Pilots Beg Bush to Allow Guns

NEWSMAX ^ | 4/5/02 | Limbacher

[Mulder]

I wonder how the Bush-bots will try to spin this one.

[VRWC_Member428]

Someone could get shot! Those guns are dangerous things you know, and we can't just go handing them out to just anybody.

How do we know we can trust these pilots with our lives? I mean sure, our lives are in their hands the entire time we're in the air, but Rosie and a whole bunch of smart people told me that perfectly good people turn into homicidal lunatics the moment they get their hands on a gun. Just between you and me, I think guns are possessed by demons!!!

I absolutely agree! Guns are complicated!

Controls on a Gun

Trigger
Safety
Slide
Slide Release
Clip Release

Guages on a gun
Sights
Slide (stays back when clip is empty)

Controls on a commercial airliner

Parking Brake
Ailerons
Rudder
Rudder Trim
Elevator
Elevator Trim
Fuel Flow (up to four engines)
Engine Start (up to four engines
Throttle (up to four engines)
Airbrakes
Flaps - multiple settings
Fasten Seatbelts Sign
Beacon Lights
Nav Lights
Strobe Lights
Panel Lights
Landing Lights
Main Battery
Generators
Anti-Ice switch
Landing Gear
Autopilot on/off
Autothrottle on/off
Flight Director
Heading
Altitude
Verticle Speed
Active Comm1 Channel
Standby Comm1 Channel
Comm1 Audio
Active Comm2 Channel
Standby Comm2 Channel
Comm2 Audio
Active NAV1 Channel
Standby NAV1 Channel
NAV1 Audio
Active NAV2 Channel
Standby NAV2 Channel
NAV2 Audio
Transponder Setting
ADF Setting
Stopwatch Start
Stopwatch Stop
Stopwatch reset
And more!

Guages in a commercial airliner
Clock
Airspeed
Vertical Speed
Heading
Attitude
Altitude
Turn Coordinator
Fuel Level
Flap Condition
Landing Gear Condition
Engine oil pressure
Engine temperature
Engine RPM
Master Warning Light
And more!

As we can clearly see, the brain of a pilot is already crammed full of knowledge. Surely they don't have any space left over to learn the five controls of a handgun, along with the two guages of a handgun!

(Yes, Freeeee, I know you were being sarcastic, as am I)

Imagine what happens when the x-ray machine paints a gun in a pilot's carry on! The screener (federal employee for life) will feel so impotent for allowing the pilot to carry! I sense a class action by the screeners union for psychological damage. (Could also be classified as DainBramage.)

I'm all for allowing Pilots to open carry.

--it has been suggested on another forum that the pilots strike for the right to be armed. I will volunteer to be on the picket line even though I have absolutely no sympathy for unions under most circumstances--

I'm a pilot in MS Flight Simulator only. (And unfortunately, I have the 2002 version - the one which has been watered down so that the commercial airline cockpits are no longer accurate) But that's one picket line I'd love to walk in!

The argument that a hole in the fuselage will make a plane go down is specious BS.

About a week ago, I watched a movie with my family about a 747 that got hijacked. By using a stealth aircraft, a special forces team got onto the 747. (I don't know the name of the movie) There was a scene once the shooting started where a large hole erupted in the side of the aircraft resulting from gunfire. An entire row of seats was depicted being blown out. To this, I yelled "B-- S--" (Barbra Striesand) several times.

[hmc48]

I absolutely agree that it's time the pilots had guns for protection. I work for a major "overnight freight carrier" and know first hand that airport security is no better than it was on Sept. 10. Think about it. Drive by an airport and you'll see that any person could climb over the fence and be on airport property with ease. Add to that the lost/stolen airport employee i.d.'s and there you have it. Sept. 11 all over again. All this hoopla about the security screeners being government employees and therefore so much BETTER is B.S. Bottom line is, there is NO WAY to stop terrorists intent on gaining access to an airplane. Too many ways to do it from the "inside," if not merely from the incompetent screeners. Reinforced cockpit doors? Another feeble attempt at safety. What happens when one of the crewmembers has to go to the lavatory. Opens the door, right???? It is time NOW to arm the crews, not worry about the gun control freaks.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

The church has admitted to 90+ priests abusing children in Massachusetts alone. Guess you don't read the papers all that much. Sticking your head in the sand won't make the problem go away.

What goes on in the Archdiocese of Boston is not indicative of what goes on in other dioceses in America. Boston, collectively, has long had the reputation, within the Roman Catholic Church, of tolerance of deviancy, unorthodoxy and liberalism. While Boston may have a huge problem, the Church as a whole does not. Does that mean that the priesthood, hierarchy and seminaries in America, as well as the entire world, should not be purged of moral deviants and those who tolerate them? No it doesn't. They should and shall be. Adopting the Chicken Little philosophy that the sky is falling because of the actions of an estimated 2% of the priests in America shows that your head is in a dark place. Whether that is sand or not remains to be determined.