Let's Take Back Our Country!

Josey1

Let's Take Back Our Country!
By Sheriff Michael E. Cook
Published 08. 20. 02 at 20:11 Sierra Time
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It came to me the other day, while reading about how our government leaders don't want to let the pilots on our commercial aircraft carry firearms, to consider how many police officers would show up for work if they were told they could no longer bring any firearm for protection of themselves and others? I bet you wouldn't get very many to show up for duty.

Most Americans wouldn't even think of asking the police to go unarmed to do their job, so why are we asking the very people who take your life in their hands to fly you in a big jet to do the same thing. What would happen if they said no, and quit showing up to fly the plane?

The way I look at it is that anyone I trust to fly me in one of those things, or on a bus, or any form of public transportation that hauls passengers is responsible in some way for those people they haul. Then we should give them whatever tools they need to not only do the job but make it safe.

If I'm sitting in a seat on a plane and some nut case attempts to take it over and kill me or my family then I want someone in authority to take that person out. We ask our law enforcement people to do that every day and they make a lot less money than pilots do. If they can put their lives on the line for that kind of money why can't pilots have the same tools of defense to save my life or others?

It seems to me that in this nation of ours we are forced to go at everything backwards any more. The enviro-whacko's keep us from cutting the trees and reducing the fuel load so that any fires in the forest go out of control and burn large areas and take out our homes. What kind of stupidity is that? Now they won't let the pilots carry a firearms so that bad guys can be shot or taken out before they kill thousands of people. Does any of this make sense to anyone out there?

The great thing about this nation of ours is that we are free and responsible for ourselves and in some jobs for other people. So let them do what is needed without making a federal case out of it and letting the whacko's destroy our nation and our homes. Wake up America and take back our streets and our air space and run these nuts out so that we can once more live free and responsible lives in this land.

The whacko's are leading us down a slippery slope of destruction and we have no one else to blame but ourselves. I, for one, will not fly on a plane if the pilots are not armed. It won't take to many people doing the same and I bet they get issued firearms real quick.

Now if I had my way I would also be armed and that is a whole story in itself. You see sometimes your vote only counts when you withhold your money with the vote. So all you people who fly all the time get out and let the airlines and the government know how you feel about the stupid whacko's running your life. Stand up for what you believe in and we will once more have a safe nation to live in and be able to bring up our children with responsibility. What a great feeling that will be.

God Bless America.

Michael E. Cook, Coos County Sheriff, Retired.

http://www.sierratimes.com/02/08/21/sheriff.htm



"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

Josey1

Why Guns Should Be
In The Cockpit
Kathryn Graham and John Tarsikes

Well, there you have it.

USA TODAY just broke the story they developed from behind the scenes in the Air Marshal program. Keep in mind that secrecy shrouds the program and those who are speaking out are doing so at great risk. It appears they have no "whistle blower" rights and are bound by top-secret clearance requirements. It is reported that more than eighty officers have resigned and some have filed a class action suit alleging that the program actually puts passengers at risk.

What is putting our passengers at risk? Is it the low morale from the disorganization of the program, the misrepresentation of the pay scale, the fact that the marksmanship training for closed space combat has been deleted because too many candidates could not shoot accurately, or the reports that some officers were hired, given guns and badges and put on flights BEFORE THEIR BACKGROND CHECKS WERE DONE? No, it is something so much simpler that it is all the more terrifying.

A dress code.

Are the powers that be so stupid that they really believe that a uniform dress code will not go unnoticed by a terrorist? Apparently the same government that advocates, "profiling" terrorists (read that persons with middle eastern names, swarthy complexions and rags on their heads) is so out of touch with reality that they believe the Men In Black approach to be sufficient camouflage to hide an Air Marshal? Give me a break!

Dress codes solve a lot of government problems. Cities used to successfully eliminate women police applicants by requiring "crew" style haircuts, men's shoes, shirts and pants. The same reasoning was SOP for the military, who were at the opposite end of the spectrum, requiring skirts. Tough for a fighter jock to put that pressure suit over a skirt!

