Like the locked cockpit door and drug testing, if this goes through in the U.S., it will likely filter over to the UK. I'm not really crazy about the idea myself but a lot of my coworkers want to bring their guns to work.
Don't shoot the messenger...
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Bush Administration Plans Test Program of Guns in Cockpit
By Scott Lindlaw Associated Press Writer
Published: Sep 4, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration plans to adopt a small-scale test program of arming commercial pilots, reversing its previous opposition to guns in the cockpit.
The administration is modeling its plan after similar proposals that circulated in Congress this summer. One such plan would have armed as many as 1,400 pilots, about 2 percent of those flying.
One government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration was on the brink of announcing the decision.
Transportation Undersecretary John Magaw, who headed the new Transportation Security Administration until July, said in May he would not allow pilots to carry guns. Reinforced cockpits and armed air marshals provide enough protection against terrorists who try to take over an airplane, Magaw said.
"The responsibility of the pilot is to control the aircraft," Magaw said. "The use of firearms aboard a U.S. aircraft must be limited to those thoroughly trained members of law enforcement. Our position is make that cockpit as safe as we can, control that plane and get it on the ground."
Having thousands of armed pilots in airports would mean thousands of weapons that could fall into the wrong hands, Magaw said at the time. "We just don't want to subject the transportation system to additional firearms," he said.
But the House in July voted 310-113 to allow commercial pilots to carry guns, giving the proposal momentum, and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said soon afterward that he was re-examining the issue.
The administration is striving to reach a compromise between two camps - those who strongly oppose arming pilots, arguing, as Magaw did, that the government has already strengthened cockpit doors, bolstered airport security and is adding air marshals - and those who want all pilots armed, a government official said. NBC first reported the administration plan Wednesday night.
The airlines generally opposed plans to arm pilots, while the pilots' union and the National Rifle Association backed such proposals.
It wasn't clear Wednesday night how the government would decide whether to expand the program.
AP-ES-09-04-02 2016EDT
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Of course, the strident flight attendant union, AFA, has already branded guns in the cockpit as sexist:
"...in one of the most blatant displays of sexism perpetrated by a Congressional Committee in decades, the third crucial component, protecting the passengers and cabin crew in the event a terrorist attack, has been completely ignored.
“The Arming Pilots against Terrorism Act, marked up by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee today, once again gives further protection to the 99 percent male pilot workforce. Yet, House Committee Members refuse to support an amendment by Rep. Steve Horn (R-CA) that would adopt the same comprehensive approach to aircraft security that is detailed in the much more thorough Senate bill.
“The Senate cabin defense program, which would require all carriers to provide the 85 percent female flight attendant workforce with the training and tools necessary to lead the fight against terrorism in the aircraft and protect themselves and their passengers, has been neutered.
http://www.afanet.org/PressReleases/..._guns_bill.htm