The American Pundit

Following the attacks of September 11th, the U.S. government allowed all pilots to begin carrying guns in order to defend their cockpits. They would join forces with America’s air marshals to provide the last line of defense in the skies against terrorists looking to carry out attacks on our civilians. But now the Washington Times reports that the Obama Administration, apparently not terribly interested in national security, is ditching the program.

After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings.

Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology.

The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots.

And the Obama Administration is using red tape to knee cap it. The pilots who want to speak out in favor of the program need to fear retribution.

Since Mr. Obama’s election, pilots have told us that the approval process for letting pilots carry guns on planes slowed significantly. Last week the problem went from bad to worse. Federal Flight Deck Officers – the pilots who have been approved to carry guns – indicate that the approval process has stalled out.

Pilots cannot openly speak about the changing policies for fear of retaliation from the Transportation Security Administration. Pilots who act in any way that causes a “loss of confidence” in the armed pilot program risk criminal prosecution as well as their removal from the program. Despite these threats, pilots in the Federal Flight Deck Officers program have raised real concerns in multiple interviews.

What’s Obama’s motivation here? Cost savings? We spent more on dog parks and snowmakers in the past stimulus bill than the program cost to operate. Is he concerned about armed pilots? If we can’t trust pilots to carry guns on a plane, we probably shouldn’t trust them to fly planes packed with civilians. So it would seem to be a move to appease the anti-gun lobby. Terrorists will also be pleased.

In the spirit of gun control, I hereby propose that the Secret Service ditch its weapons. I mean, if airline passengers shouldn’t be protected by force (and air marshals are only on about 3% of flights), why should the man who removed their protection be? President Obama will be just fine with that, right? Surely it would make the anti-gun lobby pleased. Since guns obviously kill and we need to disarm America, let’s start there.

Via Hot Air.