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No Guns In The Cockpits
King Features Syndicate ^ | 3/18/02 | Charley Reese

Posted on 03/18/2002 12:09:40 AM PST by GalvestonBeachcomber


No Guns In The Cockpits

Our federal government gets awfully quirky at times. Take the issue of arming pilots with pistols so they will have a chance if terrorists breach the door and get into the cockpit.

The federal government opposes the idea. Too dangerous, it says.

On the other hand, the same federal government proposes to put armed air marshals in with the passengers, as well as have fighter jets on standby. The job, of course, of the air marshals is to shoot the hijackers, and if they fail, the job of the fighter jets is to shoot down the passenger plane if it veers from its flight plan. Not only that, but the government has stationed armed National Guardsmen in the airports. Personally, I don't fancy the idea of dodging ricochets if a poorly trained National Guard soldier decides to have a shootout with a terrorist.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see that a pilot shooting a terrorist in a cockpit is any more dangerous than air marshals having a gunfight out amongst the passengers. And certainly a gun in the cockpit is less dangerous than being blown out of the sky by an F-16.

Furthermore, it seems absurd to trust pilots with an aircraft full of passengers, but not trust them to have a pistol. Most commercial pilots are ex-military and have had ample training with firearms. And all commercial pilots are people who know how to stay calm in a stressful situation. A hefty majority of the pilots want to carry personal firearms. They should be allowed to do so.

Just as it is now a given that passengers and crew will resist the hijackers, you can be sure that it is now a given among terrorists that mere box cutters will not be sufficient to take over an aircraft. The flaw in airport security is that the screening stations are well away from the boarding areas. Between those screening areas and the boarding areas are long corridors with offices, restrooms, shops and snack bars. It does not require much imagination to persuade one of the hundreds of people in those areas to plant a firearm for a terrorist who can retrieve it after he's been screened.

And if the government is really serious about Americans being on continuing alert and watching out for terrorists, then it should encourage firearm ownership and pass a national right-to-carry law. A very scholarly work proves that privately owned firearms prevent more crimes than there are crimes committed with firearms. In Israel, private citizens wielding their own firearms have often cut terrorist attacks short.

Encouraging the public to go about their daily lives while armed would also greatly cut down on the crime rate, not to mention improving people's manners. Two of the most famous outlaw gangs, the James Gang and the Daltons, were shot to pieces not by lawmen or Pinkerton detectives, but by the citizens of the towns they tried to rob.

If you want to know how little that elitists think of us common folks, just watch the reaction to this suggestion. The whole business of gun control is based on the fear of the common people by the elite. Maybe the elite have a guilty conscience and want to keep the common folks unarmed in case the folks figure out how they've been taken advantage of.

When the Florida Legislature was debating a right-to-carry law, I had to listen to really ridiculous predictions from my elitist comrades in the news racket. "Oh, if people can carry guns, there will be shootouts in the supermarkets and at every traffic signal." It was all rubbish. The law passed. A couple of hundred thousand people have permits, and the violent-crime rate has gone down, not increased.

I asked one of my elitist friends, "Do you really think your fellow citizens are stupid and mad?" The answer was "Yes." Nothing is so conducive to making a fool of oneself than a small brain and a big ego.

I say, arm the American public and then watch our country become safe and peaceful once again.


TOPICS: Editorial; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: airlines; airseclist; banglist; charleyreese; guns
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1 posted on 03/18/2002 12:09:40 AM PST by GalvestonBeachcomber
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To: GalvestonBeachcomber
Now, if we can just get the new world order crowd to capitulate.
2 posted on 03/18/2002 2:18:57 AM PST by chainsaw
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To: Bang_list
Too dangerous to give guns to pilots, because a passenger might get accidentally killed? The alternative approach is to scramble F-15s to would shoot down an errant liner, killing everybody aboard.
3 posted on 03/18/2002 2:29:30 AM PST by coloradan
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To: coloradan
A well written and well reasoned article.
4 posted on 03/18/2002 2:57:55 AM PST by marktwain
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To: coloradan
The biggest problem is getting the powers that be to admit that self-defense is a legitimate right. Control is the name of the game. Air marshals can control the passengers, pilots cannot. F-16's can control the situation that air marshals cannot. The government has the position of trying to contain terrorism and at the same time not trusting the public to do the right thing.

