NEVADA:
If you want to become an aerial cowboy go and sign up with the FAA's Sky Marshal program; salary up to $80,000. That way you can concentrate all your energies on just firearms tactical training and you wouldn't have to worry about simultaneously flying the airplane in case of another hijack attempt. Meanwhile, as a pilot I'm busy enough attending annual recurrent ground school, annual line check and biannual simulator training with proficiency checks. I am the least interested in becoming an extension of the law enforcement community. Not interested in attending initial and recurrent firearms training. Not interested in carrying a loaded gun. That's why I didn't become a law enforcement officer.
There is an element of risk in ordinary flying; but there's a greater risk when flying with loaded weapons in the cockpit. We cannot bulletproof aviation from terrorism, just as we cannot get into people's minds and screen for suicidal fanatics. We can take reasonable measures, or we can do security overload, strangle the air transportation system and bankrupt many airlines.
