Keep the friendly skies free of guns (XXX PUKE ALERT)

The Commercial Appeal ^ | 9/8/02 | unsigned

[GailA]

The Commercial Appeal aka Commie Appeal or Comic Appeal

CA

[willieroe]

aka The Comically Appalling in my home....

[Paleo Conservative]

a move that would ... give others second thoughts about flying.

That's the idea. I haven't flown since the 9-11, but I might consider it again when pilots are armed.

[elbucko]

"Carrying a gun gives pilots one more thing to worry about and protect."

I strongly disagree. Being armed is one less contingent to be unprepared for. Were I a commercial pilot, no gun, no fly. As a commercial passenger, I won't fly until the pilots are armed.

[JessicaDragonet]

Carrying a gun gives pilots one more thing to worry about and protect.

You could say the same about cops. Should we strip the police of guns? It's time to stop the "siege" mentality and go on the offense. Pilots shouldn't have to create a bastion in the cockpit. All they need is a "do not enter" sign on the door and a weapon to back up the order.

Common sense may not be dead....but I think it must be on life support.

[Trueblackman]

You know the funnies thing about it all is that the anti-gun crowd leaves out the fact that nearly 80% of all the pilots flying today have pasted military service and know very well how to use firearms.

[spqrzilla9]

Amusing that the editorial lies about who is lobbying for this, the NRA is doing little lobbying for this - it is the Airline Pilots' Association that is lobbying for this. As for the airlines themselves opposing it, since when have the airlines been in favor of anything that increased security? Never. What the airlines want are illusions of security not real security. And they don't want anything that smacks of the airlines taking responsibility for their own passengers.

[dighton]

Allowing pilots to carry guns tells would-be hijackers where a weapon can be obtained in-flight. And police annals are filled with accounts of officers killed with their own weapons or bystanders shot with guns wrestled away from overpowered officers.

Cripes. "People must not arm themselves because somebody might disarm them."

3,000 people got killed last year when some PLANES got "wrestled away" from their crews. I'd prefer giving crew a chance to USE their guns, STOP a hijacker, and SAVE their aircraft, passengers, and selves.

[elbucko]

BTW, to those interested, the FAA used to allow pilots to be armed at their discretion. What happened to this situation was a California commuter airline pilot, AFTER being fired, immediately boarded one of his airlines planes with his pistol. Pilots were not screened then. After achieving cruise altitude the armed, terminated, still in uniform pilot entered the flight deck and killed the pilot, co-pilot and then himself. The Plane a DH-9 jet, plunged into the earth.

Instead of requiring procedures for the termination of pilots and their access to the flight line after termination, the FAA imposed the firearms ban.

[ErnBatavia]

Re thread title....I'm still trying to categorize; which one has a higher barf alert rating? "XXX Puke Alert" or "Projectile Vomiting Alert"....

[gc4nra]

Keep the friendly skies free of boxcutters, arm pilots!

[GailA]

I bet if you could check most of them have CCW too. DON'T leave home with out your shootin' iron, cause you NEVER know when ya are gonna need it.

[gc4nra]

"And police annals are filled with accounts of officers killed with their own weapons or bystanders shot with guns wrestled away from overpowered officers."


So we should disarm the police?

[ErnBatavia]

I've decided - Projectile, by a nose....

[lodwick]

[elbucko]

"...police annals are filled with accounts of..

..anything the writer, in this case the editorial board, wants the police annals to be filled with. It is time to put this old canard to rest and require statistic with reference when "police annals" are cited as a source of credibility for the editorial. This is lazy writing on the part of the newspaper.

[Paul Atreides]

I nominate a new categorization..."Linda Blair Vomiting Alert"

[Shooter 2.5]

the NRA is doing little lobbying for this

the NRA has been involved from the start. It helps to read "The American Rifleman" or go to one of their web sites to find out the progress of the Bills.

[Shooter 2.5]

As a spokesman for the 50,000-member Association of Flight Attendants put it, before that organization reversed its position on the issue: "A gun locked up behind a reinforced door does nothing to protect people in the cabin."

This is hilarious since now the Attendents are demanding to be armed.

[Paul Atreides]