Bush to OK Guns for Airline Pilots

AP via The NY Times ^ | 5 September 2002 | AP

[RedBloodedAmerican]

25%? Really? Got link?

ERAU was good when Hunt was around. It's overrated now. A political pork hole.

A better choice is FSI Vero; 7 months from ground to commercial. And you get to fly; not wait around for two years before you see the inside of an aircraft!

[henderson field]

Good. Now if we can only get Norman Mineta fired, everything will be perfect. By the way, why does it cost $900 million to send pilots to target practice? Anybody know?

[henderson field]

Kennedy voted against it? I thought he was at home when the vote was taken, drunk again. He must have thought a "no" vote was so important that he had to be sober for a day.

[dread78645]

You simply reverse the law that is in place. Stipulate that pilots who are trained to use fire arms are permitted to use them. Then let those pilots carry their personal guns onto the planes if they so choose! What's so expensive about that?

Agree. The expensive bit is taking the pilot out of the rotation for training. The weapon is is a tiny part of the cost. There are millions of 1911 Colts and 9mm Berettas in inventory.

We can easily afford to equip every aircrew with a in-service and a personal (take it home and practice) weapon.

[glc1173@aol.com]

"They got rid of Clinton hack John "No-Draw" Magaw, and look how easy that became."

Don't forget that it was Bush that put Magaw in charge of airline security!

Bush has to be responsible for the policies of appointees he puts in charge of something and doesn't fire. Don't you think he's responsible for anything?

GUN REVIEWS free from ad-money bias - emphasizing pilot-CCW-suited handguns!

[Lazamataz]

Bush has to be responsible for the policies of appointees he puts in charge of something and doesn't fire. Don't you think he's responsible for anything?

Naw. I'm this huge BushBot. Bush can do no wrong -- I'm too busy fawning over the latest set of pictures of him.

[Orion]

I don't want it flying around with some fiscally unresponsible airline pilot.

You had better stay off 95% of the airplanes, if that is your standard.

[Orion]

hopefully NOT EVEN a RINO would be dumb enough to vote against this

Remember...,
GWB was against this until he saw the veto-proof margins in both houses of Congress. What courage! What guts! Get out in front of the parade, now that it is half over.

Kinda like Billzebubba and welfare reform.

[schmelvin]

I don't trust lockboxes as they would likely have a common key or combo, making them easy to steal by mechanics or cleaning personnel.

I had the same thought. I hope they make checking the lockbox to verify that the gun's loaded and still in there (and to make sure the combo/key actually works) into an item on the pre-flight checklist.

[DentsRun]

What is this obsession in Washgington with Lock Boxes?

Boy, you got that right.

[fortheDeclaration]

Ever been in a close quarter combat situation? It's not the physical but mental training that takes time to develop. Hesitation always kills.

Amen!

And these pilots are trained to make those type of decisions.

Espically when they know they are the targets of the hijackers.

That arming pilots would even be debated is simply madness!

I think the Congress saw the results of the screening process thus far (weapons still getting through) and did not want to be held accountable for another hijacking.

The question would be asked 'why weren't the pilots armed'

Answer, 'that would have been dangerous'

[Red Barr]

President Bush is defeating the (P.C.) groups, by saying yes to the airline pilots, by giving them the green light to "pack" a gun. This send a message to the terrorist groups not to "mess" with the United States and it's freedom fighters.

[Musket]

Lockboxes? Whose idiotic idea was this? FIRE HIM!!!

[Musket]

Jerk around, jerk around, jerk around. I hope all the people that are holding this up are prepared to wear the blood of possibly thousands of innocents on their hands. You won't throw these Islamic animals out of our country and you're dragging your feet on this. Fool me once-shame on you, fool me twice, shame on Congress and the Admin. GET MOVING before anything else bad AND NO LOCKBOXES!

Oh this just burns me up.

[steve-b]

Most ex-military pilots who are commercial pilots flew high speed, low drag fast movers or multi-engine, large cargo planes. Therefore, they may be "familiar" with weapons but chances are they never engaged a hostile force with small arms.

This is one of the dumbest arguments I've seen on FR, and that's saying something.

The military requires its personnel to keep up their skills, even (nay, especially) the ones they don't actually use except in emergencies.

[Long Cut]

Thanks for the ping. You're right, I'm "qualified" on the 9mm Beretta as far as the Navy's concerned, and so are all our pilots and NFO's. That's way different from practicing CQB in a terrorist takeover.

That said, this is a great win. Americans have a RIGHT (unless I'm misreading the words 'Shall NOT be Infringed') to be armed if they so choose, whether they are pilots, passengers, or stewardesses. The fact that this was such a long, drawn-out battle just shows how irrational some people can get about a simple mechanical object. Nonetheless, it is an important step forward, and its wide support is yet another nail in the coffin of so-called "gun control". I just hope they don't water it down ("lock boxes", etc.)

[steve-b]

NAYS --- 6 Chafee Jeffords Reed Corzine Kennedy Specter

He found out that they don't arm pilots in Scotland.

[steve-b]

the administration suggested a "detailed, effective" training program be designed from scratch and tested before an estimated 85,000 pilots are allowed to carry weapons

What the hell is wrong with these people??

Police and military organizations have been designing detailed and effective training programs for the use of firearms for centuries. The notion of designing another one from scratch serves no purposes other than waste and obstructionism.