Costly Air Marshal Service a Waste of Money

Scripps Howard News Service ^ | June 29, 2009 | Michael Collins

[DBrow]

This makes a great deal of sense. Since nothing has happened, no hijacking or major disruptions, the presence of these armed slugs is not needed.

Disarm the pilots by killing funding to their training, eliminate the air marshals, next take he fancy detectors out of the security lines at airports.

What could go wrong, Congressman Duncan?

I've noticed more and more articles critical of the Air MArshal program, apparently trying to prepare public opinion for when they pull the plug. Next will come a series of high-profile "scandals" to call further attention to the program. In this article they mention a dozen or so problems out of the 4400 or so people in the program. hey, how many people in Congress have criminal records?

[pissant]

This guy needs to calm down. He sounds like an idiot.

[driftdiver]

I actually agree with him. Passengers have shown they will step in and take control of any situation if needed.

Pilots should have guns. Air marshals are easy to spot and any serious terrorist would take them out first.

[JRandomFreeper]

I'm cool with defunding, tied to allowing passengers to lawfully carry.

/johnny

[DaGman]

About the only thing that the whole airport security thing has accomplished is create huge markets for security devices for airports. As with all things branded as “good for business”, the consumer has to put up with it.

[Iron Munro]

That's like Dodge City deciding they didn't need Marshal Wyatt Earp anymore because the crime and killing rate dropped way off.

[Cicero]

I’m inclined to agree with him. The government has done everything possible to disarm the pilots and copilots, making it almost impossible for any of them to qualify to carry a weapon. If they were actually permitted to be armed, which apparently few of them are, then fewer air marshals would be necessary.

The numbers cited here are pretty telling.

[rightwingjew]

With armed pilots and armed passengers there would have been no 911. Arabs with box cutters? Taste my hollow point 45.

[Lockbar]

Congressman DUMMY!

[antiunion person]

Passengers wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell if trained terrorists took over control of an aircraft. Pilots need to be allowed to carry firearms in the cockpit and air marshals are needed to man the planes. For anyone who has ever flown, did you notice how attentive passengers are when the flight attendants were giving instructions? People are in their own little world until someone waves a gun around and they go into hysterics.
The airlines need to have trained personnel to handle any and all situations. Why pilots are not allowed to carry is beyond me. Most, if not all, pilots are retired military or reservists and they are certainly well trained in the handling of firearms.
Just because Duncan gets to fly on his own private jet, does not give him the right to make flying more dangerous for the rest of us. I wonder what airline company brought him off to make this charge?

[DBrow]

Pilots are locked behind their new security doors. For an armed pilot to respond to an emergency in the cabin requiring a gun, he’d have to unlock that armored door and open it, which could be the entire reason for the cabin ruckus.

His logic is saying that we don’t need an armed person in the cabin because nothing has happened is loony. Maybe things don’t happen just because there is deadly force?

If a bank has never been robbed, why post a guard? Or have a vault, for that matter.

[DBrow]

I’ll vote for you!

[Cementjungle]

I wonder if this guy flies on commercial flights.

[OneWingedShark]

I’d replace it with laws allowing people with CCWs from point-of-origin or point-of-destination to carry on-board the aircraft... and allow all military personnel (retired, active duty, national guard, and honorable-discharge) to carry on-board as well.

Then we’d have far more than 4000 armed personnel on flights. (Besides, “enemies foreign and domestic” would include a terrorist act on a plane, wouldn’t it? If it DOESN’T then how legitimate would the National Guard shooting down a crop-duster dusting the Super Bowl be?)

[doc1019]

If you can spot an Air Marshal … he/she ain’t one. Trust me on that one.

[DBrow]

I was going through Reagan when they got a strong “hit” for RDX. Turns out the guy worked at an explosives range and had a good reason to have RDX on his briefcase.

Had it been some guy who stole a block of C4 or had made a device of Semtex, he would have been stopped.

The fancy xray machines catch guns, stray bullets, pepper spray, commercial fireworks, so they are not a totl waste of money either.

But the CLEAR system with the low RF freq shoe scanner is a waste.

[OneWingedShark]

See post 16.

[doc1019]

Considering that the Air Marshall program is one of the cheapest programs in the anti-terrorist program system and conceivably the best active deterrent … what’s the problem?