Feinstein: Shooting shows 'loophole'

Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Monday said the Los Angeles airport shooting Friday revealed a “loophole” in airport security policies and emphasized her belief that security checkpoints must be monitored by armed police officers at all times.

“To have a two- to three-minute delay to getting an armed police officer to a checkpoint, I think, is too long,” Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday. “What this has done is exposed a big loophole in plane security.”


The California Democrat insisted that armed officers should be watching security checkpoints at all times, but she does not believe that arming Transportation Security Administration agents themselves is necessary.

When pressed by Blitzer about what she believes must be done to prevent shootings linked to mental illness, Feinstein told Blitzer that she did not know for certain how Friday’s shooter obtained the firearm in question or whether it was legally for sale in California.

“We have to care about the kinds of weapons that are available to people,” Feinstein said. “I think there’s got to be a way to prevent people who have unstable mental illnesses from obtaining firearms.”

“I wish I knew how you categorize someone as mentally not able to buy a firearm. I wish I knew. I don’t happen to know that right now,” she added.