----- Original Message ----- From: "Alireza Alivandivafa" <DEmocrat2n@xxxxxxx> > Military pilots go through basic training, are trained to use their side arms > much more than these pilots, would never fire their guns in their planes and > only have them for the chance that they bail in hostile territory. Commercial > pilots would be carrying guns in huge, pressurized tubes, full of PAX, that > will be substantially harder to fly with a hole shot in them. Additionally, > there are as many as 400 PAX on the plane who are in danger if you have a gun > fight on a loaded plane. It would take many holes in the aircraft to make it harder to fly. El Al pilots carry weapons. Let's see, El Al has had a total of a whopping 0 hijackings in the last umteen years. > As far as guns protecting property, they take property even more. > Additionally, the back and forth we have in the US with guns, coupled with our > culture that preaches fear and consumption means that guns kill more people here > than the rest of the industrialized world combined. see http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel022801.shtml, http://www.rkba.org/orgs/dipr/states.crime-ccw.4sep95.html, and other sites >It is this same thinking > that makes people think that we need to give pilots guns, further endangering a > plane. With the new cockpit doors, there is pretty much no way for someone to > get in if they are not let in, so the pilot can put anyone not buckled in on > the roof, knocking them out, much faster and more safely than taking them out > with a gun. Yea, right. I really doubt the doors are 100% breakproof. >Remember, they take care of property just fine in the UK where > beat cops don't even carry guns (and are on much less of a power trip and have > better attitudes). There are cops that do carry weapons in England, and ALL members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary carry weapons (source: http://www.britemb.org.il/information/FAQSlawandorder.html#2)