Airline Pilots Cite Faulty Rules for USAir Discharge; Antis Gearing Up Their Glee

You knew this was coming from the anti self defense, anti airline safety groups. That incident in the USAir flight from Denver to Charlotte last week illustrated a big problem for pilots. And not the fact that firearms are there, but the means by which they must keep them secure that is creating a danger zone.

"The Gun Guys," who are not firearms rights or self defense supporters by any stretch of the imagination, didn't waste any time railing against firearms in cockpits to protect passengers (by protecting the crew) against future 9-11 style hijackings after the USAir incident last week. They immediately started regurgitating dust-covered missives from columnists who in 2001 didn't like the original proposal, even as the remains of some 3,000 human beings were still being recovered from the ash pile that was New York City's World Trade Center twin towers.

Here is one story they dug up from 2001 from the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.

That article was accompanied by this piece from the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. BTW. while the Gun Guys in their intro did acknowledge that ICAHV is an affiliate of the Freedom States Alliance, they neglected to note that their own website is also affiliated with the same anti-gun organization. On television, at least NBC has the guts to note they are owned by General Electric whenever they broadcast a story about GE, positive or negative. The same with ABC regarding news about Disney Corp.

The Guy Guys also dusted off tired warnings from the Violence Policy Center on the subject of self defense tools in cockpits.

MEANWHILE, the Airline Pilots Security Alliance has not been happy for sometime about the dangerous rules put in place by TSA regarding pilots having firearms on the flight deck. The requirements enabled a disaster in waiting. Fortunately, the pilots kept control of the aircraft.

"APSA, an organization of pilots who lobby Congress on aviation security issues, said the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has refused to adopt standard carriage rules recommended last year by the Federal Air Marshal Service. 'We complained to DHS two years ago that this was an unsafe rule,' Mr. Mackett said. Rather than carry the weapon on their person at all times, pilots must lock it up before opening the cockpit door, meaning pilots handle the gun as many as 10 times per flight, the association estimates."

Anybody who knows anything about firearms knows the more times you needlessly handle a firearm, the greater the chance for an unintended discharge.

Sadly, I'll guarantee you the rocket scientist (or the committee, more likely) who proposed or pushed for this provision won't even suffer a hand slap for the unintended consequences (that anyone could see coming) of their rules writing.