During WW II we had a good security system because we had the government and the public on the same side. We don't have a good security system now because of the government insistence that they must control everything.

5 posted on 03/18/2002 3:01:20 AM PST by meenie
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To: *AirSec_list
Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.
6 posted on 03/18/2002 3:50:10 AM PST by Free the USA
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To: GalvestonBeachcomber
"Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see that a pilot shooting a terrorist in a cockpit is any more dangerous than air marshals having a gunfight out amongst the passengers. And certainly a gun in the cockpit is less dangerous than being blown out of the sky by an F-16."

Bingo! You nailed it. We are being sold a bill of good (again) by our own government! Armed pilots would be another layer of security, and would help deter acts of Terrorism. The government is just trying to cater to the all of the stupid Liberal wussies that mess their pants anytime someone mentions guns!! When will our Society stop listening to these idiots!?!

7 posted on 03/18/2002 3:55:46 AM PST by Destructor
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To: chainsaw
"Now, if we can just get the new world order crowd to capitulate."

Not to mention all of the Status Quo junkies!

8 posted on 03/18/2002 3:58:44 AM PST by Destructor
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To: GalvestonBeachcomber
I thought some airlines were arming pilots:

ASA Arming Pilots

In a monumental decision following the attacks of September 11th, regional carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines has elected to arm its pilots. After much research, the Delta Connection carrier has decided on a hand-held stun gun (see attached photo). Weapon delivers a distracting sting from up to four feet. Pilots will be trained on its use and safe handling.

Photo Attachment

9 posted on 03/18/2002 4:02:15 AM PST by FreedomPoster
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To: meenie
So true!
10 posted on 03/18/2002 4:13:27 AM PST by B4Ranch
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To: GalvestonBeachcomber
The reason the goobermint doesn't trust pilots with guns is PILOTS AREN'T GOOBERMINT EMPLOYEES. Everyone knows that the FBI doesn't shoot innocent people in the face--wait, bad analogy.
11 posted on 03/18/2002 4:49:12 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants
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To: GalvestonBeachcomber
Probably the most rational argument against letting pilots carry guns is that it would convince terrorists that the only way to do harm with an airplane in the future is to blow it up with a bomb. I say give the pilots guns, cut out most of the current foolishness (like screening elderly women and congressmen with artificial hips) and do a crash project on effective screening for bombs in luggage.
12 posted on 03/18/2002 5:05:40 AM PST by FairWitness
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To: GalvestonBeachcomber
Charley Reese exposes liberal (+Bush administration) idiocy in one shot.

"Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see that a pilot shooting a terrorist in a cockpit is any more dangerous than air marshals having a gunfight out amongst the passengers. And certainly a gun in the cockpit is less dangerous than being blown out of the sky by an F-16. "

13 posted on 03/18/2002 6:52:57 AM PST by Kermit
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To: GalvestonBeachcomber
A pilot's job is to control his aircraft. A firearm may in some circumstances be a necessary but useful tool for that purpose.

Note that the pilot's job is not to use a firearm to intervene in anything that's happening in the cabin. His job is to keep control of the cockpit--if need be by shooting anyone who tries to break in. If he lands a plane full of corpses slain by a knife-wielding maniac, that's still better than letting the maniac take over the controls.

14 posted on 03/18/2002 8:22:41 PM PST by supercat
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To: GalvestonBeachcomber
...the job of the fighter jets is to shoot down the passenger plane if it veers from its flight plan.

