[SBeck]

Over and under is 1000, place your bets. Fire away.

[goldstategop]

Cool. We CAN defeat the Gods of Political Correctness if we have a mind to. Now that the Administration has finally seen the light on armed pilots, let's keep at it and get them to drop this silly idea of needing to store guns in a lockbox and limiting arming pilots to an elite few.

[Dog]

Mineta just lost on this issue......when will he go??

[El Gato]

In a letter to two senators, the White House recommended giving pilots lockboxes for the weapons so they won't be left in the cockpit. It also said only pilots who volunteer to carry weapons and receive extensive training should be armed.

If we didn't have all the unconstitutional restrictions on carrying in public places, pilots could merely carry their weapon in their chart case, just like they probably did before the anal retentive gun grabbers got into the act. As for "extensive" training, I fail to see why any more training should be required for airline pilots than for concealed carry permit applicants in most states. Say 8-10 hour of combined classroom and range training and qualificatioin. They aren't going to be making any long distance pistol shots inside the cockpit, so making use of the original point and click (hopefully point and bang) interface shouldn't require much training. These are pilots after all, who have to meet moderately stringent physicial requirements just to begin their training, or maintain their rating. I don't think shooting some Jihadi at 3 or 4 feet should be a big technical or physical challenge. The "when to shoot" part would of course be covered in the classroom portion.

What makes this insistence on "extensive training" so ridiculous is the fact of the 15 minutes of weapons and bomb identification training handed out to the screeners when they were federalized.

The pilots are responsible for the safety of the aircraft, crew, and passengers. Allow them the tools to do the job. That would include a reasonable amount of training, but nothing more than the equivalent of 1 working day.

[Carry_Okie]

In a letter to two senators, the White House recommended giving pilots lockboxes for the weapons so they won't be left in the cockpit.

Uh, ever heard of a "holster," George?

[GnL]

"the White House recommended giving pilots lockboxes for the weapons"

--Insert Al Gore joke here--

[Lazamataz]

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

[Teacher317]

the White House recommended giving pilots lockboxes for the weapons so they won't be left in the cockpit.

What is this obsession in Washgington with Lock Boxes?

[Chad Fairbanks]

Good! There's too many belligerent IRS agents flying these days...

[Joe Brower]

[jonboy]

Al Aitken, a pilot speaking for the 14,500-member union representing American Airlines pilots, which supports arming pilots, said the 87-6 vote meant the Senate recognized that all the security layers the administration is putting into place are still inadequate.

So who are the six who voted against it? Seems to me we may have some campaign fodder here (hopefully NOT EVEN a RINO would be dumb enough to vote against this).

[BearCub]

The administration also warned the cost would be significant -- $900 million to start and $250 million annually thereafter -- and said there is no money now in the Transportation Security Administration budget to cover the expenses.

$900 million for WHAT??!?

That's over $10k per pilot!! All you need is one or two handguns ($500 each) per airplane plus $150 worth of training per pilot. Arrrgh - why must the government cost so damned much no matter what they do?!

Someone needs to be fired for even suggesting costs like this.

-bc

[45Auto]

The administration also warned the cost would be significant -- $900 million to start and $250 million annually thereafter

How in the hell can that much money be spent on a few thousand guns and the required ammo? I sure wish my firearms budget was $900 million. Methinks some pork has been introduced into this bill.

[aviator]

I think that the senate realizes we are going to war and are completely unprepared for massive retaliation by terrorists to our airline system. The system of smoke and mirrors to calm the flying public is judged inadequate for the threat.

We need guns in the cockpit now. 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 agree that the mental training is most important. Hitting a target from 2 feet away is not the challenge. The cockpit doors are strong enough now that considerable force and noise would give plenty of notice to the pilots that it is time to get a gun pointed at the door.

I fly a commercial airliner and am responsible for many lives. If anyone breaks into my cockpit, I already know that the lives of everyone in my airplane are forfeit except for my actions. This is the reality. We need guns NOW.

For the curious, I have killed during service to my country in Vietnam while flying an airplane up close and personal. They were trying to kill me. I have 20 years as a military pilot and own about 6 pistols and 6 rifles. I shoot at the range as often as I can. I will pay for any training myself.

[Bob J]

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[Republic]

Lots oh cry babies here-never satisfied! I LOVE THIS! I have been for it and disappointed that the WH took a different opinion. This is JUST GREAT! Go PRESIDENT BUSH! This is absolutely the right thing to do and already makes me feel better about air travel. WAY TO GO! ( And thank you President Bush, for outfoxing um! I LOVE YA~!)

[TN4Liberty]

I just heard on the radio (ABC I think) that now a group of flight attendants is protesting DEMANDING to be trained and armed. They point out that women are in the military and law enforcement.

One big factor that I think is overlooked in this discussion or arming pilots is that if potential badguys don't know if the pilot (or crew) is armed, any plans they have to take over a plane would be much more complicated. Just as unarmed citizens benefit by the fact that criminals don't KNOW who is armed and who isn't, flights with unarmed pilots will be safer because potential hijackers don't konw which planes are protected and which aren't. That additional ucertainty may have prevented the 9/11 operation. After all, they KNEW no one else on the plane would be armed, so all they needed was a boxcutter.

[rockfish59]

Law abiding passengers next!

[tall_tex]

Under

[tall_tex]

NY Times sell more newspapers and ADVERTISING when the EVIL DO'ER'S strike. Follow the money... Tom

[tall_tex]

Wonder which airlines are prostesting. Just want to know which ones I will never fly, but will maybe fly the few that are not protesting and are promoting their pilots to carry, if any are. In the mean time, my Tahoe is good for the trips to OKC. Wanted to take my lady to Las Vegas for our 39th, even though I have a whole bunch of frequent flyer miles and could fly free, did not want to support any airline untill they get their stuff together.