Posted on 09/27/2001 9:11:26 PM PDT by VinnyTex
Edited on 04/22/2004 11:45:33 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
By John R. Lott Jr. Mr. Lott is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of "More Guns, Less Crime" (University of Chicago Press, 2000).
President Bush yesterday unveiled a plan to tighten airline security, ranging from employing the National Guard at airports to place more marshals on flights. Those are important steps, but they won't be enough, especially since no one knows where the terrorists will strike next. The only adequate response is to encourage more ordinary, responsible citizens to carry guns, as Israel has done.
(Excerpt) Read more at interactive.wsj.com ...
In the meantime, I know what I want for Christmas. I want my CCW to be honored everywhere, anytime, out of state.
I carry WHEN I'm "allowed" to. The CC License I have says "a person is guilty of a misdemeanor when he carries to or while at a public gathering any explosive compound, firearm, or knife designed for the purpose of offense and defense. 'Public gathering' shall include, but shall not be limited to, athletic or sporting events, churches or church functions, political rallies or functions, publicly owned or operated buildings, or establishments at which alcoholic beverages are sold for consumption on the premises."
Now you can make the argument that the 2A says I should be able to "bear arms" and does not put any restrictions on it. Fine, but until the lower law is changed, I'm going to abide by it (at least until fighting in the streets is a common occurrence, then a license will not matter).
I would like to see a National Concealed Carry License (NCCL) that trumps any state requirements. The license I envision is free from any of the restrictions stated above, but requires annual proof that the person holding the license is a law-abiding citizen and has a modest proficiency with arms.
A NCCL would go very far to discourage crime and smaller acts of terrorism. The NCCL would virtually eliminate firearms from being used as a weapon of choice by the terrorist cowards. Right now, there is NOTHING to stop them from going to a church on Sunday morning and killing or wounding 100 or more (and probably live to do it again!).
The public at large would have a hard enough time buying off on the NCCL concept, much less an atmosphere that allows everyone to go about armed EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME. I just don't think the latter will ever happen.
4 or 5 terrorists randomly seated on plane. Terrorist closest to front stands, grabs a flight attendant and, holding a large plastic blade he’d sewn into his clothing to her throat, announces he’s hijacking the aircraft. LONE sky marshal, weapon drawn, declares himself, and commands terrorist to release hostage and assume the position. During take down and marshal’s attention focused on first terrorist, terrorists behind marshal swarm and subdue him – and take his weapon! Unless the OTHER passengers come to his aid and take down the bad guys, the terrorists now have the only weapon on the aircraft and are now in command.
IT’S A NO-BRAINER, MR. BUSH: WITHOUT A GUN ON THE FLIGHT DECK, THE PLANE WILL EITHER BECOME A GUIDED MISSLE or BE SHOT DOWN BY THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE – PER YOUR ORDERS.
I AND MY LOVED ONES ARE SURE AS HELL NOT GETTING BACK ON A COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT UNTIL THE GUYS UP FRONT HAVE SOME MEANS TO KEEP US ALL ALIVE.
AND THEY ALREADY HAVE! Title 14 CFR 108.11 already authorizes airline pilots to carry firearms.
Check it out yourself by punching “14CFR 108.11” into any decent search engine.
Meanwhile, the Airline Pilots Association is petitioning Congress to pass a law allowing them to carry firearms in the cockpit. Doesn’t this association have lawyers, and don’t these lawyers ever check the law books? It’s already there! Here’s a piece:
Sec. 108.11 Carriage of weapons. (a) No certificate holder required to conduct screening under a security program may permit any person to have, ...on or about his or her person or property, a deadly or dangerous weapon, either concealed or unconcealed, accessible to him or her while aboard an airplane for which screening is required unless:
(1) The person having the weapon is-- (i) An official or employee of the United States (Why are they so !@#$% special?) or ... (ii) Authorized to have the weapon by the certificate holder and the Administrator and has successfully completed a course of training in the use of firearms acceptable to the Administrator.
A friend who is a Delta 767 Captain phoned to inform me of this. Pull up the whole statute and read it closely. I asked him about the "certificate holder."
"That’s the airline," he barked. "They have the authority to put a gun in anyone’s hands, according to the law already on the books."
He’s right. That "person" referred to is not restricted to pilots. They way I read it, the airline can authorize anyone to carry a weapon anytime, and that means you and me. It is strictly up to them. The bozos could have made the flights a lot safer a long time ago by simply utilizing this statute with prudence.
The guns would stay inside the cockpit if the pilot needs to leave for the restroom or anything else to prevent a passenger from grabbing it. The guns are a last line of defense. We cannot trust the pilots to save us if we deny them the necessary tools.
Molon Labe!
Durn italians won't go away!
The pasta conspiracy!
I think we're on the same side of the arguement.
It just frosts me every time I read of States or governments granting "rights". Wait'll they license breathing 'rights'.
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