Unfortunately, this has to happen. Because only AFTER something like this happens will there be a huge outcry to arm the Pilots. I wonder how long the fighters will give the passengers to attempt to re-take the plane before they shoot it down...
15 posted on 03/18/2002 10:13:37 PM PST by VRWC_Member428
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To: GalvestonBeachcomber;chainsaw;coloradan;marktwain;meenie;Free the USA;Destructor;FreedomPoster...
I am too f*cking tired to argue about it anymore! The Pilots want Handguns to protect themselves, their ships, their passengers, and crew! WHAT-THE-F*CK is OUR Federal Government doing, meddling in Private Business?? And why does anyone assume that the Federales should now be in charge of OUR security, when their own Agencies couldn't keep these F*cking-Murderous-Terrorists out of OUR Country in the first place!!

When Americans say: "I'M NOT GONNA FLY ON THAT PLANE, UNLESS I KNOW THAT THE PILOT CAN KEEP ME SAFE", we'll have air-travel again.

More likely is the Pilots simply refusing to fly anymore, after the next aircraft is destroyed by a terrorist.

Arm the Pilots --- It's a no-brainer to everybody in the whole Country, except Washingtoon! I'm sick of their shit! You guys fight this one - I voted for GWB, and he shoulda done better! Maybe we'll get an American again, someday........FRegards

16 posted on 03/18/2002 11:25:50 PM PST by gonzo
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To: GalvestonBeachcomber
"I asked one of my elitist friends, "Do you really think your fellow citizens are stupid and mad?" The answer was "Yes." Nothing is so conducive to making a fool of oneself than a small brain and a big ego.

And this is what your current "elected" Republican government thinks of you too.

17 posted on 03/22/2002 8:50:08 AM PST by tberry
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To: gonzo
More likely is the Pilots simply refusing to fly anymore, after the next aircraft is destroyed by a terrorist.

Whatever happened to the ALPA on this one? Back in September and October, I thought they were about to go out on strike over the "carry" thing, and it suddenly went away (like a lot of stuff does).

18 posted on 03/22/2002 9:03:23 AM PST by Beenliedto
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To: Beenliedto;tberry;GalvestonBeachcomber;chainsaw;coloradan;marktwain;meenie;Free the USA...
"... Whatever happened to the ALPA on this one? Back in September and October, I thought they were about to go out on strike over the "carry" thing, and it suddenly went away (like a lot of stuff does). .."

It'll take one or two more 'terrorist' incidents of crashing-airplanes before the Airline-Pilots wake up!

In the meantime, the NTSB will tell you that it's "Pilot-Error"!

Goodbye, Delta, and Goodbye, American, and a sad Goodbye to United Air Lines, and a warm-Hello to the First Airline Company that arms its Pilots!!

How F*CKING STUPID do you have to be, to ignore the obvious??

Ask President George W. Bush!

No body is more pissed-off than me about this, but WE ALL SHOULD BE!!

I guess it's time to buy a small aircraft again, and piss-on the FAA.......FRegards

19 posted on 03/23/2002 11:52:01 PM PST by gonzo
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To: gonzo
Just got this in a newsletter, some of you may have read it , many probably have not:

[FLIGHT ATTENDANTS STEP INTO THE FRAY: Why stop with the pilots? Why not give the flight attendants guns as well? That's what the 50,000-member union, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), is advocating.

The union recently took a stand against arming pilots, unless the cockpit crew was required to leave its fortified sanctuary and defend the main cabin. Not surprisingly, the Air Line Pilots Association says pilots, and their weapons, should stay in the cockpit. At AVweb, we're wondering when the pax are going to get together and demand their right to bear arms.

NOTE: AVweb's NewsWire at http://avweb.com/n/?19b includes more details, plus a link to the complete text of the AFA press release about guns on airplanes.]

20 posted on 05/09/2002 8:07:56 AM PDT by Howie
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