are likely to fuel concerns that the federal government is arming itself to the teeth in preparation for some form of domestic unrest or other catastrophe, following the Department of Homeland Security’s commitment to purchase more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the course of the last 18 months.

As we reported last week, Congressman Jeff Duncan’s attempt to get answers on why the IRS is also training its agents with semi-automatic AR-15′s designed for “standoff capability” has been ignored by the federal agency.

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