Beware 'friendly fire' at airports

A crowded airport thronged with people, slowed by security. A passenger bolts through the security measures and races up the escalator, yelling, "To hell with you. I'm gone." A National Guardsman starts to draw his gun. Even in the holster it has a bullet in the chamber and the safety is off. The Guardsman's finger is on the trigger, and halfway out of his holster, his gun fires. … What do you think happens next?

This never occurred. Not as a single incident. But both pieces of this scenario did occur, and the idea they could happen together should make us concerned about airport security and the potential for a dangerous "friendly fire" incident against civilians.

Guardsmen with automatic weapons and sidearms have become a common sight in and around public places over the last several months. Initially, some were carrying weapons with no ammunition. Now, apparently, not only are their weapons loaded, but also may be carried with a bullet in the chamber and the safety off. Nothing else can explain the incident at SFO. And nothing could be more dangerous.

Members of the National Guard are soldiers. As Rush Limbaugh puts it, the job of the soldier is to "break things and kill people." A soldier focused on defense is someone who is and should be dangerous. But he is not necessarily prepared to deal with apprehending a fugitive or protecting 99.9999 percent of the people in a crowded terminal while still taking out the bad guy. And, if you want to imagine the outcome of the scenario in the first paragraph of this article, one is the less-than-discriminate use of an M-16 in a crowded airport. What will we do then?

Let's re-examine the security perspective that led to the presence of the National Guard at our airports. It was a "feel-good" measure designed to reassure jittery airline passengers that they were safe from terrorist attacks. But none of the Sept. 11 terrorists had anything more dangerous than a box cutter, and automatic weapons have mostly been used as weapons of terror in destabilized areas (such as Israel, Lebanon and Bosnia).

Heavily armed military or police guards fail to address the threat. The modus operandi of the terrorist in stable countries uses small teams or individuals, indirect weapons (such as bombs), and a complete lack of the fear of death that makes police operations infeasible. Can a Guardsman or security officer stop a suicide bomber by threatening to shoot him? Absurd. Will the presence of the National Guard prevent a terrorist from parking a bomb-laden truck in front of an airport or a concert venue or a sports stadium? In the event the terrorist is detected in that act, will a Guardsman be more effective in stopping him than a police officer or a well-trained and armed security guard, or even a trained civilian with a carry permit? Unlikely.

And even well-trained SWAT teams have caused accidental or mistaken civilian deaths.

Conservatives and libertarians have another reason to be alarmed about the current use of the National Guard for these purposes, which is the nonobservance of the Posse Comitatus Act. Congress 120 years ago created the PCA when President Grant used military personnel to supplement federal Marshals at the polling places in South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida.

The PCA is a federal law and does not apply directly to the National Guard (which is primarily a state militia). But citizens are unlikely to make so strict a separation. What they see are military personnel "protecting" them, reducing their shock at this "banana republic" display, and that sight could lead to the final negation of the PCA. Already, use of the military in the "War on Drugs" has led to tragic and fatal incidents.

Is there a better answer? Let's keep in mind the objective – to prevent terrorists from turning airliners into cruise missiles. The best protection against that is the armed pilot, backed up with the frequent use of air marshals, deputized off-duty police and alert citizens ready to act. Then the Guard can go do what they do best, and we will be more secure.

Mark Cashman is a software architect, a digital artist, composer and freelance writer whose politics can be found at temporaldoorway.com.

Doesn't the national guard carry double action Berretta 92's? Which technically are supposed to be carried with the "safety" (actually a combination decocking lever / safety on the most common configurations) off because there is no quick, sure and easy way to disengage the safety with the strong hand while drawing and firing.

Yes, some Guardsmen in some locations have been carrying the M9 pistol, made by Beretta. In others, as here in Memphis, they're carrying M16A2 rifles.

And in Ft Lauderdale, among other weapons, they're using M203 grenade launchers. Let's hope they make no mistakes with one of those....

M9 PISTOL:

Primary function: Semiautomatic pistol
Builder: Beretta and Beretta USA
Length: 8.54 inches (21.69 centimeters)
Width: 1.50 inches (3.81 centimeters)
Height: 5.51 inches (14 centimeters)
Barrel length: 4.92 inches (12.5 centimeters)
Weight fully loaded: 2.55 pounds (1.16 kilograms)
Bore diameter: 9mm (approximately .355 inches)
Maximum effective range: 152.5 feet (50 meters)
Magazine capacity: 15 rounds
Muzzle velocity: 1200 feet (365 meters) per second
Unit Replacement Cost: $263

Features: The M9 is a light weight, semiautomatic pistol manufactured by Beretta and designed to replace the M1911A1 .45 caliber pistol and .38 caliber revolvers. The M9 has redundant automatic safety features to help prevent unintentional discharges. It can be fired in either double or single action mode and can be unloaded without activating the trigger while the safety is in the "on" position.

The M9 pistol has a 15-round magazine, and may be fired without a magazine inserted. This weapon can have the hammer lowered from the cocked, "ready to fire," position to the uncocked position without activating the trigger by placing the thumb safety on the "on" position.

