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Title: Obama secretly ends program that let pilots carry guns
Source:
Washington Times
URL Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news ... -secretly-ends-program-that-l/
Published: Mar 17, 2009
Author: editorial
Post Date: 2009-03-17 17:19:01 by X-15
Keywords: None
Views: 363
Comments: 15
After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings. Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology. The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots. This looks like completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots. The 12,000 Federal Flight Deck Officers, the pilots who have been approved to carry guns, are reported to have the best behavior of any federal law enforcement agency. There are no cases where any of them has improperly brandished or used a gun. There are just a few cases where officers have improperly used their IDs. Fewer than one percent of the officers have any administrative actions brought against them and, we are told, virtually all of those cases “are trumped up.” Take a case against one flight officer who had visited the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles within the last few weeks. While there, the pilot noticed that federal law enforcement officers can, with the approval of a superior, obtain a license plate that cannot be traced, a key safety feature for law enforcement personnel. So the pilot asked if, as a member of the federal program, he was eligible. The DMV staffer checked and said “no.” The next day administrative actions were brought against the pilot for “misrepresenting himself.” These are the kinds of cases that President Obama wants to investigate. Since Mr. Obama's election, pilots have told us that the approval process for letting pilots carry guns on planes slowed significantly. Last week the problem went from bad to worse. Federal Flight Deck Officers - the pilots who have been approved to carry guns - indicate that the approval process has stalled out. Pilots cannot openly speak about the changing policies for fear of retaliation from the Transportation Security Administration. Pilots who act in any way that causes a “loss of confidence” in the armed pilot program risk criminal prosecution as well as their removal from the program. Despite these threats, pilots in the Federal Flight Deck Officers program have raised real concerns in multiple interviews. Arming pilots after Sept. 11 was nothing new. Until the early 1960s, American commercial passenger pilots on any flight carrying U.S. mail were required to carry handguns. Indeed, U.S. pilots were still allowed to carry guns until as recently as 1987. There are no records that any of these pilots (either military or commercial) ever causing any significant problems. Screening of airplane passengers is hardly perfect. While armed marshals are helpful, the program covers less than 3 percent of the flights out of Washington D.C.'s three airports and even fewer across the country. Sky marshals are costly and quit more often than other law-enforcement officers. Armed pilots are a cost-effective backup layer of security. Terrorists can only enter the cockpit through one narrow entrance, and armed pilots have some time to prepare themselves as hijackers penetrate the strengthened cockpit doors. With pilots, we have people who are willing to take on the burden of protecting the planes for free. About 70 percent of the pilots at major American carriers have military backgrounds. Frankly, as a matter of pure politics, we cannot understand what the administration is thinking. Nearly 40 House Democrats are in districts were the NRA is more popular than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. We can't find any independent poll in which the public is demanding that pilots disarm. Why does this move make sense? Only anti-gun extremists and terrorist recruits are worried about armed pilots. So why is the Obama administration catering to this tiny lobby at the expense of public safety?
Poster Comment: Obama can go to hell, he's a sorry POS.
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#1. To: X-15 (#0)
I can add nothing further.
ping
LOL! Barack Hussein "the Kenyan" Obama wants people investigated for "misrepresenting" themselves?!?!?! D@mn, isn't irony ironic? Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. That's easy. Obama and his crew are "anti-gun extremists." They have armed goons protecting them and as far as they are concerned the rest of us can piss up a rope.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Apparently Buckwheat cannot tell the difference between whites, who should have guns, and negros, who shouldn't.
We should at least let them have spears. Maybe we can start a "trade your guns in for traditional tribal spears" program in inner cities across the country. Being true to their African heritage and all that.
If someone is going to carry a gun on a commercial flight, I would rather it be the pilot than the wanna be cop of an air marshal.
I think all the passengers should be armed. And in my lifetime that has been allowed. Not in a long time but just think if even one or two of the people on the flights that were hijacked on 9/11 had had just a regular issue 38 special. Things might have turned out a lot differently.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Didn't Bush do the exact same thing a few weeks before 9-11?
Air Marshal Dillon...he is the one that looks like he has two left arms, and he is reading a comic book.
I can't understand why people lose one of their rights in order to exercise another (exercise the right to travel, lose the right to defend yourself--it doesn't make sense).
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Well now, you are waxing intellectual philosophy, and that cannot be allowed as ALL questions must be submitted in writing thirty days in advance to the American Free Speech Board.
Well, it is just curious to me how we have become a nation of people who accept all this crap and denial of rights. There is no doubt in my mind that any one of the founders would shoot anyone who told them that they could not carry their gun wherever they chose to take it.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. in·cre·men·tal·ism (nkr-mntl-zm) n. Social or political gradualism. incre·mental·ist n.
Obama can go to hell, he's a sorry POS. BUMP
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom.~~William Wallace ALAS, BABYLON
Obama can go to hell, he's a sorry POS.
#2. To: X-15, *Shooters*, *libertarians*, *Jack-Booted Thugs* (#0)
but the sheiks would shriek and the barons would bellow if hemp was made legal...and people became mellow
#3. To: X-15 (#0)
The next day administrative actions were brought against the pilot for “misrepresenting himself.” These are the kinds of cases that President Obama wants to investigate.
Lord Acton
#4. To: X-15 (#0)
Only anti-gun extremists and terrorist recruits are worried about armed pilots. So why is the Obama administration catering to this tiny lobby at the expense of public safety?
Lord Acton
#5. To: X-15 (#0)
No place is better than Turtle Island.
#6. To: Turtle (#5)
Apparently Buckwheat cannot tell the difference between whites, who should have guns, and negros, who shouldn't.
#7. To: X-15 (#0)
Obama can go to hell, he's a sorry POS.
#8. To: Cynicom (#7)
Lord Acton
#9. To: X-15, all (#0)
Obama secretly ends program that let pilots carry guns
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#10. To: James Deffenbach (#8)
#11. To: Cynicom (#10)
Lord Acton
#12. To: James Deffenbach (#11)
#13. To: Cynicom (#12)
Well now, you are waxing intellectual philosophy, and that cannot be allowed as ALL questions must be submitted in writing thirty days in advance to the American Free Speech Board.
Lord Acton
#14. To: James Deffenbach (#13)
#15. To: X-15 (#0)
Obama secretly ends program that let pilots carry guns
"Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." ~~ IndieTx
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