[neverdem]

This is the only time I've ever agreed with Boxer that I can remember. Will wonders ever cease?

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[neverdem]

BANG

[My2Cents]

Perhaps Boxer believes she's actually in a tight race for re-election.

[Hodar]

This is the only time I've ever agreed with Boxer that I can remember. Will wonders ever cease?

You noticed that too?? I had to re-read it 4x, perhaps it's a belated April fools joke? I'm simply astounded....

[freeeee]

[Bobby777]

what's the rush? ... I mean September 11, 2001 was only 2.5 years ago ... /sarcasm ...

I'm sure no more terrorists have come across the border or anything ... /double-sarcasm

[KarlInOhio]

the remote location of the program's single training facility in Artesia, N.M.

I'm still trying to figure out any logic behind this other than making it inconvenient. You don't need a lot of open land to teach pilots how to fight inside a very small room. Why not rent time at shooting ranges in the major hub cities (Atlanta, etc.) to make it easy for pilots to attend? It's not like you need a lot of skills to make the shoot/don't shoot decision:

Arab with a knife taking over the plane: shoot.
Drunk passenger verbally abusing flight attendant: don't shoot.

How many minutes (not hours or days) does it take to teach that?

We could even get the aircraft fusalage from Salman Pak in Iraq, take it back to the US, and use that for the opposite of its original purpose.

[E Rocc]

You've gotta remember that the first head of TSA was Clinton's BATF director and the "F Troop" mentality still pollutes the agency. They'd much rather use police state tactics than arm non-officers.

-Eric

[OXENinFLA]

BOXER is for this, there's got to be a catch.

[tcuoohjohn]

Arming pilots is a stupid idea. The point about controlling an aircrat is to keep hijackers away from those who control the aircraft. A shootout at 34,000 feet between hijackers and pilots is just plain stupid. A skilled pilot can do manuevers that would bounce hijackers off the overhead and reduce them to do nothing but puking their guts out. A 757 is stressed to 5.5 positive G's and 3.5 negative G's. Let pilots do what they do best. Fly. After 15 minutes of zero g parabola's with alternate pos G and neg G maneuvers a would be hijacker would be awash in a sea of puke and would beg to land.

[Lady Jag]

Stamp out Stupidity

Vote Republican

Support FR

[aculeus]

This is as bad as the reluctance to profile.

What an outrage!

[an amused spectator]

I'm curious about whether airlines have changed their official policy of "accommodate, negotiate and do not escalate" with hijackers.

[dpwiener]

This is the only time I've ever agreed with Boxer that I can remember. Will wonders ever cease?

Barbara Boxer can read the polls, and she knows that even within California her extreme anti-gun positions gain her nothing (since she's already got the liberal vote locked up) and just energize her opponents. So she's found an issue on which she can agree with the pro-gun folks and she's running with it.

It's a smart political move. And she deserves our applause on this narrow issue. After all, that's how we have to shift the political calculus for politicians. We have to make it politically undesirable for them to oppose the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and politically rewarding for them to support RKBA.

Given the right carrot-and-stick combination, we may be able to keep moving Boxer in our direction. She won't do so out of principles or conviction, but out of political expediency. That's still better than nothing. And she's going to be in the U.S. Senate for at least another six years, since Bill Jones has approximately zero chance of upsetting her.

[Jotmo]

Bump

[MindBender26]

We have a huge federal law enforcement training center near Savannah,GA, another just outside DC.

We have tens of thousands of pilots who are former military, current reserve LEOs, etc. A quick background check can be done in less than 72 hours... less than 10 minutes in an emergency.

The psyc checks? We already trust these men and women to fly 400 people and 400,000 pound guided missiles, what more is needed?

Lockbox. Why? If weapon is stolen, how long would it take any street perp to break into any locked box? If not stolen, what's the problem?

Idiocy. Typical government-organized, taxpayer-funded idiocy!

[Redcloak]

It's always a shock to think that there are Federal employees who find an American with a gun to be more threatening than an Islamist with a bomb.

[goldstategop]

She's my home state Senator... She has an anti-gun record as long as her arm but in an election year, it doesn't hurt to take on the bureaucrats. The TSA needs to be made to get the message and I don't care who gets the political credit for it as long as our nation's pilots are finally armed.

[Mr. Jeeves]

"To have an agency that is unelected, that is sitting on legislation like this and not doing it is absolutely wrong," Boxer said. "In essence, TSA is turning its back on a law that is the law of the land."

Which doesn't bother her a bit when the EPA or the FDA or the IRS do it.

[John Jorsett]

Barbara BOXER, Überlib, is behind this? Reality disconnect.