YOUR TURN, NH: Armed pilots are a better defense than sky marshals

Union Leader ^ | June 23 2002 | KURT WOLZ

[goldstategop]

Bump! Let's have our pilots armed. Enough with the political correctness that's been killing us.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

But pilots need to concentrate on flying. [/sarcasm] Besides, just because you trust a pilot with hundreds of lives when he's holding the stick, that doesn't mean he won't go crazy and shoot people.

Now for the next question, why not stun guns at the very least huh? Are stun guns 'too violent'? At least until people get off their paranoia juice?

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Another safeguard could be to have signature weapons.

[2Trievers]

Howz 'bout letting everyone with a gun permit be allowed to carry? Oh wait! I was dreaming! &;-)

[goldstategop]

The liberals still think we should roll over for Osama. After 911 they're still as anti gun as ever.

[lavaroise]

Pilots sure know their business....

Do the consumerist bureaucrats in DC have our best interests???? Yeah right!

[Free the USA]

The Federal Government has no Constitutional Authority to even address the issue of Airlines arming their Pilots.

[2nd_Amendment_Defender]

WE TRUST OUR AIRLINE PILOTS WITH THE PLANES. WHY NOT GUNS AS WELL!?

[2Trievers]

Since many of them are former military, I concur. I just came from the range and shot a pretty decent group at 25 yds with my .357 ... can I carry too? Huh? A piece of paper in Washington DC says I can ... please/

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

When people called for everyone to be allowed to bring weapons, it helped get people thinking, particularly the pilots.

It really should be up to each airline, IMHO. If you own a place and ask people to check in their weapons before entering, it is your right. And they have the right to take their business elsewhere. Only thing is, the government wants the power to throw the book at anyone trying to sneak a gun on board a plane.

This particular battle over pilots being armed is doing a lot of good for gun rights in general.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

The armed pilot issue is a powerful wedge. I would also challenge every gun control zealot to advertise publicly with a sign, "This house is gun free. No need for criminals here to be violent." Dare them. Challenge them. See if they are willing to put their money where their mouth is. If they are correct in their beliefs, they would be more safe, right?

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Another thought, shouldn't the airlines take responsibility for their failure? Shouldn't they cough up the cash to rebuild the Twin Towers? I wonder if it was their own lobbying that kept the cockpit doors so flimsy and the pilots unarmed.

Hold the airlines accountable, and they would change their liberal song and dance real fast.

[RandallFlagg]

I doubt it. They would just get the taxpayers to bail them out again.
I'm for arming all that legally own. But, when they get on the plane, they must exchange their ammo for a soft load that would be lethal without damage to pressurization; plastic fragmenting rounds for example...
If the hijackers are taken alive, the passengers get to decide their fate there and then, just like a ship at sea.

[leadpenny]

Thanks for posting. The piece by Kurt Wolz is very thoughtful and well-reasoned. It reflects the discussions that must be going on within the professional pilot community. To me, it is a bit of an overkill. Additionally, by including guns-on-a-cable as part of cockpit equipment, assumes that all pilots would have to be trained in the use of hand guns.

A shoulder holster should be all that is necessary to store a firearm while in the cockpit. The concern for armed pilots in the terminals is real, and can be remedied by allowing pilots to be armed only between departure dispatch/ops and destination dispatch/ops. Guns would be stored in company safes at all other times. Pilots always have to pick-up a dispatch-release. They would just be adding the pick-up of a sidearm, if desired.

All armed personnel on an airplane should always know the status of each other. Regular passengers should only assume there are arms on the airplane.

[leadpenny]

Over here!

[2Trievers]

"This particular battle over pilots being armed is doing a lot of good for gun rights in general."

You're right in part ... but if the sheeple weren't so dumbed down, and REALLY thought about things, they wouldn't tolerate standing in the LONG, obstructive lines at airports like they have. &;-)

[CWRWinger]

I will not fly again until both citizen/passengers and pilots are armed.

And I don't care if the airlines go broke.

[cannonball]

I have a question. If the flight deck crew is armed and there are no Sky Marshals, what would keep the bad guys from wasting passengers until they got compliance from the crew?

[SauronOfMordor]

If the flight deck crew is armed and there are no Sky Marshals, what would keep the bad guys from wasting passengers until they got compliance from the crew?

Since the assumption would be that once the terrorists got compliance everyone would die anyway, the pilots would be unlikely to comply

And once the plane was on the ground and SWAT entered, the terrorists could have their testicles fed to pigs while they watched.