Date: Wed, 06 Mar 2002 10:15:32 -0500
From: Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: papers, please
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

"Keith F. Lynch" wrote:

> If the passengers on all flights had been allowed to carry guns, it's
> likely that no innocent life would have been lost at all, on September
> 11th or any other day.

I think you have a much higher opinion of the average gun owner than
most other people.  I don't want to share a plane with an obnoxious, gun
carrying drunk.  (Yeah, I know that most gun owners are not in that
category.  Statistics.  It only takes one.  Remember the guy who shit on
the beverage cart?  We'd all have just loved it if he'd had a gun ...)

> Instead of hiring federal sky marshals, why not give sky marshal
> training to any frequent flyer who has a clean record?  Is there
> something about being on the federal payroll that makes someone
> more trustworthy?  I don't think so.

Not something you can get in a weekend.  Knowing *when* to pull the
trigger is probably the hardest thing that cops have to learn.  Even
with all their training, they get it wrong far too often.

--
Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."