Not only have
the pilots been pushing to carry guns in light of terrorist
attacks and threats, but the Association of Flight
Attendants also has suggested that its 50,000 members have
access to nonlethal weapons such as stun guns, also known as
tasers.
That's why I
recently asked bCentral's readers how they feel about
allowing airline employees to have weapons on board planes.
More than 100
readers responded to my inquiry — which was posted on both
the bCentral Web site and the
bCentral Bulletin weekly newsletter, shortly before and
after the U.S. Department of Transportation's ruling. The
responses were thoughtful and passionate.
How do readers feel? Overall, by a margin of more than a 2 to 1, a majority of respondents found fault with the idea of putting weapons on planes.
Coffee, tea or tasers?
Some readers do feel it makes sense to have an armed crew. Several echo the view of Dave Bulicek of Crystal Lake, Ill., who says that allowing attendants to carry tasers is "a no-brainer." He asks, "What harm can come from that?"
One thing that struck me is that while satisfaction with airlines and airline employees in general is very low, passengers' opinion of airline pilots seems to be very high. Many readers, including those who opposed having any weapons on airplanes, made a point of emphasizing the faith they have in the men and women behind the controls of passenger jets.
However, even with pilots, people were able to envision legitimate concerns. Eric Mold, a retired Air Force fighter pilot in Vancouver, B.C., points out that even if only one out of 1,000 pilots carrying a weapon is "intent on doing mischief," that number is an unacceptable risk. "I call upon the other 99.9% of the [airline pilots] to reject this stupid idea," Mold says.
Worries about weapon control
While some
worry about the potentially catastrophic effects of gunshots
fired into a fuselage in mid-flight, concern about pilots
and attendants losing control of weapons looms larger in the
minds of many.
Tom Valuch of
Atlanta, for example, likes the idea of allowing a flight
crew to be armed, but is opposed to attendants having
control of any weapons. "It'd be too easy to overpower a
flight attendant and take control of a weapon," he says.
Writing from
Ottawa, Ontario, Victor Neufeld says he liked the idea of
allowing attendants to carry tasers, but with an important
caveat. "I would want to know how these weapons are to be
secured so that they do not end up being accessed by the
criminal element and applied against the people whom they
are meant to protect," he says.
David Scott of Christchurch, New Zealand, advocates other measures, such as reinforcing cockpit doors. He succinctly sums up his concerns about on-board arms: "Weapons are likely to be taken away from lightly trained users by fanatics who would be highly trained."
A gun is not a security blanket
Where do I
stand on all of this? Well, like any frequent flier, I want
to be safe — and the safer the better. But I don't think
arming either flight attendants or pilots gets us there. And
I don't think government announcements that somewhere,
sometime there will be some sort of terrorist attack serve
much purpose beyond scaring the spit out of citizens.
We're spending
a lot of time watching airline employees wipe our laptop
computers in search of explosive residue, and taking off our
shoes for examination (woe to the man who spends time
fertilizing his lawn before heading out to the airport). But
the airlines are subjecting a mere fraction of our checked
bags to bomb-detecting equipment, and we're still skimping
on trained air marshals. (According to a recent article in
USA Today, we're also skimping on the training some of those
marshals are getting.)
Ultimately, I
come down on the side of people like Jim Brown, a former
federal agent now living in Gallup, N.M.
Says Brown, who used to be required to carry a firearm when flying, "Law enforcement officers shouldn't fly commercial airliners, and airline pilots shouldn't carry guns. Few pilots would have the resolve not to give up their weapon to save a crew member with a box-cutter to his or her throat. Well-trained law enforcement officers are immeasurably better prepared to handle such situations."