Posted on 09/05/2002 4:06:17 PM PDT by SBeck
I think it isn't because it "reinforces a heterosexual orthodoxy" ... :-O)
LOL Though things like Congress and the administration can be MUCH scarier than handguns at times!
Here me out. A lockbox makes sense from a couple of standpoints:
1. An airline pilot is easily identified and even if he picks up his firearm in the sterile area - beyond the checkpoint - he or she will become a target of opportunity for a directed attack by terrorists to obtain firearms.
This whole issue would be moot, if we allowed any law enforcement officer, from any federal, state or local agency, who wanted to take specialized training, to carry a weapon on the plane. On any given flight, there is a fairly good chance that one of the roughly 700,000 combined full time law enforcement officers in the U.S. will be on that flight, either on official business or for pleasure. Add pilots and air marshals to that mix and the odds of one or more guns being on any given aircraft, in the hands of trained professionals, becomes quite high.
In that case, even if a terrorist were to manage to get a gun from a single pilot, his chances of successfully using it in a hijacking attempt becomes very small. He and some others try to use the stolen gun in a hijacking and are suddenly faced by two armed, off-duty policemen and an air marshal.
The problem is that our laws no longer respect the Second Amendment. In fact, if we did respect the Second Amendment, any citizen who could pass a comprehensive background check (at his own expense), was willing to take the necessary training to use a gun on an aircraft (at his own expense) and pay for the special ammo required, would be allowed to carry a gun on any aircraft. Then the terrorists wouldn't stand a chance of seizing control of one of our aircraft.
I suppose it's possible, but all of the evidence points to the simpler explanation. Ie, Bush is an anti-gunner, and caved in only when presented with a veto-proof majority.
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