Posted on 10/04/2001 6:14:50 AM PDT by Enemy Of The State
Criminals use knives to hijack planes--
let's ban handguns!
By Robert A. Waters 10.04.01
It was as predictable as Ted Kennedy's bouts with the bottle and Barney Frank's bouts with his latest live-in lover.
As soon as the World Trade Center towers went down in flames and the Pentagon went up in smoke, the anti-gunners began looking for ways to link the crimes to guns. But since the skyjackers used knives to subdue the crews and passengers of the doomed planes, they knew it would be a hard sell.
Those of us who believe in gun rights, however, figured they'd find a way. Thomas Oliphant of the Boston Globe didn't disappoint.
The real problem, according to Oliphant, is the evil gun show.
These shows are the "ideal shopping mall for criminals in general and terrorists in particular." It doesn't matter that none of the knives used by the skyjackers were bought at gun shows--instead, they were almost certainly purchased at hardware stores. It doesn't matter that none of the uniforms they used to infiltrate the cockpits were bought at gun shows (there is evidence that they may have been stolen from foreign and domestic airports). In fact, there seems to be nothing to link the criminals who murdered thousands of innocent people to guns or gun shows.
But that's just an inconvenient detail.
According to Oliphant, people who oppose closing the so-called gun show "loopholes" are, like Attorney General John Ashcroft, "fanatics." (Note that the terrorists are also fanatics.)
Meanwhile, the Air Line Pilots Association has demanded that pilots be allowed to carry guns on airplanes. Union spokesman John Mazor explained that the strategy before September 11 had been to "accomodate, negotiate, and do not escalate. But that was before. The cockpit has to be defended at all costs."
The howls of rage from shocked gun-banners quickly muffled the call to arm pilots. According to anti-gun activists, bullets shot from a gun inside an airplane will blast through walls and windows, thereby decompressing the plane and causing it to crash. Captain Duane Woerth, union president, addressed that issue. The bullets supplied to the pilots would "basically come apart on first impact," he said. "They're very destructive to human tissue but it's very unlkely they would do serious damage to the fuselage."
A bevy of police officers quickly weighed in as well. Allow us to carry our weapons aboard, they said, and we won't hesitate to use them if confronted by skyjackers. Again, safety seemed to be secondary to the antis, who quickly squelched that idea, too.
Carrying guns on airplanes is nothing new. Armed sky marshals successfully ended a wave of skyjackings in the 1970s. But after the perceived threat vanished, so did the marshals. David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, estimated that now only a couple dozen remain. President Bush, lukewarm on arming pilots and on letting cops carry guns on airplanes, enthusiastically embraced the "air marshal" approach, the one deterrent sure to cost milions of taxpayer dollars.
So on the one hand you have anti-gunners calling for more restrictions on guns to foil future skyjackers (who rarely use guns). On the other hand, the pilot's union is demanding that their members be allowed to carry firearms so they'll have a fighting chance to save themselves and their passengers.
What's the general public to think?
They would do well to remember that the biggest massacre of innocent civilians was caused not by guns but by criminals using boxcutter knives. That the largest school massacre in history was caused by someone using dynamite (Andrew Kehoe, Bath, Michigan, on May 18, 1927), not guns. That even more recently, a Greyhound bus carrying more than thirty passengers was wrecked by a man carrying a knife--at least six people were killed in the ensuing crash after the man attacked the driver.
And they might do well to remember that guns save many more lives than they take.
But those who oppose guns will continue to ignore the facts. In their rush to incrementally restrict law-abiding citizens' access to self-protection, they will continue to try to close the fantasy gun show loophole. (In fact, buyers and sellers at gun shows are bound by the same laws as everyone else).
Shame on those who would try to use the tragedy of September 11 to further their anti-gun agenda.
Let me repeat, guns weren't used by the terrorists.
It was knives.
So when are we gonna close that hardware store loophole?
New tone in DC = Compromised principles
Reaching out to Dems = Bending us over
Perhaps it is that they both have aa Socialist agenda that they are able to so easily come to these compromises.
I will fight them tooth and nail. I'm raising my son to do the same.
Going on the assumption that these are intelligent people and know exactly what they are doing, helpless is exactly how they want us. What is even more scary, is that until a bomb is dropped in someone's neighborhood, they don't care a rat's ass about all of this.
I have a concealed carry license. I am trained and qualified, and I shoot regularly to maintain proficiency. I am not some trigger-happy lunatic. Why should I not be allowed to carry my gun on a plane? Is a police officer better qualified? My experience is that they are not. I shoot more often than most police officers. Am I less stable or reliable? I realize that you don't know me and can't answer these questions. They are meant to be rhetorical. But my position is that I should be able to carry wherever I go, as my right to self defense does not stop at the airport.
I pay taxes, I'm a better shot, I carry better firearms, I know more about firearms, I'm smarter, probably been shot at more, etc.
Or are you really NOT an "Enemy of the State"?
prambo
If you trusted Dumblya, you must not have been paying attention during the primaries. Shrub, just like his worthless cowardly father stands for NOTHING. He campaigned as Pro-Life and yet he rolled over on fetal tissue research. he claims to be Pro-2nd Amendment and yet he never mentioned rolling back any of the unConstitutional gun laws.
The fact that he would rather have the Air Force shoot down airliners than let passengers or even pilots carry guns for self defense shouldn't come as a surprise.
Answer: We denied our masculinity. We softened our spines. We delegated our responsibility to protect ourselves and families to agencies, some alphabetical, but most displaying badges.
Another time, another place, our Senators who sponsor disarmament(gun grabbing) legislation would have been run out of town on a rail. And a million Moms would have had more important things to do than crowd around a mall and bitch.
Our overseas adversaries would have had much more to fear from this era of Americans. And would have demonstrated it by showing more respect than they do today. We could change it, but I'm not so sure we have the collective spinal rigidity to get it done. 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!!?
If you chose B, then there is still hope.
Yes! I am an Enemy of the state but Im not stupid either.
I have a weapon, a permit to carry it concealed and I fully excercise my right to do so. Just because I favor the Idea of Military personel and Police being able to carrying weapons over civlians on airlines doesnt mean that Im pro police. However, they are better trained to handle situations such as what may arise on an airline requiring the use of lethal force. 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. 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? not to mention ripping a damn hole in the side of the plane or the fuselauge. I have learned from experience that there are a lot of people out there that are not mentally responsible enough to use a weapon in those situations.
Regards,
Enemy of the State
Well, I would tell my wife as Im runing out the door to call 911 because that poor sonofab!thc is goning to need an ambulance.
Just can't let go of that 'compassion/caring' thing, eh? :^)
Actually that was sarcasm
"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." THis is the same arguement used by anti's concerning concealed carry in general. Of course they use "Road Rage" as an example instead of "Air rage". Evidence does not support your hypothesis that civilians will get angry and pull a gun. Why do you find this likely but at the same time think that all LEO's will be zen saints? Isn't it concievable that a Sky Marshall could get so angry at the food service that he pulls out a gun and starts blowing people away? I hope you find the concept as unlikely as I do.
"I have learned from experience that there are a lot of people out there that are not mentally responsible enough to use a weapon in those situations." Unfortunately I agree with you...and that includes some LEO's I know. Proper training is all we can do for that situation. In the 9-11 massacre an idiot who wasn't "Mentally Resonsible" yet had a gun or two wouldn't have made the situation any worse.
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