Rejected For Guns, Pilots Criticize Test

The Washington Times ^ | February 5, 2004 | Audrey Hudson

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

these people are trained to react coolly and professionally in a life-threatening crisis. They are exactly the kind of people we should be encouraging to be armed in every phase of life!

Think what it means to believe otherwise, and how it relates to liberalism generally:

1. police are unnecessary
2. gumshoe work using shady operatives is unnecessary
3. the military is unnecessary
4. nobody should have a gun
5. Nirvana will arrive as soon as the government makes everything either mandatory or forbidden.

The whole thing is a bunch of magical thinking which makes no sense at all.

[Elle Bee]

Why is Moron Mineta still working for the govt?

.... or George Tennant

these Clinton LEFT-overs shoud have been thrown under the bus the first day

they continue to prove their incompidence daily ...

.

[ought-six]

As the man said: "It's a liberal, knee-jerk reaction to guns."

[ought-six]

"Our bureaucracy is a bloated, broken mess. If I'm in a steel tube, five miles up and going 600 MPH, the last concern I'm going to have with the pilot is if he's got a gun under his arm. He already has the capability to take me out. Mineta should have been shown the door three years ago."

I agree. Mineta is a liberal Democrat and I have no idea why Bush appointed him, other than to say he was "reaching out" to the other side. Scr@w the other side.

[OXENinFLA]

"The USAF considered me psychologically sound enough to be directly responsible for nuclear weapons," the pilot wrote. "Yet a TSA psychologist has determined I am unreliable to carry a weapon in my own airliner."

HA!

[GovernmentShrinker]

If they don't meet the criteria to carry a gun on the plane, they certainly don't meet the criteria to fly the plane. Let's get some legislation passed that states this clearly, and requires that their commercial pilot's license be pulled if they are found unqualified to carry a gun onboard. Then this nonsense will stop quickly, as airlines and passengers swamp legislators with complaints about endless flight cancellations due to lack of pilots.

[thinking]

Help me try to understand this....a pilot, who is at 30,0000 feet, could destroy up to 400 people, with the a simple movement of his hand, but cannot be trusted with a gun...

[LTCJ]

It's a control thing.

Period. This is what it all boils down to in the bottom of the stinking black pot the Federal government has become.

The lack of leadership in this area speaks volumns. I vote: No Confidence.

[NittanyLion]

No doubt the TSA psychologists think anyone who'd want to carry a gun is crazy by definition. If you want to carry, you must be crazy. Ergo, you cannot carry.

[CarryaBigStick]

The TSA is a joke, just another bloated federal bureaucracy responsible only to itself. What was G.W. thinking when he allowed this monstrosity to be created?

Sometimes I think G.W. would make a great public school administrator.

[Robe]

If you really what to hear stupidity taken to the sublime ..get this..
I have a buddy who flies the “ Big Babies” for USAir, he is also currently in a Air Guard unit
flying F-16’s.
He served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
He applied for and was rejected from the “Guns for Pilots” program.
His weekend Guard duties require him to intercept and shoot down if necessary any hijacked airliner.
Sigh

[JETDRVR]

I hear ya loud and clear !
Ironic thing is those of us on the longhaul international Bizav types having been CCWing for quite a few years now especially trips to Nigeria and other places of "interest" ;-0) etc

[LTCJ]

Considering that Federal law-enforcement officers get to carry in-flight on airliners, this is a very relevant question.

You asked. You answered. But then, you knew that.

[R. Scott]

Did you forget the ?

[LTCJ]

He applied for and was rejected from the "Guns for Pilots" program. His weekend Guard duties require him to intercept and shoot down if necessary any hijacked airliner.

That bullet is not at the end of the national command authority. That missile is. It's a control thing.

The irony is, if that missile ever has to fly, the full weight of the question, "how did it come to this?" will land squarely in the lap of the one at the top of the chain. And rightly so, by God.

[steve-b]

Have to say though, I know an American Airlines Captain, ex military pilot, who just switched from being "Sir" to being "ma'am".

And this is relevant to ability to kill Wahabiwackjob goblins because...?

[txzman]

""The USAF considered me psychologically sound enough to be directly responsible for nuclear weapons," the pilot wrote. "Yet a TSA psychologist has determined I am unreliable to carry a weapon in my own airliner."

That's probably because they are using anti-gun,gay, politically left university psychiatrists as screeners. This guy was probably labeled a 'baby killer' and rejected.

[Gritty]

Mineta is a liberal Democrat and I have no idea why Bush appointed him, other than to say he was "reaching out" to the other side

... and Mineta is reaching back - with a noose.

This is the sort of thing that may get Bush ejected from office, particularly if we get another airliner hijacked and destroyed. He can't say he isn't responsible for this mess. This is "his" agency, from start to finish and there is ZERO reason Liberal bureaucrats should be allowed to slow-roll this program and reject the stated will of Congress and the American People.

Bush needs to get a handle on this. Crap like this not only makes him look stupid, but out-of-control and incompetent! Not only that, it's dangerous!!

[Atlas Sneezed]

I wonder if the same screening process is used for Flight Marshals, ATF agents, FBI agents and IRS investigators, you know all of those Federal officers of the law who carry guns in case we peasants with pitch forks get uppity.

---

Excellent point. And in addition to these folks, don't foget to include the other federal bureaucrats who get to carry loaded pistols on airliners: USFS, EPA, etc.