Pistol-Packing Pilots
A House subcommittee approved a bill Wednesday to let 2 percent of commercial pilots carry firearms in the cockpit for a two-year trial period, as a last line of defense against hijackers.
The bill, intended as a security measure to help stop any repeat of the Sept. 11 hijack attacks, passed the aviation subcommittee on a voice vote. It is expected to pass the full House Transportation Committee as soon as next week and move to the House floor, where backers claim overwhelming support.
But it marks a big step back from the original proposal, which would have allowed all pilots who wished to do so and were properly trained to carry firearms. To win Democratic support, the bill's Republican authors agreed to a two-year trial involving just 2 percent of U.S. pilots -- about 1,400.
The Bush administration has said it would not allow commercial pilots to carry firearms in the cockpit, but one of the authors of the House bill, Alaska Republican Don Young, said he expected President Bush would sign the compromise.
"This thing will pass overwhelmingly and they (the White House) will sign it," Young, Transportation Committee chairman, said after the vote.
The two-year test would begin once 250 pilots have signed up for the program.
"Of all the people who look at aviation security, in my opinion, there's no one that has more experience than a pilot," said the subcommittee chairman, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. "Each day, they see and they know the weaknesses of the system and they are asking to arm and defend themselves. Congress has a responsibility to hear their plea in this matter."
Other proponents said armed pilots would be the last line of defense against a terrorist hijacking.
"If something were to happen, the last option is to shoot down an airplane," said Rep. John Thune, R-S.D. "We want to avoid that at all costs."
But Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said 98 percent of the pilots wouldn't be armed during the two-year test.
"You know full well this will do nothing for virtually everybody," she said. "We are putting guns in planes but almost surely there will be no gun in your plane."
And Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, argued that pilots would make planes less safe.
"We are spending millions of dollars reinforcing the cockpit walls between cockpits and passenger cabins to prevent access to pilot controls," she said. "Pilots could be tempted to confront situations occurring in the passenger cabin and thereby breach the secure barrier."
Pilots unions have pushed hard for the right to carry firearms in the cockpit, and have been lobbying lawmakers to support legislation.
The executive director of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, whose members include the unions representing American and Southwest pilots, recently urged the group to create its own political action committee to help the fight.
"We need access to those senators and congressmen who might be persuaded to support this legislation," executive director Mike Cronin said on the group's Web site. "Access is what PAC funds are all about."