Pilots with guns? Most readers say no (semi-BARF alert, with poll to FREEP)

MSN bCentral ^ | 6/10/02 | Joseph Anthony

[ppaul]

"Law enforcement officers shouldn't fly commercial airliners, and airline pilots shouldn't carry guns..."

Sheesh!

Where do they finds these guys?
Anyway, FReep the heck out of his poll.

[Bahbah]

Looks like the forces of commen sense are doing ok.

[Khepera]

According to the results of the pool. This article is a lie. Most people want the pilots to carry guns and the cabin crew to carry stun guns.

[Jeff Head]

Here's my reply to the article on their site:

Mr. Anthony's article about Pilots with Guns is just simply wrong.

His comment that Law Enforcement shouldn't fly commercial airliners and Airline Pilots shouldn't carry guns is so pathetically flawed in logic that it would be laughable if it were not so serious.

Guns in the cockpit, in the hands of a trained pilot (trained to fly and trained to shoot) would be the most effective final deterrent to hi-jacking and terror possible. We already entrust our lives to them, most are military trained, and the guns could easily be secured for their use alone. As a final resort ... I like it much better than a sidewinder missile up a jet exhaust.

Besides ... the poll I looked at there on your own site belies Mr. Anthony's comments about his own 100 voter poll. Over 2500 respondents on your poll and 82% approve of guns in the cockpit.

Sincerely,

Jeff Head
Emmett, ID

Author of Dragon;s Fury - Breath of Fire
A novel of the next World War

Eagles Up!

[OKSooner]

"Eric Mold, a retired Air Force fighter pilot in Vancouver, B.C., points out that even if only one out of 1,000 pilots carrying a weapon is "intent on doing mischief," that number is an unacceptable risk. "I call upon the other 99.9% of the [airline pilots] to reject this stupid idea," Mold says. So now the risk of some pilot going nuts and shooting people outweighs the need for control of the aircraft in case of an emergency. He just insulted the hsit out of all the airline pilots.

Also, why is this guy interviewing Canadians? Or is this "retired Air Force fighter pilot" just some dude who moved to Canada for some reason?

Anyway, his poll was just freeped and it needs to be freeped some more. The numbers are ONLY over 80% and 70% on the right side...

[OKSooner]

Let me get this straight. Some pilot is "intent on doing mischief", so he's flying the airliner, with a revolver on his hip. Faced with the choice of either crashing the airliner or shooting six people on the airliner, what's he gonna do?

This Anthony guy is just a jackass.

[leadpenny]

How do readers feel? Overall, by a margin of more than a 2 to 1, a majority of respondents found fault with the idea of putting weapons on planes.

Some readers do feel it makes sense to have an armed crew. Several echo the view of Dave Bulicek of Crystal Lake, Ill., who says that allowing attendants to carry tasers is "a no-brainer." He asks, "What harm can come from that?"

The inmates have made their takeover of the asylum complete. Guns under the voluntary control of pilots while on duty, and in a safe in operations at other times, makes good sense. Tasers in the cabin makes no sense.

[ppaul]

Too bad that "one out of 1000" pilots was not carrying a gun on one of those ill-fated flights on September 11th, eh?
This Joseph Anthony, each of his anti-gun interviewees, sounds like an imbecile.

[Destructor]

Freeped it! So far, it's a runaway!! Let's blow the lid off this one!!!

[MinuteGal]

Freeped and bumped.

Leni

[ppaul]

Let's blow the lid off this one!!!

Agreed.
But remember, the poll is gonna run until 9/2002.
Go back and continue to FReep, even after this thread is history.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Most people? What stat are you citing?

[BADROTOFINGER]

Freeped and bumped. Readers everywhere in this guys mind agree, no guns in the cockpits...JFK

[meenie]

The real question: Would the WTC be standing today with armed pilots in the cockpit? It strikes me as being very unlikely that box cutters would have overwhelmed the pilots and there would have been the damage to the WTC and the pentagon. This is an issue of survival, not an issue of pro and con on gun control. Realism dictates that this issue is far more important than who knew what when on the 9/11 attacks. The attacks would have never been finalized if a means of self-defense had been in place.

[FreeAtlanta]

Do you believe that a commercial airline pilot should be allowed to carry a gun in the cockpit?

- 2545 respondents

Yes
82%
No
18%

[reform4me]

probably in the the school of common sense. pilots need to be concerned with safely flying the aircraft and not heroics better left to someone else, air marshalls or whatever.

[ppaul]

The attacks would have never been finalized if a means of self-defense had been in place.

The sad, disgusting truth.

[ppaul]

...pilots need to be concerned with safely flying the aircraft and not heroics better left to someone else, air marshalls or whatever.

Yeah.
Every darn passenger should be armed.

[JoeGar]

If a pilot cannot carry a gun, then chances are that the cockpit is undefended because there can never be enough sky marshalls to fly on every flight. Besides, I'd feel more secure with an armed pilot than with an armed sky marshall sitting in the passenger section. Why try to sneak a weapon on board when you can simply overwhelm the sky marshall and seize his weapons?

[steve-b]

Says Brown, who used to be required to carry a firearm when flying, "Law enforcement officers shouldn't fly commercial airliners

Well, la de da....