HEADLINE: NO
GUNS FOR PILOTS IN COCKPITS; WHITE HOUSE BLOCKS PLAN TO ARM CREW
MEMBERS TO THWART WOULD-BE HIJACKERS
BYLINE:
LARA JAKES JORDAN, HEARST NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE:
WASHINGTON
BODY: The Bush
administration announced yesterday that airline pilots won't be allowed to carry
firearms in the cockpit but said it was still studying the possibility of
permitting stun guns or other non-lethal weapons for crew members.
The surprise announcement by John Magaw, head of the new
Transportation Security Administration, marks the federal government's response
to demands that flight crews carry weapons to thwart would-be hijackers. The
proposal to arm pilots came after terrorists commandeered four
jetliners in the Sept. 11 attacks and slammed them into World Trade Center, the
Pentagon and a field in rural Pennsylvania.
"It's clear
in my mind when I weigh all of the pros and cons, pilots should not have
firearms in the cockpit," Magaw told the Senate Commerce and Transportation
Committee. Magaw, who was flanked at a committee hearing by Transportation
Department Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, said pilots "really need to be in control
of that aircraft -- whether it's getting it on the ground, whether it's
maneuvering it so it knocks people off balance that are causing the problem,"
Magaw said pilots are not adequately trained to safely
use lethal firearms aboard aircraft, unlike federal air marshals, who must be
re-certified every 90 days in order to carry a gun aboard a plane. Air marshals
"have a special firearms training, which is much more difficult, much more
strenuous, than any other," Magaw said.
But putting
stun guns -- or electric tazers that give a sharp, temporary incapacitating
shock -- in cockpits is still an option for cabin safety, Magaw said. Flight
attendants have been pushing for the stun guns, which they say will let them
control cabin security without distracting the pilot from steering the plane.
The announcement came in response to sharp questioning
from Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C., chairman of the committee, who said
arming flight crews would be unnecessary if federal regulators would require
cockpit doors to be locked at all times during flights. Hollings opposes
allowing pilots to carry guns.
Other lawmakers
criticized the decision and vowed to push ahead with legislation that would
overrule gun ban. The House Transportation Committee will take up a bill
tomorrow allowing pilots to put guns in the cockpit. Sens. Zell Miller, D-Ga.,
and Republican Sens. Frank Murkowski of Alaska, Robert Smith of New Hampshire
and Conrad Burns of Montana said they would introduce similar legislation next
week.
"The events of Sept. 11 have dramatically changed
how we must defend our planes and passengers," said House Transportation
Committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska. "We now face a possible situation where
the Department of Defense may be forced to make the difficult decision of having
our own Air Force shoot down a plane full of innocent passengers due to a
terrorist takeover. I strongly believe that under these new circumstances, that
we must allow trained and qualified pilots to serve as the last line of defense
against such a potential disaster."
Burns, who attended
the Senate hearing, vowed to work for the legislation that would override
Magaw's ruling.
But White House spokesman Gordon
Johndroe said President Bush fully backs the DOT decision, an indication that
any gun bill that Congress passed might be vetoed.
Neither Magaw nor Mineta would say when the DOT might decide the
question of stun guns in the cockpit. Some airlines are already training their
pilots to use 'tazer" guns: United Airlines, for example, has trained 8,000 of
its 9,000 pilots to use stun guns, and plans to purchase up to 1,300 tazers at a
cots of $1 million. The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents 62,000
pilots on 42 airlines in the United States and Canada, was "disappointed, but
not surprised" at the DOT ruling, said association President Capt. Duane
Woerth.
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