Arm the pilots? Too easy to overpower them while they're flying the plane. Only 2 of them on any given flight, which isn't very good odds against 5-6 terrorists. Finally, everyone on the plane knows who the only 2 good guys with the guns are.
Sky Marshalls? Can our government afford to put enough of them on EVERY flight to thwart 5 or 6 hijackers? Doubtful. Sounds reassuring to the public, though.
Arm the passengers? [B]Now[/B] you're talking about serious, cost-effective, stealthy firepower:
[I]"In light of today's horrific events, wherein a group of highly-trained, highly-motivated terrorists apparently armed with knives and/or box cutters hijacked no fewer than four civilian airliners, I'd like to offer a proposal for your consideration.
Is it time, in light of the state of our world today, for a new category of "concealed carry" licensing? Let's call it, for lack of better phraseology for the time being, CCW-ATQ (ATQ = "Air Travel Qualified").
What I envision is a category of armed citizens who are a subset of those with "CCW" licenses. They would undergo much additional training, akin to the training given to the "Air Marshals" whom we've all read about. They would undergo background checks, etc., much like individuals seeking higher security clearances.
Once certified, a citizen possessing a CCW-ATQ license would be approved to carry a weapon aboard a civilian airliner. The aircraft crew would be notified whether or not they had any CCW-ATQ certified passengers, but would NOT be given names or seating assignments (terrorists would know if such was provided to aircrews, thereby making such passengers easy targets..........nullifying much of their effectiveness).
I don't offer this suggestion lightly or flippantly, but as a proposal for protection of air travellers in American airspace. I cannot help but think that if such was allowed today, the hijackings just might not have been so successful."[/I] — Recent FreeRepublic post by [B]RightOnline[/B]