Not that this has anything to do with NANOG, but ... Why be limited to just AN air marshall? Allow some already licensed citizens to carry their own handguns on planes after running them through some sort of civilian air marshall program - maybe run by the National Guard at high school level or earlier for the future members to get a headstart, and by the FBI for those actively on planes. For those in the program who don't choose to carry all the time off the planes, provide issue weapons that get turned in at the far end for those coming with none, and provide checking/storage at either end for those more comfortable their own but perhaps not wanting a weapon with them at some business meeting. Yes, you may lose a plane or two through screwups or until training and screening get refined, but far better hundreds in the unlucky plane than thousands when buildings or sports stadiums or monster urban cryo-LNG tanks are successful targets. Its not that the terrorists would be personally afraid of these civilians, but they would be rightly afraid their success rate would be severely crimped. If all the passengers of the planes this week were aware of what was really about to happen, I suspect the outcome would have been a lot different. If you are apt to be dying anyway, make sure the bastards don't get their way totally. One plane apparently did that. But if you then tilt the scale towards the public's side a bit more than hand to hand combat with a knife (or gun or bomb) wielding terrorist allows, and add a few civilian marksmen you have a much safer plane that I would not mind flying on. Go to your local gun club and watch the local police come for their annual requalifying now that they need a properly lead proofed and ventilated range the city/town can no longer afford, and then watch the average club member shoot. On average, guess who is the better shot by far! This juncture should not be one where the public is further disarmed, but should be one where Americans, even those that don't like guns, should seriously consider learning to use them well if and when needed, and should be demanding more of their rights to self defense be returned. And give them bonus frequent flyer miles or special discounts, and a Saturday of intense training every 3 months or so that they even get paid to attend. Make the system popular, but demand some serious training. And don't whine about Columbine and guns and school kids. Normal American kids and guns are fine. Some quality instruction helps. I grew up in a neighborhood in Cambridge Mass where all the kids had access to guns and could shoot as much as they could afford. Noone got hurt. One of the Harvard Professors (www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/05.27/mm.perry.html ) across the street owned marsh islands off the north shore and the neighborhood kids took turns being his kid's guests. You could shoot all you wanted but had to bring or pay for your own ammo. Handguns, rifles, and shotguns. That was in the early 50s and I was pretty young as we moved away from there at the end of my 7th grade. I was a lucky city kid with access to instruction and shooting space. Country kids will all laugh because they always had such access. We didn't have garbage TV back then and more important did not have prescription psych mind-rape drugs being pumped into school kids as a bad crutch or source of Federal $$s by school systems that have wandered far away from real teaching ability. Keep the psychs and their Columbine/Wakefield style drugs OUT of schools and certainly out of any civilian air marshall program and you can have a safe system. ----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Stewart" <dbs@ntrnet.net> To: "Mathias Körber" <mathias@koerber.org>; <nanog@merit.org> Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 11:22 PM Subject: RE: Lack of Security
At 10:55 PM 9/12/2001, Mathias Körber wrote:
And thus reduce the number of people and bags etc that need to be checked, which will allow for more time to do thorough checks. Why is it important that non-passengers be able to get all the way to the gate?
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The air marshall program is a good idea - I worry a little that a group of determined people could overpower him/her and end up in possession of their weapon.