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| Senate approves plan to arm commercial pilots |
| 2002-09-06 |
| The Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to allow pilots to carry guns, despite strong objections from airlines and questions raised by the Bush administration. What? Good sense? In the Senutt? Who'da thunkit? The House endorsed a similar measure in July, so it appears likely that at least some pilots who volunteer for special training could be allowed to carry weapons as an added security measure. I heard about that part of it. Y'see, pilots won't be allowed to pack a roscoe unless they can show they've had the special training, but there isn't any money set aside for the special training, so they won't be able to pack rods. Then, five years from now, when all this 9-11 stuff is safely in the past, when we were all much younger, the Million Moms March bunch can point out that nothing ever came of it, except for the copilot who shot himself in the leg, back in 2004, and guns are ucky anyway, so they should be outlawed... The 87-6 Senate vote attached the proposal to a bill creating a Homeland Security Department. That bill is the subject of political wrangling in the Senate, and a final vote has not been scheduled. Guess that's why God put two sides on each mouth. Some politicians have three or more, in fact... The Transportation Security Administration had opposed arming pilots, but in recent weeks it signaled a willingness to compromise. Thursday, the administration outlined conditions under which it could agree to a program. The more reason for Sec. Mineta to find a nice job in the food service industry. If they called me and put me in charge, which they won't, I'd propose having coppers fly free. Any passenger who could show he/she/it had passed a gun safety course would be allowed to pack no more than two rods of .32 caliber or less. Then I'd put the smoking sections back on the planes so nobody'd use them on anybody but Bad Guys... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 Archie Bunker said that they oughta issue everyone a rod when they boarded a plane. That way the hijackers would be outgunned. Works fer me. |
| Posted by: Denny Wilson 2002-09-06 17:43:06 |