Pilots, planes and guns

jonk

Pilots should not be given guns for one reason. Their job is to fly the plane. As a passenger, I want nothing distracting them from that job. Secondly, any terrorist would know that the pilot had the gun, and could either kill him first and fly himself, or relieve him of it as a weapon to be used against the passengers.Now a sky marshall's only job is to sit there, fondling his weapon, and to kill anyone who threatens the plane. He has more training, and could have a proper weapon like an M-16- not just some pistol. I would feel comfortable knowing his only job was to gaurd me- and pee if he needs to.Better yet, have undercover marshalls. Not bulging muscled guys... they stand out... give the guns to a blonde bombshell who looks like she should be in playboy. Or an old woman. Train them of course. That's the last one a terrorist would expect to be a threat.

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"...hit your enemy in the belly, and kick him when he is down, and boil his prisoners in oil- if you take any- and torture his women and children. Then people will keep clear of you..." -Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, speaking at the Hague Peace Conference in 1899.

.250Savage

All extremely valid points, and I agree with you fully, but U.S. Marshalls can't be on every flight, there simply aren't enough of them, and it's not like you can go to the five and dime and get more. WHEREAS, there IS a pilot on every flight (one would hope), and they are frequently ex-military, and only want what any American wants, a chance to fight back.

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I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.--Voltare

ICE NINE

Give guns to the sky marshals that look like grandma and Miss September, but give 'em to the pilots, too -- and reinforce the doors to the cockpit. The only time the door comes open is when it is supposed to -- before take off and after landing. The pilot or copilot only has a small area to defend (the area of the door frame) from a very short distance.

alledan

All commercial planes should be equipped with an airlock so that any hijackers could be despensed with without losing air pressure.All passengers of an arabic/islamic nationality should be fitted with a locking high volatge training collar like the ones used to train dogs. When one of these passengers exceeded a three foot range from his/her seat, the collar would automaticly discharge a whoopass blast of electricity knocking the passenger stone cold. These nationalities would be isolated from all other passengers of course to assure that the no innocent people were shocked.

mudge

Jonk.....I've posted this before but here goes again.OK, you've got your sky marshall on board. But you also have 5 diaper-heads on board. Two of the diaper heads start a disturbance. The sky marshall goes into action to quell the disturbance and thereby reveals him/herself to the other three terrorists who overpower the marshall and now they have a gun. Sorry, but I vote for gun(s) in the hands of cockpit crew ONLY. The bad guys can't control the plane unless they get into the cockpit and anyone coming through the cockpit door presents a highly "hitable" target from the 6-8 feet to the pilot's seat.What if there's 5 of them, you ask? By the time they are able to breach the cockpit door, I would hope the other passengers have taken out at least a couple of them if not more. I don't think there's going to be much sitting and watching by passengers anymore.Mudge

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I can't come to work today. The voices said, STAY HOME AND CLEAN THE GUNS!