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When I wrote "The Skies Belong to Us," a book about the hijacking epidemic of the '60s/'70s, mass shootings were very much on my mind. (1/x)
After the first four American hijackings occurred in 1961, the Senate held a hearing about the crisis. FAA chief Najeeb Halaby testified.
A senator asked Halaby whether it might make sense to check passengers for weapons. There was ZERO airport security at that point.
Halaby scoffed: "Can you imagine the line that would form from the ticket
counter in Miami if everyone had to submit to police inspections?”
counter in Miami if everyone had to submit to police inspections?”
So the matter was dropped and airports stayed security-free. And, of course, the hijackings increased, both in number and intensity. 
In July 1968, after over a dozen hijackings to Cuba had occurred in rapid succession, yet another Senate hearing took place.
Once again, the FAA shrugged. Hijacking was an unsolvable problem, a top official declared. 
A senator from Florida objected, noting that new X-ray machines and metal detectors could provide a solution. He didn't want to shrug. 
The proposal freaked out the airlines, who cared about profit above all else. Enduring hijackings was much cheaper than installing security. 
Airlines were the tech giants of their day and had huge political muscle. The FAA was putty in their hands. Once again, the agency shrugged. 
What changed in the end? The airlines began to fear legal liability after the November 1972 hijacking of Southern Airways Flight 49.
Those hijackers threatened to crash the plane into a nuclear reactor in Tennessee unless they got $10 million. skyjackeroftheday.tumblr.com/post/534026397…
The airlines realized their old cost-benefit analysis no longer worked: They couldn’t still treat hijacking as a mere managed risk.
Universal passenger screening started on January 5, 1973. American hijackings immediately plummeted to negligible levels. 
Something to think about the next time folks shrug over mass shootings and claim that all policy solutions are doomed to failure.
(Worth noting, however, that gun manufacturers don't have the same liability fears as early '70s airlines.) npr.org/sections/itsal…
Thank you for reading.
