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Guns or F-16s Who's afraid of armed pilots?
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Guns or F-16s
Who's afraid of armed pilots?
Sunday, May 26, 2002 12:01 a.m. EDT
So Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta would rather let an F-16 shoot down a hijacked airplane than let pilots carry guns in the cockpit.
That's the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from the Transportation's announcement last week that it won't arm pilots. When Congress passed legislation last fall authorizing Transportation to give pilots guns, it probably assumed the decision would be a no-brainer. Instead, John Magaw, director of the Transportation Security Administration, says pilots don't need firearms because federal air marshals will do the job. In fact, the only way an air marshal might foil a hijacking is to be aboard a hijacked flight, an extremely unlikely occurrence since less than 1% of flights are protected by marshals.
Congress is already working to override Mr. Mineta's decision. A bill sponsored by Representatives John Mica (R., Florida) and Don Young (R., Alaska) would authorize a firearms program for pilots and exempt airlines from related liability. Senator Robert Smith (R., N.H.) introduced a similar bill in the Senate.
Unlikely as a replay of September 11 may be, the message of Mr. Mineta's decision is clear: America still isn't serious about defending itself. If the intelligence failures that led to that tragic day are perhaps understandable, the failure to take obvious steps in its aftermath is not. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110001760
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Who's afraid of armed pilots?
Sunday, May 26, 2002 12:01 a.m. EDT
So Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta would rather let an F-16 shoot down a hijacked airplane than let pilots carry guns in the cockpit.
That's the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from the Transportation's announcement last week that it won't arm pilots. When Congress passed legislation last fall authorizing Transportation to give pilots guns, it probably assumed the decision would be a no-brainer. Instead, John Magaw, director of the Transportation Security Administration, says pilots don't need firearms because federal air marshals will do the job. In fact, the only way an air marshal might foil a hijacking is to be aboard a hijacked flight, an extremely unlikely occurrence since less than 1% of flights are protected by marshals.
Congress is already working to override Mr. Mineta's decision. A bill sponsored by Representatives John Mica (R., Florida) and Don Young (R., Alaska) would authorize a firearms program for pilots and exempt airlines from related liability. Senator Robert Smith (R., N.H.) introduced a similar bill in the Senate.
Unlikely as a replay of September 11 may be, the message of Mr. Mineta's decision is clear: America still isn't serious about defending itself. If the intelligence failures that led to that tragic day are perhaps understandable, the failure to take obvious steps in its aftermath is not. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110001760
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878