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Guest Commentary July 11, 2002
Allow Guns in the Cockpit
The Honorable Barbara Boxer
I am very pleased to support Senator Bob Smith's (R-NH) bill to greatly enhance passenger and crew safety on our nation's planes.
I think this is the first time I have ever stood with Senator Smith on an issue that has involved guns. However, I have decided that until I am satisfied with the number of air marshals on commercial flights, this bill is a necessity -- indeed it is a matter of life and death.
Why do I say that? Because if a plane is considered under the control of hijackers it will be shot down by our military. Imagine how the survivors of all those passengers and crew will feel if we failed to allow pilots to have guns to defend the plane and an American flight was brought down by the American military.
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I know how it would make me feel as a United States Senator and it would be a heart break I would carry for the rest of my life.
I voted for air marshals on every flight and although I cannot reveal the exact number of air marshals, I can tell you that I am far from satisfied that the traveling public is being protected as they should be.
Not only that, Senator Burns and I have not been able to get a briefing from the Department of Transportation regarding air marshals on flights. We've been trying to get the briefing for seven weeks. That doesn't give me faith in the air marshal program.
It is also crucial that flight attendants be trained in self defense and terrorism prevention. I had hoped that this would be taken care of with the Aviation Security Act. However, because the law allows each airline to provide its own training, the training is not standard and uniform across the industry.
Flight attendants are endorsing this bill. All of the pilots' organizations are endorsing this bill. And I want to thank the flight attendants and pilots who met with me, who were very helpful in working through the issues with me. And I want to thank Senator Smith and his staff for adding language to the bill that deals with air marshals and videos in the cockpit.
I look forward to the time when air marshals are on every flight as was authorized in the Aviation Security Act. Until that time, I believe that pilots who are carefully trained and want to carry a gun in the cockpit should be allowed to do so.
Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, is a U.S. Senator from California. The above commentary has been adapted from remarks Sen. Boxer made at a Capitol Hill news conference, July 11, 2002. To contact her, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
