Lawmakers want more pilots trained to carry guns WASHINGTON (AP) =97 The Bush administration is moving too slowly to put guns= =20 in the cockpits of commercial planes, some lawmakers said Thursday. In the= =20 six months since Congress ordered the Transportation Security=20 Administration to train any pilot who volunteered to carry a weapon, just=20 44 have completed the five-day program. House aviation subcommittee=20 Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., said the agency must move faster. "I'm not=20 pleased that TSA is creating an overly costly, complicated and bureaucratic= =20 program," Mica said. He also questioned some procedures pilots must follow= =20 once authorized to carry weapons. For example, pilots must stow their semiautomatic pistols in the airplane's= =20 cargo hold when they fly as passengers. Critics say giving up possession of= =20 the weapon increases the chances it could fall into the wrong hands or=20 discharge accidentally. TSA deputy administrator Stephen McHale defended=20 the program, saying it's making good progress. The first pilots were sworn in as federal flight deck officers last month,= =20 and since then 27 have flown more than 410 flights while carrying a weapon,= =20 McHale said. Several thousand armed pilots could be in the field by October= =20 2004 if Congress appropriates the $25 million requested by the=20 administration for the program, he said. One way to expedite the arming of= =20 pilots would be to allow private firing ranges to train them, Mica=20 said. Owen Mills, owner of Gunsite Academy in Paulden, Ariz., told the=20 subcommittee he could probably train 100 pilots a week for half the $6,200= =20 the TSA says it costs per pilot. Gunsite Academy trains U.S. Customs=20 officials, FBI agents, local SWAT teams and others. McHale said all=20 federal law enforcement officers do their basic training at federal=20 facilities, but the agency would eventually consider allowing private=20 ranges to requalify pilots. The subcommittee voted to allow cargo pilots to carry guns, which was=20 approved by the full House last year but died in a conference committee.=20 Cargo pilots support the idea, but cargo companies say it's=20 unnecessary. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's nonvoting=20 delegate in Congress, said she's worried that if the policy is extended to= =20 cargo pilots others in the transportation industry will then want to carry= =20 weapons. '"Hey, he got one, I want one,'" Holmes said. Rep. James=20 Oberstar, D-Minn., said arming cargo pilots would come with substantial=20 costs. He estimated 10,000 to 15,000 cargo pilots would want to carry=20 guns, a significant addition to the 30,000 to 35,000 passenger pilots he=20 estimated want to be armed. The government pays for the weapon and the=20 training. Training 50,000 pilots at $6,200 each would cost $310 million. Other holes in aviation security need to be plugged, committee members=20 said. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said he recently witnessed airport=20 employees going into the "sterile areas" of airports =97 places beyond the= =20 security checkpoints =97 without being screened. McHale said the agency is= =20 changing its procedures to require background checks of all employees who=20 have access to aircraft and to the sterile areas of airports. "A background= =20 check isn't enough," said DeFazio, who wants them all screened. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************