...Very well said Jon, And my sentiments exactly. Terrorists are idiots, but they are not dumb. Other means including air-to-missles may be their next agenda. I am not afraid of getting on any aircraft and the other PAX. I am very worried about the many other means these extremists have against us. Bryant Petitt Cumming, GA --- Jon Wright <jwright@halcyon.com> wrote: > I'm sort of ambivalent about guns in the cockpit. > Not that I'm = > particularly anti-gun per se (although I do agree > that the logistical = > issues of arming the cockpit would be challenging), > just that I think we = > (as a society) are spending a whole lot of effort > belaboring a moot = > point. Why do I think it is moot? Because no serious > terrorist group is = > going to try to hijack a plane again. The rules have > changed. The = > pilots, cabin crew, and passengers won't sit by and > let a hijack = > succeed; they'll all resist. The most any would-be > hijackers could hope = > to accomplish would be kill a few innocents before > they themselves were = > killed. 9/11 succeeded because the terrorist > exploited the prevailing = > doctrine for dealing with hijackers. The emphasis on > sky marshals and = > guns in the cockpit and ludicrous security screening > is, frankly, = > closing the barn door after the horses have all > escaped. I maintain that = > a 9/11-style hijacking would fail even if we had the > same security we = > did before 9/11. > > Instead of addressing things that have already > happened, we should be = > emphasizing closing the next loopholes. The > potential for a bombs in a = > suitcase scares me the most. And when that is > covered with legitimate = > screening (not window dressing screening), what's > next? I bet a dozen = > guys armed with automatic weapons could blow by (or > through) a security = > checkpoint and be on a plane before anyone realized > what was going on. = > What about the airport perimeter? A set of bolt > cutters and you're = > through the fence. Load up a Hummer with guys and > automatic weapons and = > you think a couple cops driving around in > black-and-whites could stop = > them? > > So I contend that since the people on a plane will > no longer cooperate = > with hijackers, a "conventional" hijacking is no > longer the path of = > least resistance for a ne'er do well and so we > needn't focus on = > addressing that possibility. Instead we should be > trying to head off the = > next path of least resistance. > > Respectfully, > Jon > -- > Jon Wright > mailto:jwright@halcyon.com __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com