Posted on 03/17/2009 7:03:27 AM PDT by RecallMoran
After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings.
Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology.
The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots.
This looks like completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots. The 12,000 Federal Flight Deck Officers, the pilots who have been approved to carry guns, are reported to have the best behavior of any federal law enforcement agency. There are no cases where any of them has improperly brandished or used a gun. There are just a few cases where officers have improperly used their IDs.
Fewer than one percent of the officers have any administrative actions brought against them and, we are told, virtually all of those cases “are trumped up.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
OK but that makes little difference now. Hold the current administration accountable for their actions. Obama and the Obamabots take great pride in using Conservative Cynics to promote their agenda.
Don’t fall into that trap.
Can you ping your lists?
Pilots wear uniforms - and liberals hate that. Look what they're doing to Vet health insurance. Then again, maybe it's just hatred of all things conservative...
We have two perfectly good vehicles to take us anywhere in the USA......I’ll never go out of the country again anyhoo so we’ll just drive wherever we wanna go.......see more that way. Hope you don’t have too many international flights Dawg.:(
Did he take marshalls off planes, too? or do we know?
I am so sick of this monster already. Wasn’t he going to be transparent about everything. Liar, liar, pants on fire!
AMEN. It’s time to give GW a rest!
We should be doing what the Israeli’s do on their airlines. We wait until something happens before we do anything. They prepare BEFORE and prevent things from happening.
One pilot also posted saying he didn't think being armed would make a difference since the guns had to be stored in a locked box. I'm guessing the pilots of the 9/11 flights would have felt differently at the time. I'd be curious if there are any pilots here who could give their opinion.
HE DIDN’T SAY THAT. THere’s enough truth out there that’s bad without making things up. That sentence is completely out of context.
Did Rush talk about this?
I wouldn’t know. I don’t listen to Rush.
Are we disarming pilots?
posted at 9:39 am on March 18, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
After 9/11, the US began a new program allowing airline pilots to arm themselves in order to defend the cockpit against terrorist incursion. Along with air marshals, the armed pilots formed a last line of defense against hijackings and worse, such as the al-Qaeda actions that killed 3,000 Americans by using commercial jets as guided missiles. The Washington Times reports that the Obama administration has decided to end the program without letting anyone know about it:
After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings.
Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology.
The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots.
It’s not just a diversion of funds from training, either. The Times editorial accuses the new administration of hostility towards the program and using bureaucratic red tape to kneecap it. The pilots who want to defend themselves and their passengers cannot speak out publicly for fear of retribution:
Since Mr. Obama’s election, pilots have told us that the approval process for letting pilots carry guns on planes slowed significantly. Last week the problem went from bad to worse. Federal Flight Deck Officers - the pilots who have been approved to carry guns - indicate that the approval process has stalled out.
Pilots cannot openly speak about the changing policies for fear of retaliation from the Transportation Security Administration. Pilots who act in any way that causes a “loss of confidence” in the armed pilot program risk criminal prosecution as well as their removal from the program. Despite these threats, pilots in the Federal Flight Deck Officers program have raised real concerns in multiple interviews.
The only people wanting to disarm pilots, as the Times notes in its editorial, are anti-gun extremists … and terrorists. It costs next to nothing to have a pilot arm him/herself. The $2 million in training directly contributes to airline safety. Compare that spending to Porkulus, where $5 million of the $700 billion in government money will go to buy snowmakers. In Duluth.
Only about 3% of all flights have air marshals. That makes for a good deterrent for a single hijacker, but AQ and other organized terrorists can overcome that by using multiple attacks, just as they did on 9/11. Cockpit doors have been reinforced, but they are not impenetrable. An armed pilot, properly trained and equipped, can make the difference between life and death, and not just for the people in the air.
If the Obama administration is pandering to the anti-gun lobby with this initiative — and it’s hard to see why else Obama would shut down this program — then gun owners should dread what comes next out of the White House.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/03/18/are-we-disarming-pilots/
Aviation Ping List
“Capt. “Sulley” would be a good one to bring this to the attention of the American public.”
How do we know that he is not anti-gun?
My only protest against the smoke and mirrors of airline/aircraft security, has been not to fly since 9-11.
For anyone not to know what it was that allowed cockpit access to the 9-11 murderers and the loss of control of the aircraft to the same murdering Muslims, just leaves me speechless, and unable to fly on airline aircraft.
Now let it be known that is airline aircraft. Private and corporate aircraft are just fine as long as the items necessary for proper security are in place.
TSA Reconfirms Commitment to FFDO Program
March 17, 2009
In stark contrast to an op-ed article in today’s edition (March 17, 2009) of the Washington Times, that claims “…President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology,” TSA officials reassured ALPA they are committed to the FFDO program and have plans for its expansion.
TSA’s leadership immediately contacted ALPA and requested a meeting to discuss this news report. ALPA representatives met with TSA executives this afternoon and were told that TSA embraces the FFDO program, that there are no plans to reduce or restrict its growth, and that the agency fully intends to grow and expand the program.
Government representatives acknowledged that the program needs additional funding to achieve these goals, and that they are actively pursuing sources of additional funding. These funds will be used to enhance the program’s management structure and oversight, which if implemented, will address an ALPA Board of Directors security priority. TSA is currently training hundreds of pilots each year and plans to continue to train at least that number or more into the future. The size of the FFDO cadre has grown so large that additional resources are needed to provide greater structure and oversight to this important program, which TSA referred to today as “an important layer of defense.”
“ALPA is very pleased that the TSA was so proactive in communicating its concerns to the Association and we are likewise pleased that we are able to report this good news to the membership,” said ALPA President, Capt. John Prater. “ALPA values its relationship with the TSA, and it is obvious from the way the agency handled this event that the feeling is mutual.”
Stay tuned.
Yes, sure, right.
Obama can be believed. Barf
My research indicates this story is bogus - check Fox news.
The crawl along the bottom on FoxNews this morning said that TSA wants to EXPAND the law (allow more guns in cockpits)
Is this another Obama backtrack?
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