"More than one thousand armed pilots is no "sham.""
It is when it's taken 2 years.
It is when the only place you can get training from the TSA is a small town 160 miles by car from lubbock, TX.
It is when they train a mere 48 pilots at a time.
It is when they reject qualified pilots - some of whom also pilot miltary aircraft with enough firepower to wipe out a small town - on the basis that they can't be trusted in the cockpit with a gun.
Did you actually read the articles I linked to? Do you know the roadblocks that have been put up to prevent pilots from getting approved to carry - and also from actually being 'armed' while in flight???
1000 pilots after two years is pitiful.
"That's the *first* ever repeal of any federal gun control law, ever."
Gee, you're wrong again. How surprising. Yet again, try a little research. The 1986 GOPA repealed many earlier gun laws.
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"you paint it as a defeat instead of as a victory by setting your standards so high that no one could ever reach them. "
You set your standards so low you'd probably be thrilled if 100 pilots were armed.
Listen, it's great they 'allowed' pilots to be armed. Whoopee. A law was passed. But very little was actually DONE once it was passed. There has been roadblock after roadblock put in place to arming pilots, and bush has waited 2 years to do something about it. That's pitiful as well.
You seem to be adopting the liberal mindset in defense of this: "Who cares what is actually accomplished, as long as our intentions are in the right place and we pass a law for it!"
If a group of terrorists rush the cockpit, the fact that a law was repealed means very little. What matters the most is how likely it is that there will be an armed pilot inside. After two years, the likelyhood of that happening is one percent.
One percent.
After two years.
By any measure but your own, that would indicate to everyone that the armed pilot program is a failure..
"Gee, you're wrong again. How surprising. Yet again, try a little research. The 1986 GOPA repealed many earlier gun laws."
GOPA '86 is a *repeal* of gun control in your world?!
The Devil's in the Details...Know the Law!
The Gun Owners Protection Act of 1986 (GOPA 86): A somewhat vague statement was added to this bill that has been interpreted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) and some Federal Courts to mean no machine guns registered after enactment (May 19, 1986) can be built and sold to private individuals. BATF further concluded that SOT payers cannot receive "post-May" guns without first presenting a letter from a qualifying government agency that has requested to see the firearm. These rulings do not apply to other types of NFA firearms. Transfers to government agencies having law enforcement or military functions are allowed. SOT payers who are also licensed as manufacturers are allowed to produce machine guns from scratch, from kits, or by means of conversion. They cannot transfer them to private individuals. They can be transferred to other SOT payers or government agencies only as described above. Post-May guns cannot be retained by a SOT payer who fails to renew his SOT annually.
6 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires