[gundog]

We don’t want them shooting firearms with the potential of bringing down the plane.

Three words: Glaser Safety Slugs.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Bang

[Artie_Kay]

"Magaw is either a liar or totally uninformed."

He's BOTH!

[Grut]

Responsibility for the executive branch ultimately lies with the President. Apparently President Bush finds this policy decision by his subordinates at least acceptable.

[Dan from Michigan]

I blame Bush for this. In the exec branch, the buck stops with the president. Period.

[dheretic]

I personally don't see the need of the pilots to carry firearms. The SOP procedure should be that they stay in the cockpit and the cockpit is completely sealed during the flight. In the interim I can see a need for them to carry firearms, but they both need to be trained how to use them effectively and in the long run we need a system in which barring the use of explosives, you cannot get access to the pilots period. Keep the sky marshals, give them a few MP-5s and you're golden IMO.

[elbucko]

"..Norman Mineta is Magaw’s boss and the man who recommended him for the job as head of the TSA. Mineta is another Clintonista. Bush reappointed him..."

Bush-43 is the same empty shirt as his ol' man, Bush-41. They try too hard to be "bipartisan".

GW is to the Democrats, what Neville Chamberlain was to the Nazi's.

[FreeTally]

It comes down to this:

If the government "allows" pilots to be armed, then that would be telling the American sheeple that the government isn't the only one who can protect us from "terrorism". The government doesn't want that. We must believe that the federal government, and only the federal government, can protect us from all of life's ills.

[arimus]

Err... why do we still have a Transportation Security Administration anyway?

[Washington_minuteman]

"We don’t want them shooting firearms with the potential of bringing down the plane."

Oh yes. It's much better to have these aircraft shot down by NATO fighters. What else would one expect from the former Chief Butcher of the BATF?