[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Please locate my previous thread on this subject and link this to it.

[anniegetyourgun]

If the union is serious about not relenting until they see this as a reality, I'd put my money on them.

[freeeee]

You really think arming pilots is going to make people safe?

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!!!

What we need is a sensible method to instill safety in the skies. I propose that in the case of a hijacking, we'll provide for the safety of the passengers and crew by blowing the entire plane out of the sky with an F-16's missile.

[waxhaw]

It really is interesting (though not surprising to me) that Bush would side against the pilots on this when there is absolutely no rational reason for doing so. The message being sent by the Bushites is "trust the government, not the people this government is supposed to serve". It's time to start writing those worthless idiots in Congress about this issue.

[Mike K]

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.)

[rellimpank]

--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--

[Gritty]

What I find mind-bogglingly absurd is; arming the pilots will provide a sound, cheap, effective, and quick-to-implement additional positive step in the chain leading from a hijacking attempt to the massacre of the passengers, crew and untold numbers of people on the ground - either through success of the hijacking or success of the F-16 "final solution".

And we don't want to put in this step because we're afraid a gun will be stolen or somebody will get accidentally shot during a hijacking!!??

Please help me out here. What is the address of this Lunatic Asylum we find ourselves living in? I want to send out for a pizza before the world ends.

[samtheman]

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, who has drawn criticism recently for opposing the arming of most U.S. border guards - for fear that Mexico and Canada might take offense.

I choked on my coffee when I read this line. How will this offend Mexico and Canada? And if by some irrational chance it does (please explain to me how), who cares?

[Mulder]

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

[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.