Verified Document

Should Pilots In Commercial Flights Be Able To Carry Firearms In Cockpit Term Paper

Arming Pilots After almost four years, the United States is still feeling the effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The War in Iraq continues. Despite massive security measures that have been put in place since September 11, Americans continue to be vulnerable to terrorist attack.

This paper argues that allowing trained pilots to carry firearms will help protect air travelers from similar hijackings. More important, armed pilots would constitute an important layer in the fight to keep the United States secure from terrorists and other enemies.

First of all, the move to allow pilots to carry firearms has widespread support. In 2002, for example, the Lower House voted 310-113 in favor of a bill allowing commercial pilots to signed up for a firearms training program (Sowell, 45). Polls conducted among members of the general public have shown strong support for this measure. Furthermore, many pilots have voiced a strong interest in such a program, citing their concerns regarding the lax security in airline travel.

Second, experts point out that measures instituted to ensure air travel safety are far from enough. The air marshal program, for example, mandates that armed law enforcement individuals will board flights dressed as passengers. However, there are not enough trained individuals to put an air marshal in every flight. In fact, pilots have argued that only one-third of all flights out of Reagan...

The figure is even less for flights from other airports, especially with flights from Europe.
Training pilots in the use of firearms would be a good solution to the lack of air marshals. After all, every commercial flight would have at least two pilots already present. There is already a network of 550,000 pilots, flying planes out of over 5,000 airports (Szyliowicz 56). It would therefore be more cost-effective to train pilots who are already part of this existing network, instead of recruiting and training new people to become marshals.

Third, giving trained pilots the right to carry firearms adds another layer of security to air travel and, by extension, homeland security. Current security measures mandated in planes, after all, has been woefully inadequate. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), for example, has been conducting tests of airport screenings since the Fall of 2002. However, no test results are being made public amid speculations of poor performance. To make matters worse, the TSA has yet to acknowledge that aside from guns, a number of "undetectable lethal weapons" ceramics and plastic knives can also be used to hijack a plane (Lott).

In addition to the lack of hypothetical marshals and the faulty screenings, the September 11 attacks illustrate the lack of safety inside the airplane itself. In 2003, reinforced cockpit…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

LaPierre, Wayne. Guns, Freedom and Terrorism. New York: WND Books, 2003.

Lott, John R. "Airline Pilots Should Be Armed." Homeland Security. Andrea C. Nakaya, Ed. Current Controversies Series. Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Thomson Gale. 25 June 2005

Szyliowicz, Joseph. "Aviation Security." Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. 27: 47-63, 2004.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Flight Training
Words: 3303 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Flight Training is a popular career choice that keeps fluctuating in scope due to the position of the economy, and is today viewed to have better prospects due to an apparent brightening up of the outlook. The career of a pilot is that of a highly trained professional who are involved in flying airplanes and helicopters which carry out many tasks. Most of the pilots are airline pilots, copilots or

Securing Commercial Air Travel Airline
Words: 2481 Length: 7 Document Type: Thesis

This process of prescreening travelers before they board the plane is one of the most important parts of the security system. Electronic Privacy Information Center, 2008); (United States Government Accountability Office, 2007) Another system which was in use since the late 1990s and discontinued after 9/11, was the Threat Image Protection -- TIP system. TSA has also implemented the PMIS or Performance Management Information System which helps to gather

Aviation Business Ethics Sept 11 Industry Implications
Words: 4384 Length: 16 Document Type: Term Paper

Aviation Business Ethics and Sept. 11 Industry Implications On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists passed through several security checkpoints at three United States airports and proceeded to hijack four commercial jets. The horror began at 8:45 A.M. Two hours later, more than three thousand people were killed in New York City, rural Pennsylvania and Arlington, Virginia (Duffy, 2002). shattered the nation's sense of safety and security and forever changed the way people

Aviation Security Necessity of a
Words: 2738 Length: 10 Document Type: Research Paper

' 'The International Outreach Plan' provides a comprehensive framework to solicit international support for an improved global aviation security network. All these specially suggested plans addresses the need of different aspects of aviation security, yet, these security plans support and complement each other and that is why all have been properly integrated with the designing plan of the airport (Transportation Security Administration, 2010). The designed plan for the airport includes all aspects of

Attack of 911 Has Posed a Serious
Words: 4017 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

attack of 911 has posed a serious threat to the aviation industry. For the first the world could realize that airplanes are not only the mode of transportation but can also be utilized as potential bombs. Many passengers are apprehensive of air travel. This led Governments, Policy Makers, aviation industries and regulatory authorities to think a while about aviation security. The aviation security is being revolutionized since then to

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now