Aircraft Security.

On September 27th, as part of his strategy to "make our airline security stronger and more reliable," President Bush called for more armed federal air marshals on commercial aircraft. Prior to September 11th, there were fewer than 100 marshals as compared to 35,000 daily flights. Consequently, placing even one marshal on each flight would require tens of thousands of new federal marshals -- far more than the current number of FBI agents, Secret Service personnel, and regular U.S. marshals combined.

Instead of establishing another huge (and costly) contingent of armed federal agents, an alternative approach for providing aviation security would be to allow cockpit crews, qualified civilian passengers, and select state and local law enforcement personnel to carry firearms on commercial aircraft.

Pilots already undergo regular testing for mental and physical fitness, as well as for drug and alcohol abuse. They have exceptional eye/hand coordination and are deemed qualified to safely operate incredibly complex flying machines. Why not allow them to carry firearms while on duty? And why not allow others who are qualified to carry guns as well?

Writing in the Wall Street Journal for September 28th, Dr. John R. Lott, resident scholar at the Washington, D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute and author of More Guns, Less Crime, notes that there are "about 600,000 active state and local law enforcement officers in the U.S. today" who are "currently forbidden from bringing their guns on airplanes. That should change. They should even be given discount fares if they fly with their guns." Obviously, if the pilots and perhaps other qualified parties were armed on September 11th, the terrorist attacks could have been prevented.