This is an excellent thread with some very good posts. I must say I agree with those against the carriage of weapons by pilots, other than those weapons they were born with. Just what you need is a fire fight in an enclosed space in a pressurised cigar tube (aluminium one or worse) about 37 000 feet from good old terror firmer. There are other non-lethal weapons available other than stun guns. Once again this is a knee jerk reaction from the idiots who purport to run the world. Terrifying in their stupidity and arrogance they are. I mean pollies not septic tanks, before you start attacking. Anyway, this would mean yet another 'test' for pilots. Surely we would have to prove we could care for our new babies and actually point them at least in the vague direction of a target. In my experience most pilots would fail that. No anecdotes, but from my experience a pilot with a gun is only a threat to himself and his friends. Scary thought.