I realize that many will use this event as an excuse for many political agendas, but I think it's important that we think through exactly what happened. It doesn't seem like it was an assault on liberty or a misuse of the liberties we have. Most people can't fly planes. The learning process is long and the licensing requirements are many. Flying a 757 is even more restricted by both cost and licensing requirements. It's not a liberty like walking around the streets or speaking one's mind. It doesn't seem to me that this attack had anything to do with liberty. It's not like someone abused the right to bear arms by shooting someone, it's not like someone abused the right to speak freely by libeling someone, it's not like someone abused the right to drink alcohol by plowing into a school bus after drinking too much. These guys were unauthorized to have knives, they were unauthorized to have bombs, they were unauthorized to fly 757s, they were probably unauthorized to be in the country. Yet they did all of these despite the controls. The hard lesson is that controls don't always work. Licensing requirements, security checkpoints, and armed guards fail. It's sad, but there's no physical law like gravity that we can depend upon to keep ourselves safe. If you ask me, the biggest danger is that we'll add more ineffective security measures in the hopes of doing something. And the real problem is the controls may never be enough to keep us safe. -Peter