Criminals use knives to hijack planes--let's ban handguns!

The Sierra Times ^ | 10.04.01 | Robert A. Waters

[lepton]

How many times have you heard of passengers getting irate and going ballistic on a flight?

As a caveat, how many times have you heard of people with CCW permits going ballistic? Another: How many times have you heard of people getting irate and going ballistic at a gun-show?

[Gunner9mm]

Actually, the real reason airlines will not agree to armed passengers is economic. They would have to stop selling alcohol on flights. They wnat to $4 of profit from each of those little bottles.

[lepton]

Hal.009 has the one reason I can see for not allowing free CCW... just get 8 or 10 on the same plane. OTOH, setting up a system whereby background checks are done for a Air Carry permit seems reasonable.

[budwiesest]

My fear is that while pursuing our 'nice guy' lifestyles, we've appeared weak to our adversaries who will jump on it as an opportunity to take advantage. Bin Laden is like Rodney King, and too many (liberals) have been conditioned to simply giving him a ticket(prosecuting) and sending him on his way, rather than yanking him out of the car and doing the pinata-baton dance on his head (taking it to his country so all of his friends and relatives can enjoy a retaliatory strike).

I share your concern about any 'Joe' armed and untrained on a plane, but then that should worry the terriorist as well. Of course, these guys don't care about the outcome, so whatever happens is going to be messy and some innocents may be involved. With suicidal terriorists, about the best you can hope for is the least loss of life when taking them down.

[lepton]

Oh but that wouldnt happen if civilians were allowed to carry their weapons on the plane would it? no, we could all pull out our sidearm and just pop one in his damn head huh?

The threat of such keeps down public mass murderers in places where firearms are freely carried. Even suiciders tend to want to actually accomplish something.

not to mention ripping a damn hole in the side of the plane or the fuselauge.

Minor consideration. Planes leak anyway. The biggest problem is the fogging up as the air pressure changes causing the passengers to freak out. No, the biggest problem is missing and hitting the pilot and/or controls. A couple of hours of training can solve that problem.

[lepton]

Hypothetical: You're sitting in the livingroom and hear your kid screaming outside. Your neighbor is beating the crap out of him. Do you A) call 911, or B) grab the nearest baseball bat and pulverize the sonofab!tch!!? "

What if the baseball bat, and the police are ten miles away...straight down.

[snooker]

>Myself, I dont agree with letting civilian citizens to carry guns on the airlines but I do support the Idea of all police and military personel being authorized to do so when traveling.

And you are probably aware that those that have CCWs must have a cleaner background and have undergone a full FBI background check and police don't?

I feel safer knowing a cop can be an ex-felon and a citizen with a CCW can't have any felony arrests.

And a sky marshall with three days training and a federal pension is going to save us all.

Sometimes head in sand is best.

snooker

[lepton]

And a sky marshall with three days training and a federal pension is going to save us all.

Actually they were talking about 36 weeks.

[Barak]

The last thing I want on an airplane that Im flying on is some Joe Smith losing his head and deciding that he wants to be a hero. Thanks but I'll pass. Just because people have the right to carry guns (which I support) doesnt mean that all of them have the mental capacity to handle such a situation. How many times have you heard of passengers getting irate and going ballistic on a flight? Well just imagine how that situation could turn out if they were allowed to carry a gun on them while being on that plane.

Gee...you sound just like Sarah Brady talking about concealed carry in general.

What are you afraid of? "Explosive depressurization?" That's a crock, and that objection has been refuted many times on this site alone, several times by me.