Obama Wants to Disarm U.S. Pilots


Wednesday, March 18, 2009 12:19 PM

By: David A. Patten


The Obama administration is taking steps quietly to shut down the program that qualifies commercial airline pilots to carry firearms in jetliner cockpits in order to ward off another 9/11-type attack.
The administration recently diverted $2 million from a program to train and certify pilots to carry firearms safely while on duty. Instead, it is using the money to hire additional field inspectors to help discipline pilots who step out of line, according to a report in Tuesday’s Washington Times.
A Times editorial condemned the Obama administration's action, calling it “completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots.”
Since Obama took office, the approval process for certifying pilots to carry firearms has ground to a halt, the newspaper reports. Pilots are afraid to speak out about the behind-the-scenes maneuverings, for fear of retaliation, according to the newspaper. No cases have been reported in which pilots have brandished a weapon inappropriately or otherwise abused their eligibility to carry firearms.
About 12,000 pilots have been authorized to carry handguns while flying aircraft as part of the Federal Flight Deck Officers Program. Congress authorized the program in a 310-to-113 vote following the 9/11 attacks to help prevent terrorists from turning jetliners into flying bombs that could be used to attack key sites like the White House, the Pentagon, or Capitol Hill.
Paul Valone, a Second Amendment advocate who directs Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC.org), is calling for citizens to contract their congressional representatives to protest the administration’s anti-gun priorities.
Pilots are already required to pay for their own room and board during training, and use paid leave for the time they’re off the job. Every six months, the program requires them to be requalified for firearm use.
Valone writes on Examiner.com: “While bureaucrats . . . may have attempted to hamstring the program with burdensome requirements, training instructors and the Federal Air Marshals who now oversee the program routinely thank the FFDOs for their professionalism and dedication in protecting the nation’s air commerce against terrorism.”
Valone says the Obama administration is “dismantling yet another layer of defense against terrorism and defying the will of the American people.”
Since coming to power, the Obama administration has undertaken a series of moves that signal a major de-emphasis of programs enacted to keep America’s homeland safe from terrorist attack:
Obama’s choice for U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, labeled enhanced interrogation techniques as outright “torture” during his Senate confirmation hearings.

Obama banned waterboarding and ordered CIA interrogators to abide by U.S. Army Field Manual regulations.

He selected Clinton-era political operative Leon Panetta to serve as his CIA director. Panetta’s qualifications to run the agency have been questioned widely.

Obama announced that he would shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba within one year, raising the prospect of hardened terrorists entering the U.S. criminal justice system, or worse, being released to rejoin al-Qaida.

He indicated the U.S. defense budget would be sharply reduced.

He has sent a letter to Russian leaders, apparently offering to back off on the ballistic missile defense system that would protect Europe from Iran and North Korea.
These and other Obama administration moves recently prompted former vice president Dick Cheney to charge that Obama is returning to the Clinton-era view of terrorism as a law enforcement issue.
"Now he's made some choices that in my mind raise the risk to the American people of another attack," Cheney said of Obama on CNN's "State of the Union" program.
The Washington Times points out that about 70 percent of airline pilots have military backgrounds. With airport screening less than 100 percent effective, it states, armed pilots provide a second layer of defense.
“Only anti-gun extremists and terrorist recruits are worried about armed pilots,” the newspaper editorial says.







© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

 

Obama would like nothing better than to disarm the entire nation, including the military.

 

I expect him to gut the military just like Clinton and Carter. We ask our military personnel to protect our country. We should be willing to give them the tools needed to get the job done and the support they deserve. Since he wants to disarm this country and military perhaps we should start by disarming his security detail, after all we don't need guns to protect us anyway.

 

Protect our country from what? Oh yeah... all the terrorist that lurking in caverns thousands of miles away.

 

And Bush gave our guys & gals over there the proper equiptment to do their job>>>>
Come on now Gman this post is made out of your hate towards obama, Bush did no better in arming our military with the proper equiptment. No military in this country has ever had all the tools they need to get the job done properly...
It Is What It Is folks

timberwolf

 

How about making sure our pilots are sober and awake during flight, there have been many more instances of this happening than terrorist hijackings. I don't think it possible to overtake an american plane anymore, to many people are willing to stand up to anyone that tries to start a disturbance. Besides I believe the terrorist to be onto to something else at this point, ie: dirty bomb, biological or electrical disruption.

 

I agree with you mike,
The plane thing has been done, off to bigger and badder things, and no matter who is in office if they decide to strike they will. and just like every other disater that happens to us or others the people will pick themselves up and continue to move forward. There will also be those that will point blame its a fricking circle that goes around and around, over and over and I am getting dizzy.....


Timberwolf

 

Yup. They were all in caverns on 9/11.

They were all sitting in caverns when our embassy in Beruit was bombed in the 1980's.

They were all in caverns when the USS Cole was attacked.

They were all in caverns when the countless airplanes and cruise ships were hijacked through the years.

They were all in caverns when the federal building in OKC was bombed.


Terrorists can come from anywhere and everywhere. They can strike anywhere and everywhere. True safety is an illusion. All anyone can really do is take steps to be safer.

 

What you wrote here is very true and makes the point. I wasn't suggesting that the terrorists do their work from caverns :eek2:, but rather the remark was suggesting that perhaps the stated premise for being their was "our war on terrorism" and how off the mark it appears to be.

 

Who told you that? NBC news? New York Times?
The heck he didn't.
I know President Bush did all he could to support, and supply our troops with what they needed. I know, because I had a cousin who served in Iraq, a friend of mine that served in Iraq, and my brother-in-law is serving in Iraq right now. My brother-in-law is a crew chief. (mechanic instructor) He is supposed to come home in October. This last year was the first year ever that the Iraqi Air Force (those are the good guys) had a graduating class. My brother-in-law earned an award for his achievements in instructing the Iraqi Air Force by one of the American Generals.

You can blame President Bush for everything that has gone wrong with our country during his tenure, but I know he did all he could to aid, and support our troops. Say what you wanna say about him, but he is a Patriot.