Airline pilots now DEPRIVED OF GUNS by Obama

[Louis of PA]

Guys, I'm growing a lot more concerned about these ideologues in Washington. This story is just one more very troubling sign of how far they will go to diminish gun rights.
Regards,
Louis of PA

from http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...rogram-that-l/

guns on a plane

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?

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[RETREAD]

Since the inaguration
No guns in the cockpit
Military brass must be de milled before sale
Hysteria about US automatic guns to Mexican cartels via bad US gun owners.

A pattern here ?

[Greg H. in Virginia]

Our half-muslim president is setting the US up for another terrorist attack with such actions as disarming pilots. When it happens, he will then deal with it forcefully and quickly so he can be seen as the hero who deserves a second term.

[c-j]

Disarm the Pilots?

OK if he wants to do that we can now Demand he disarm his secret Service Agents since he hates guns so much.
Lets also demand that he disarm the DC and Chicago Police force of all weapons like the British did.

AS Michael Savage said " We are becoming a nation of sheepeople"

[1903 Mike]

First the kenyan commie wants to stop using the term " enemy combatants" now he wants to take firearms away from pilots? It is pretty clear which side he is on.

[2571]

As I remember, a lot of pilots did not want to be armed.

How many hijackers have they disabled?

Whole gun/cockpit program is nonesense anyway. I want a pilot who can drive an airplane when I fly, not a cowboy.

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

As I remember, a lot of pilots did not want to be armed.

How many hijackers have they disabled?

Whole gun/cockpit program is nonesense anyway. I want a pilot who can drive an airplane when I fly, not a cowboy.

And if the pilot is DEAD? Keep in mind that the terrorists believe they are going to paradise even if they only take the "infidels" on the plane with them.

You trust the pilots to not dive the aircraft into the ground but you don't trust them to defend themselves from some nut case muslim?

And I don't understand your reference to "cowboys" as most of them at the time couldn't hit the side of a barn if they were locked inside.
The "Wild West" was the product of dime novels written by people who never were there.

[JGaynor]

As I remember, a lot of pilots did not want to be armed.

How many hijackers have they disabled?

Whole gun/cockpit program is nonesense anyway. I want a pilot who can drive an airplane when I fly, not a cowboy.

Have to disagree on that point. I distinctly remember the head of the pilots union begging for authority to carry firearms in a televised congressional hearing.

The sad thing is it would have been an effective countermeasure that could have been implimented very cheaply in almost no time while other progrmas such as hardening the cockpit doors were under way.

While I have no illusions about Obama and his minions the Bush Administration deserves no credit here. They larded so much bureaucratic BS on this program so as to make it all but unworkable.

The question of how many terrorists have the pilots killed is pure sophistry. The point is that if a cockpit is breached there is a 100% certainty that the plane will be lost, all of the passengers and crew will be killed and even more deaths may result on the ground.

I would not give piots the option of being armed. On the theory that there are no atheists in foxholes I think every commercial aircraft sohould have at least one gun in the cockpit - right along with the fireextinuisher oxygen bottle and other seldom used but vital emerency gear.

[Clark Howard]

As I remember, a lot of pilots did not want to be armed.

How many hijackers have they disabled?

Whole gun/cockpit program is nonesense anyway. I want a pilot who can drive an airplane when I fly, not a cowboy.

Hello 2571 - Your reservations concerning the Federal Flight Deck Officer are duly noted. Your "cowboy" characterization is wayyy off the mark, however. Every one of the sworn pilots in the program are accomplished pilots. The program is completely voluntary. Most of the armed pilots are former officers in the U.S. military. All of the pilots in the program have completed the extensive qualification and training required by the Feds. The only foolish part of the program is the weapon storage requirements dictated by an administration that wanted to discourage participation. Any other law enforcement officer would turn in his badge in disgust if he or she were required to jump through this hoop. The pilots who have made the FFDO concept a success have done so out of a sincere desire to protect their own lives and the lives of their passengers. Since you own a computer, I would recommend that you do a little research into "the cowboy way", before you so easily disparage both professional pilots and cowboys. Regards, Clark

[Jim K]

The president seems determined to alienate as many people as possible, something that does not bode well for his administration. Sometimes, it seems less a deliberate move or part of an overall policy than simply incompetence.

In a way, it would be better to think Obama is carrying out some master plan, but the horrible truth seems to be that he has no plans. His vaunted "plans" on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, recession, energy, crime, health care, etc., do NOT exist. They are in reality no more than sound bites, something he can read from a TelePrompter without understanding the real problems or what will be involved in actually putting his ideas into effect. Right now, we seem to have "government by trial balloon", with low level officials floating an idea to see if it gets shot down. Presidents do that from time to time, but I suspect Obama is out of the loop on most of it.

It seems that the all-wise Messiah is nothing more than a moderately bright Chicago pol, who is in well over his head and has no idea what he is doing.

Jim