Posted on 04/02/2004 10:02:05 AM PST by neverdem
Senator Tells TSA: Arm Pilots or Lose Funding
By Robert B. Bluey
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
April 02, 2004
Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Frustrated by the Transportation Security Administration's delay in arming airline pilots with guns, four members of Congress said Thursday they want the agency to quit dragging its feet.
"We're not interested in any excuses from here on out. This is too important to our national security," said Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), who introduced legislation that would require TSA to speed up the process of arming pilots.
Bunning was joined by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who is sponsoring a companion bill in the House. But it was the Kentucky senator who had the harshest words for TSA.
"They'll get the message or they'll lose their money for the program," Bunning said. "We'll put it somewhere where it will get the job done."
Congress passed the federal flight deck officer program in November 2002 in hopes of making airline pilots the last line of defense against hijackings. A year later lawmakers added cargo pilots to the program.
But, as a CNSNews.com investigation found, TSA has made the program cumbersome and discouraging for pilots. According to Wilson, less than 1 percent of the 40,000 pilots who signed up to participate have been trained.
Pilots have complained about the way federal flight deck officers must transport their firearms - in lockboxes, except inside the cockpit; TSA-administered background investigations, psychological exams and the release of personal information; and the remote location of the program's single training facility in Artesia, N.M.
"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."
Added Bunning, "It's not up to them to like the legislation. It's up to them to implement the legislation that the Congress passed."
When asked to respond Thursday, a TSA spokeswoman requested that CNSNews.com submit written questions. The agency had not responded to the inquiry as of Thursday evening.
The lawmakers at Thursday's gathering on Capitol Hill stressed that TSA already has the authority to properly implement the law. But they said that clearly isn't happening, given the complaints from pilots and the small number who have successfully completed the training.
"This could be done administratively by TSA," Wilson said. "All we're trying to do is really push what should already occur."
The bill, called the "Cockpit Security Technical Corrections and Improvement Act," makes a number of changes that would speed up the process of arming pilots and tear down the barriers that turn off pilots from ever applying.
Not only would pilots have to be trained within 90 days, but it would also allow pilots with a military or law enforcement background to be armed immediately.
The TSA would have to open more training facilities and use private training facilities for recurrent training, according to the bill. The agency would be responsible for picking up the tab for the pilots' travel expenses.
The legislation would also end the use of lockboxes, allow pilots to carry a gun outside the cockpit and let them pass through security like other law enforcement officers. Pilots could sue the TSA if the agency violates the law.
"As airline pilots, our fundamental mission remains the same: get our passengers, our crew, our cargo safely to its destination," said David Mackett, president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance. "It is unfortunate, but nevertheless true, that fulfilling that mission now requires new tools, including an armed cockpit."
Representatives from the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, Astar Air Cargo and the Law Enforcement Alliance for America were also on hand to offer their support.
Bunning, citing an urgent need for the legislation, promised to take the matter up with the Senate Commerce Committee immediately.
"It is a gaping hole in our national security, particularly for those who fly on a daily basis or a weekly basis," Bunning said. "And we're all, the people here in this Congress, on that schedule. So it isn't just for us, but it's for all the daily commuters and fliers that we plug this big hole."
And for someone like Boxer, who flies frequently to her home state of California, the issue transcends her typical alignment with gun-control proponents. Both the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and Gun Owners of America are strong proponents of the legislation.
"We're not just going to sit quietly by," Boxer said. "This whole program was meant to make sure that what happened on 9/11 never happens again. This is a plan that is a very important part of that never happening again. And they're not executing it. And we've pretty much had it."
See Earlier Story:
Thousands of Pilots Won't Fly Armed, Blame TSA (Jan. 15, 2004)
E-mail a news tip to Robert B. Bluey.
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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.
You have no idea if it was even possible.
Against company policy to perform evasive maneuvers in Civilan aircraft.
That is absolutely hilarious! You really think they gave a damn about that?!
It might upset the passengers.
Oh stop, my sides hurt from laughing.
tcuoohjohn, allow me to educate you about something called 'the funnel of death'. Any time someone has to go through a small opening such as a door or window, they pass through this. During this time they are extremely vulnerable to being shot, in fact it's almost 100% probable if those on the other side know the assailants are coming which is a certainty in a hijacking.
The beauty of the 'funnel of death' is the person doing the shooting doesn't need be a trained marksman. Anyone with even average eye/hand coordination (pilots) can do it with only enough training to be proficient with their weapon.
What does this all mean? It means that NO ONE is going to survive charging a cockpit containing an armed pilot.
Do you know what happens now if an airliner is hijacked? It is blown from the sky by our own military, killing everyone on board. Now you tell me, what damage can a handgun to that an air to air missile can't?
tcuoohjohn, whether you know it or not you most certainly favor armed pilots taking out hijacked airliners, only the ones you like look like this...
Which doesn't bother her a bit when the EPA or the FDA or the IRS do it.
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