Liberals Hate Your Guns, Part Three: Armed Pilots

Like I’ve said before, the Liberals hate your guns, and they can’t wait to take them away from you. Despite protests to the contrary stating that they have no such intentions, The Obama Empire 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.

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.

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. So, it already costs them plenty to even get certified, so you know these guys are dedicated professionals.

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.

Amen, brother. Are you asshats worried about a crazed pilot taking pot shots at passengers when he snaps? Trust me, that guy has control over the entire aircraft; if he was suicidal or wanted to kill passengers, he’d just point the whole frikkin’ thing straight down, and there really wouldn’t be jack-diddly-shit the passengers could do.

What you should be worried about are the 113 Congressional Dickheads who voted against having a terrorist deterrent onboard our flights. Sure, there’s the Air Marshall program, but there’s not enough of them and you never know what flights they’re on. If a potential terrorist wants to snatch a flight, what if there’s no Sky Cops around? The only possible deterrent other than brave passengers is the idea of the pilots being able to ventilate the skull and thorax of the aforementioned terrorist with a carefully aimed shot.

And before you sniveling whiners bring up the argument about shooting holes in the aircraft and suffering a massive blowout by depressurizing it, they already debunked that myth on the Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters show. Federal Air Marshalls, by the by, do not carry frangible ammunition either. By frangible, I mean that if they hit something they disintegrate instead of punching through intact. My sources tell me that FAM’s carry the Sig P229 pistol chambered for .357, with Speer Gold Dot ammunition, which is a rather high-velocity round. They’re just really well-trained. And if a small hole does depressurize the cabin, the most the passengers will suffer is some discomfort till the plane reaches a lower altitude.

So, Liberal gun haters are trying to take away your guns, and if they can’t do that, then they want to make it impossible to get ammunition, either by taxing it and pricing it out of range or by regulating it with excessive laws so that no one will want to mess with it. Like it says on the header to my friend Brooke’s blog site, courtesy of Thomas Jefferson: a government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take away everything you have.