Boofhead, you say that most "weapons" are taken from people who aren't terrorists, and have no intention of using the "weapons" on the plane. Well, how are we supposed to know who's a terrorist or not? We don't find a prohibited item, and think, "oh, he looks okay. I'll let it go". We can't. If we find a prohibited item, we have to take it, regardless of who owns it. We can't treat people unfairly and target only a specific group..if a little old lady comes through with a pair of sharp scissors, I can't allow it. Do I think that little old lady will highjack the plane? What I think doesn't matter. I still have a job to do. I screen "powerful" people all the time..they get treated like anyone else. When we search a bag, and find a prohibited item, the focus is not letting that item on the plane, not on the owner. And we never treated crew like "criminals" ...I hear that comment sometimes, from passengers too, and I wonder why. Usually all we are doing is just searching them and their items, and they blow it all out of proportion, as though we do body cavity searches and interrogate them in a little room like they do on CSI (not our job). I often hear it from people who think I actually care what's in their bag (unless it's dangerous, I don't) and have nothing better to do than call everyone I know and tell them so-and-so has a pack of condoms in their purse as soon as the plane leaves. We don't search crews anymore, but we did it because we were required to, not because we actually "wanted" to. But we have to search..and we're not the only ones...concerts and award shows search people too. We're only trying to look out for passengers, AND crew, and the plane, not treat people as criminals. However, if I am lax on any particular passenger and am caught, I lose my job. Simple as that. That explains why I treat everybody equally, which is what we're supposed to do anyway. I'm not risking my sole source of income for anybody.
Pax, I agree, that security is only as good as the weakest link, and that includes Canadian airports. Hopefully things will improve as a government crown corporation takes over from the airlines. We have undergone further training and pay increases, hopefully that will "motivate" some of us.
As for security being imperfect, what is perfect these days? You can do everything possible to protect people, it isn't always going to work. You can fix roads to make them safer, impose speed limits and have police patrolling the roads, but there will always be some idiot driving too fast, driving drunk, and jumping in front of you when they're not looking where they're going. You can register guns, teach gun safety classes, but there'll always be someone who leaves a gun where a child can reach it. Nothing is 100% perfect.