Inventory: 82,000

Background: The 9mm Pistol Program was a Congressionally-directed Non-Developmental Initiative to standardize DoD with NATO and field one handgun for all United States armed services. Beretta of Italy was awarded a multi-year contract for delivery of over 500,000 pistols. The contract award stipulated that production of the weapon must transition from Italian to US production after two years. The US Army is the lead service in this program.

I think the article makes sense. Every guardsmans I've seen has been armed with an M16. In the terminals, not on the airport perimeters, I think the NG are the wrong people for the job, the wrong mindset. They may me needed temporarily to fill a gap, but I'd much rather see local police.

You may find the information at the link to be of interest, since there is a US service not covered by the Posse Comitatus Act that has had the experience of serving as armed guards aboard US Railway Post Offices in the 1922-26 period, following a number of particularly brutal mail/train robberies in which postal employees were murdered. The Marine presence brought such incidents to a screeching halt, and the policy and regulations regaerding their activity could well serve as an example today- if the idea is really to deter foreign enemy terrorists rather than to treat the American people to the sight of the National Guard as an occupying force.

US Marine Mail Guards, 1921-1926

Subject:
Miscellaneous Instructions,
13 December 1921,
from The Major General Commandant:

1. In cases where trains carrying Marines guarding mails cross the Canadian Boundry enroute to another point in the United States, the Marines, upon crossing the boundry, shall place their arms in a registered mail-sack and turn over the sack to Canadian Post Office Officials (who accompany the train) until such time as the train re-crosses into the United States. Under no circumstances shall Marines exercise a military function in Canadian teritory.

2. Shotguns preferably will be carried with filled magazine and empty chamber, in order to avoid accidents.

3. Pistols may be carried loaded, cocked and locked. The holster should be fastened to the leg and the flap tucked or tied back, so as not to interfere with drawing. The Marine (if not carrying other arms) should carry his hand on the pistol butt.

4. Arrangements should be made for each mail-coach to carry a supply of ordinary railroad flares, which should be ignited and thrown out of the car if an attack is made on it. Also, in case of attack on a car, interior lights should be put out. On trains lighted with electricity the guard should be prepared to turn out all lights.

5. The Marines should be continually reminded that they will use their firearms to wound or kill only when necesarry to prevent robbery or theft of the mails. The use of firearms except for this purpose must be avoded.

6. Where it is decided to convene a summary court-martial and a shortage of officers exists, a request may be made on the local Recruiting Officer for one or more officers to report for this temporary duty. When they report, the Commanding Officer may order them as members of the Court-Martial. In such cases, the officer or officers requested should be junior to the officer ordering the court.

7. Cases have arisen where men have been transferred to barracks without punishment for the offense which caused their transfer. Except in cases serious enough to warrant trial by General Court-Martial, men should be tried, before transfer, by a Deck Court or Summary Court-Martial, as it will be impracticable to bring them to trial after transfer. Men committing offenses warranting a general court-martial should be held at their station until a decision in the premises has been received from Headquarters.

8. The official title of the Detachments is --U.S. Marine Corps Detached Guard Company ( Place ). For instance, "U.S. MARINE CORPS DETACHED GUARD COMPANY, WASHINGTON, D.C.". Hereafter no other title will be used.

9. Commanding Officers must take steps to provide a suitable Christmas and New Years for their commands. No doubt much can be done for their entertainment by enlisting the good offices of local welfare organizations.

10. Precious orders regarding transfer, for discharge of men from U.S. Marine Corps Detached Guard Companies to nearest Recruiting Office or Barracks, are rescinded. Hereafter Commanding Officers of U.S. Marine Corps Detached Guard Companies will discharge their men in the same manner as any other Commanding Officer.

(signed) LOGAN FELAND
by direction"

I'm not certain of just what your question is. The NG ND at SFO was with IIRC a B-92 in Condition Two. The salient point of that incident is the illustration of the utter incompetetance of THIS armed federal agent at an airport. In the hundreds of gun safety students that I've observed (yes, an anecdote), there have been no NDs. I carry my DA/SA CCW in Condition Two

And I have carried my Browning GP [and sometimes, M1911A1 .45 autopistols] in *condition zero* with the chamber loaded, hammer at full cock and safety in the fire position and ready to go, as I have since 1969, without an inadvertant discharge yet. My holsters are constructed so as to prevent a finger or other object from coming in contact with the trigger as the weapon is removed, unlike that poor goof with his National Guard-issue M9 and probable M12 nylon holster with its nylon and plastic elastic restraining strap. But you and I practice more frequently than one weekend per month, and that Guardie must also take his mandatory human relations courses on such things as racial relations, sexual harassment, and the use of unauthorized words, and so cannot devote his precious little time to mastering the use of his equipment.

But the P210 at DEFCON 4 with a DDW/SW in NH LOP-SEC 2 was CONSEC in DERWEC of the POP-2 Niner Niner SEPFEST on the DEL SOP CREP DUN, making the NOP 219 in TW of the 718.10 USC NOP CON.

(I know what all your acronyms meant but it struck me so acronym-filled that I had to pull your chain....)

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