Copyright 2001 The Denver Post 
All Rights Reserved  
The Denver Post
October 14, 2001 Sunday 2D EDITION
SECTION: PERSPECTIVE; Pg. E-04

LENGTH: 785 words

HEADLINE: It's time to let pilots arm themselves

BYLINE: Ken Hamblin,

BODY:
One of the greatest oxymorons in American history is the  Second Amendment to our Constitution:    

'A well-regulated  militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right  of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'

Those words have given Americans more individual power and  freedom than the citizens of most any other nation in history.

But the right of free and law-abiding citizens to keep  and bear arms has sparked a hotbed of political debate as well as  a lot of piecemeal legislation cleverly crafted to virtually  eradicate the ownership of private firearms.

The debate rages between politicians and social reformers,  who believe that free speech - as it is guaranteed in the First  Amendment of the U.S. Constitution - ought to be scuttled in favor  of political correctness. But that's another story.

What concerns me most is the clear and present danger  that the worldwide commercial airline industry is facing.         The idea that fanatic Middle Eastern terrorists could commandeer  an airliner in flight and transform it into a flying bomb was  unheard of until Sept. 11, when Arab terrorists achieved the  unimaginable and toppled the twin towers of the World Trade Center  in New York City and penetrated the walls of the U.S. Pentagon.

The experts assigned to protect us failed. They failed to  assess the possibility that Arabs, the traditional sons of the  desert, could successfully hijack four commercial aircraft and  then fly them into three buildings and kill thousands.To their  credit, U.S. commercial airline pilots seem to be among the few  professional men and women standing firm in their belief that  something unique must be done to assure that their working  environment is secure. They are asking for their American right to  keep and bear arms in the cockpit.

In the weeks since Sept. 11, the pilots have tried to  persuade politicians of the merit of their case. And now,  according to a recent story in the Union Leader & New Hampshire  Sunday News, the pilots may be prepared to elevate this  politics-as-usual debate to a new level. The story began:  'Commercial airline pilots will be asked to suspend air service if  they cannot have trained, armed pilots in the cockpits.'

The Sunday News noted that a resolution is scheduled to be  circulated among various councils of the 67,000-member Air Line  Pilots Association this month to ask that federal regulations be  revamped to allow the FBI to train volunteer flight crew members  in ways to protect themselves and their passengers.    

It  would also ask the government to indemnify air carriers and their  employees against the legitimate use of a firearm in an emergency  situation.     

There is a standard perception in the gun  debate: Any citizen who perceives a need to arm him or herself is  demonized by those who oppose guns. Robert Giuda, a captain with  United Airlines, thus took offense when some members of Congress  said they didn't want a bunch of armed hooligans running around.

Giuda responded by noting that there was 'no more  professionalized, highly scrutinized group of people in the world  than airline pilots.' Hardly hooligans.  

Giuda has concluded  something the government has been unwilling to concede publicly:  It is impossible to provide the kind of ground security necessary  to prevent a replay of Sept. 11. The public may be convinced that  airport security has improved, but pilots know the truth.  According to Giuda, 'It's time to throw the gauntlet to the mat.'  Otherwise, he said, 'we are going to get politicized into unarmed  cockpits and then we'll get shot with the guns the marshals used  because they will be taken away from them.'

Giuda concluded with something we so-called Second  Amendment nuts have known for some time: 'Arming pilots introduces  the element of risk, fear and doubt into the mind of a potential  hijacker.'

I believe that that risk, fear and doubt must be introduced to  terrorists' plans in these extraordinary times.

As a pilot myself, my blood runs cold at the thought of  being unarmed and at the mercy of a hijacker who is determined to  turn my aircraft into a flying bomb.

An aircraft flying at 35,000 feet with a cabin full of  crying people, screaming terrorists and a flight crew aware that  it is about to die is a world away from pompous politicians who  believe it is their duty to disarm the American people.

Ken Hamblin (bac@compuserve.com; www.hamblin.com) writes Sundays  in The Post and hosts a syndicated radio talk show.

LOAD-DATE: October 16, 2001