Posted on 05/21/2002 7:34:17 AM PDT by Cagey
WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government said Tuesday that pilots will not be allowed to have guns in the cockpits of commercial airplanes.
The announcement was made at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing by John Magaw, undersecretary for transportation security. It followed months of debate over whether arming pilots would be a deterrent to hijackers.
Both Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge previously indicated their opposition to arming pilots.
Magaw gave no reason for his decision, which was announced in response to a question from Arizona Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the committee.
Airline pilots have been pushing for guns, saying it would allow them to confront a hijacker who breaks into the cockpit. Hijackers took over four commercial airlines on Sept. 11, crashing two of them into the World Trade Center and a third into the Pentagon. The fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
Flight attendants, meanwhile, have advocated nonlethal weapons, such as stun guns, that they could use in emergencies.
Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., who chairs the Commerce Committee, said guns would not be needed as long as pilots kept cockpit doors locked while in flight.
"You can put the rule in right now and cut out all the argument about pistols and stun guns," Hollings said.
Opponents of arming pilots have said reinforced cockpit doors now required on all planes mean that pistols are unnecessary. They have also expressed concern that an errant shot might hit a passenger or damage a key electrical system on the plane.
Two House Republicans have introduced legislation to arm pilots and the House Transportation Committee is scheduled to take up the bill this week.
I am merely getting tired of having to deal with you newbies who don't take the time to lurk for a while, recognize other FREEPERs general background and opinion before you start throwing accusations around about what I believe and don't believe. (If you want, feel free to review my profile and I think you will get the general idea).
I will offer a correction though. My post should have read "the government has caved to pro-gun control". So, I would guess that we would agree on that point.
I am afraid that you have yet to make a point that we would debate about. We would agree that having guns makes everyone safer. We would probably agree that the liberal media and their cohorts in government have demonize gun ownership to degrees that most reasonable humans can't comprehend. And, yes, if all the sudden there were no (or less) terrorist threats due to counter measures like armed pilots, then their house of cards would come tumbling down. A point we would also agree on. Which brings me to my original comment to you...
I made each of these points several times throughout the thread. You woud have seen this, if you had read all the post. This was the only point that I was making to you. I wasn't arguing about armed or unarmed, because I stated my position as being in favor of arming pilots (several times). Your first post (#248) was a little late to the discussion. In post #5, I was making the point that pilots should be armed and if a passenger is killed in the process, then fine. I have advocated, throughout this thread, that arming pilots is key to safer flights. In post #249, you said I missed a point that I had already made, at least, 10 times before you logged on. Hey, if you get FREEPing late in the day, fine. Just don't jump into the discussion without having read the posts and the context with which the posts were made.
To review: We agree on pilots being armed...and you need to read the posts more thoroughly.
Barney Fife has spoken. LOL
LOL How ya doing?
Ain't it great to be a part of the internet Jerry Springer show?
Well, when you're right, you're right. The doors of a commercial airliner will not open in flight. The FAA mandated that safety feature after the D.B. Cooper afair. The device that prevents the latch mechanism from releasing is automatically controlled by the airspeed indicator and cannot be disabled from inside the aircraft.
This was explained to me in detail by my father, a retired American Airlines pilot - a "self-made" expert, if you will.
Sounds like a stand up guy.
If you can't shoot and fly a plane at the same time, you can't die and fly a plane at the same time, either. And I would rather take my chances with a shooting pilot than face 100% chance of being splashed by an F-16.
Damn, that stinks, brother! What did you eat?
Another good point...However, I still think you would have more clearly understood my arguement, if you would have read some more of the posts. It is, after all, a conversation thread and while an individual post may not be perfectly on the mark (and needy of healthy critique), additional posts are likely to paint a better picture (you know, sometimes written threads doesn't quite have the same effect as a conversation with verbal clues and all that stuff).
Hope your head feels better. Come to think of it, I wasn't feeling all that well yesterday and last night too, so maybe I was being snotty with you. If so, my apologize...see you on the boards.
There are many things your father didn't tell you . . .
Five bucks says I could get one open.
Just a little on the two faced side in my book.
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