Flying and shooting don’t mix for pilots
The Senate’s decision to allow guns in airplane cockpits is an inane one. Why are pilots so much more trustworthy than other people?
COMMENTARY
Jeff Dennis

“For your safety, we have guns located in a number of places on this airplane.”

This statement may soon have to be a part of flight attendants’ pre-flight announcement, as the Senate passed a bill last week which would permit airline pilots to carry a gun into the cockpit.

It seems the Senate was momentarily overtaken on Thursday by a rogue band of politically charged rednecks, who quickly voted on the bill in place of our always rationally thinking senators.

That would be a bearable scenario, but the unfortunate truth is that it was our actual senators who voted 87-6 in favor of this bill. The actual reasoning behind this decision is unclear, and judging from the virtual landslide vote, the objections of the airlines seem to have fallen on deaf ears entirely.

It should be noted that this proposed gun legislation is only a small part of a larger Homeland Security bill, and we can only hope that the portion permitting pilots to carry guns will at some point be excised from the bill before the bill is signed into law.

With the presence of federal air marshals on many flights today, the mere idea of putting even more guns on airplanes is absurd. Are we trying to simplify the job of the terrorist by saving him or her the trouble of passing a weapon through security, therefore only having to figure out a way to obtain one of a number of guns already aboard an airplane?

In fact, the proposed bill would deputize pilots as federal deputies, which would prevent airlines from having any say in whether or not their pilots could carry guns. We might be just as well off to reserve all aisle seats for National Guardsmen armed with M-16s.

In a Friday Fort Worth Star-Telegram article, Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., was quoted as saying “Will someone please explain to me the logic that says we can trust someone with a Boeing 747 in bad weather, but not with a Glock 9-millimeter?”

Gladly, senator. It does not take a philosophy major to see that there is absolutely no logic in this statement whatsoever.

There is no aspect of one’s ability to navigate a plane in bad weather which duly qualifies a pilot above other civilians to use a gun aboard an airplane in the appropriate manner, and at the appropriate time.

Using Sen. Miller’s logic, we can soon allow many different people who perform their jobs well to carry guns on airplanes. Is there any reason why we cannot trust doctors to carry guns aboard airplanes? After all, we trust them to operate on us and treat our sicknesses and ailments. For that matter, we trust taxi drivers to get us through heavy traffic, so why not permit them to arm themselves before boarding a plane?

The list could go on until the only people who wouldn’t get to carry guns on airplanes are senators and terrorists. After all, aren’t these the main two groups we don’t trust?

Jeff Dennis is a senior sociology major from Gail.