Now many public schools are concerned about gangs. So they impose dress codes. Of course, the gangbangers look exactly like all the other kids. The school boards have ended the gang problem with the stroke of a pen.

Sure!

It looks like we could have learned from these mistakes.

Now pretend I am a real terrorist on a jihad (not the profile defined by the FBI to include anyone supporting the Constitution, advocating the Bill of Rights, or questioning the authority of a government which violates those rights) but a real want-to-kill-Americans kind of terrorist.

Do I need to smuggle weapons on to an airliner? No. All I have to do is spend a few days with four or five of my allies, riding random flights until I spot an Air Marshal. If four of us can't jump him and get his weapon, we still shirk the mortal coil in style and enter martyrdom. Too easy.

Dress code. Bah humbug!

The airline industry in this country is already on its knees. I doubted that anyone would try another 9/11 ploy until I learned that the Air Marshals were required to adhere to a dress code. The first axiom of working undercover is to go under cover. Which brings us to Guns In The Cockpit.

Aircrew has a dress code for sure.

Pilots have to be in the cockpit. They wear uniforms. The Captain is still the highest authority on the plane. If I am in command and they try to put a dress code compliant Air Marshal on board, I would put him off the flight as a hazard unless he was truly undercover and correctly trained and armed (the government is still unable to provide sufficient ammunition for the Air Marshal program and is suggesting that the agents buy their own!)

Pilots maintain better cockpit security than prior to 9/11. They are by nature of their position the last bastions of defense in the air. I firmly believe they need their guns back in the cockpit. To protect us against the dress code.

(John Tarsikes, Jr and Kathryn A. Graham are joint owners of Safetynet Associates )

http://sanantoniolightning.com/t&g3.html

"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

Josey1

APS ready to arm police
By Susie Gran
Tribune Reporter

With the discovery of an additional $7 million in the Albuquerque Public Schools budget, it appears the district will be able to pay for some employee raises, another seven full-day kindergarten programs, a new mail delivery truck, added testing expenses, initiatives at several high schools - and firearms for APS police.

District administrators informed the Finance Committee of the Albuquerque Board of Education on Tuesday that the windfall comes from the state's latest appropriation for the district, which was higher than expected.

The administration recommended that $40,000 for arming school police be budgeted from the appropriation. The committee ratified the recommendation, and tonight the full board will be asked to approve the allocation.

The .40-caliber Glock pistols that APS plans to buy would cost $429 each; the 35 guns it wants would cost just more than $15,000.

The ammunition, gun-cleaning kits, holsters, gun safes, hearing and eye protection, and training gear for 29 officers bring the total estimated cost to $40,000, the administration reported.

School police have sought the right to carry arms for years. In November, the board gave them permission to carry handguns, with the restriction that during school hours their weapons be locked in safes inside their patrol cars.

Until now, there wasn't any money allocated to buy the pistols, and so police have been armed with batons and Mace.

Roosevelt Middle School parent Charles North said at Tuesday's meeting he wants the board to finally give officers the tools they need to do their jobs. He said he called the APS executive team urging it to find the money for the guns.

He said he was assured the funding was going to be found. "They backed up their words with action and should be commended for it," North said.

"I'm happy for the officers and for parents," he said. With an increasing national attention on child abductions and concerns among parents for the safety of their children at school, armed officers are a must, he said.

"There isn't a principal out there who won't tell you that the number one issue among parents is safety, period.

"The officers need every option available to protect our children and APS property," North said.

With board approval, the new budget, including the $40,000 for the police, will be forwarded to the state Department of Education for final approval. State approval is required for all new budget items, APS officials said.

The board's Finance Committee, headed by John Emery, who has opposed arming school police, had little to say about the gun issue Tuesday.

"I want to see their training, is all," said member Dolores Herrera about the annual training all officers must have. In future budgets, the training and other recurring costs are projected at about $22,000 a year.

