All airlines need to do is post a list of acceptable weapons and ammunition when you purchase your ticket.
For someone carrying an 'unapproved weapon', the airline could rent them one for a nominal fee.
Problem solved, and no government intervention is required.
L
With the added bonus of allowing anyone who wanted too, to smoke since they would be alone anyway!
What kind of "wrong gun"? A howitzer? Commercial aircraft already leak air through the outflow valve (I think that's what it's called). A single bullet (or a dozen) from a handgun would NOT cause explosive decompression, which is the one that is a tad bad, but still survivable. You have paid attention during the safety lectures before departure, right? Decompression is not that big a deal. Smashing into a building at 500 mph is, however.
You might want to check some of YOUR myths.
Funny in W.W.II The Japanese fighters shot 20mm’s into B-29 s and they did not blow up Just made the air inside leak out faster. And now there are handguns bigger than that now. I must have missed those.
It is possible for a handgun to cause explosive decompression. But it would need to hit a window. AND cause it to blowout. and this would not cause the plane to go down. Just everyone’s ears to pop. Aircraft have had this happen in flight. And have landed safely landed.
One of the tests they do when designing a craft is to shoot large harpoons about 5 ft across in to the pressurized fuselage to see that it don’t blow up.
Nor right, either.
If a firearm discharges accidental (not likely with a properly trained user) and if the bullet happens to go in the wrong direction, slow decompression might occur, as opposed to explosive decompression.
An unopposed hijacker, after Sept 11, will pretty much certainly cause the death of the hypothetical 250 people.
I'll add my two bits again to the Aircraft Engineers quoted in the article. Having maintained cabin pressurization systems while in the Navy and having performed at least 30 on-ground cabin pressurization tests, I can tell you that one dozen bullet holes in the skin of an airplane flying at 30K feet might make your ears pop, but that's all. The cabin pressurization system can easily handle keeping the cabin pressurized to a safe level.
Any hole smaller than a coffee cup will not significantly affect the pressurization systems on transport aircraft.
Knitebane
A few y You are wrong about this. ears ago a plane flying to Hawaii lost 20% of its fuselage and flew 700 miles, landing safely. The only people sucked out were the people right by the whole. Nobody died from lack of oxygen or got sucked out of windows. That doesn't happen. It is movie nonsense that the anti-civil rights extremists spread as fact.
Total disarming of everyone boarding an aircraft is what is not smart - the myths list is valid!
If you're so concerned about depressurization, simply issue special "frangible" (right word?) ammo to every armed individual; have a variety of calibers, etc., available by prearrangement, something like ordering a special meal when you buy your ticket - I would be THRILLED to pay for one magazine's worth of the special 9mm HP load - add it to the price of my ticket!!