A proposed budget from the APS Police Department shows training will require 93 cases of ammunition, priced at $15,558; 2,000 targets for $430; and 300 hours of time on the firearms range, costing $2,850 annually.

The Albuquerque Board of Education will meet at 5:30 p.m. tonight at Smith Brasher Hall on the TVI campus, University Boulevard and Coal Avenue Southeast.

http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news02/082102_news_aps.shtml

"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

Josey1

Another push for guns in the cockpit



Pilots meet in Washington to call for more security efforts
Aug. 21 - The union representing 66,000 professional pilots is making a renewed push on cockpit security. NBC's Robert Hager reports.


By Robert Hager
NBC NEWS
Aug. 21 - At a meeting in Washington Wednesday, professional pilots said they are now embracing a proposal to allow them to carry guns in the cockpit. It's a proposal that once seemed like a long shot, but there's new momentum behind it now.

EVEN AS CONCERNS about terrorism caused the Miami airport to evacuate two concourses Wednesday morning, after some pepper spray that had been seized by screeners accidentally discharged, the union that represents 66,000 of North America's pilots gathered in Washington to call for a more focused effort against threats.
For instance, not rushing to install still-imperfect luggage scanners and in the meantime, plugging gaping holes in protection of cargo flights. And arming pilots with guns.
That would have helped, they said, last February, when a United crew had to fight off a berserk passenger who got through a new reinforced cockpit door, on a flight to Buenos Aires.
United Airlines Captain Dan Kurt talked about it for the first time Wednesday.
"I heard a scream that he was in the cockpit and that's when all the talk and negotiations and that went down the drain," says Kurt.

Soft Target: Airports as America's first line of defense

First Officer Mike Covington hit him with the dull side of the cockpit ax.
"I hit him as hard as I could swing it in the small space we had available," says Covington, but even that didn't stop the assailant at first. "He reacted as though I hadn't done anything to him. He continued to try to get up. And so I had to hit him several more times still with the blunt side of the ax."
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Finally, the assailant retreated and the plane was saved. But Kurt and Covington both said Wednesday they'd have been better served if armed with a gun.
As for guns in the cabin, already permitted in the hands of sky marshals, an FBI agent spoke at the pilots' meeting about how important the expansion of that program seems to him, after listening to cockpit voice recordings of a Sept. 11 hijacking.
"We, as law enforcement officers all said immediately, `Gosh, if there was just one law enforcement officer on board with a gun. You know just one guy, just one gun. What a difference that may have made,'" says Art Cummings, an FBI counterrorism official.


http://www.msnbc.com/news/797359.asp?cp1=1


"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

daddo

It all boils down to common sense- something that is lacking in the people of today!

offeror

When the Democrats want to discredit common sense, they call it oversimplification -- which means, in code, that if you're below a certain level (like the police officer above) you're too dumb to understand all the complexities of an issue. This avoids the necessity of even the first step toward taking any real action when an article from a knowledgeable citizen sees publication. The complexities, of course, are all the roadblocks thrown up by the Dems themselves.

But it's enough to accomplish their purpose, of keeping an argument going and keep anything positive from being done toward correcting some of the obvious problems. This is what politicians do for a living. Disagree self-righteously, pose as arrogantly intelligent while often being patently stupid and uneducated on a subject, and throw monkey wrenches at a solution.

- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Highball

As I understand the problem,the Bush people are blocking the pilots carrying guns..Republicans,last I checked....

God,Guts,& GunsHave we lost all 3 ??

stanman

That's right Highball,
Republicans??
If they still call themselves that!
The best Republican Administration the Democrats ever had in the White House.

armed_ female

If just one law abiding american citizen with a license to carry a concealed handgun had been present, not necessarily a law enforcement officer...but that's history, and the rules need to be changed. by the way..in reference to the article by Kathryn Graham..she is Texas state director of Armed Females of America.

Gun Control is Hitting Your Target!