DesertFalcon
Member since 1999
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2001
- Posts
- 286
October 7, 2004
The Goode-Paul amendment dealing with arming pilots to H.R. 10 -- The 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act was rejected by the House Rules Committee. (Wasn't it the Wilson-Goode-Paul amendment? Yes, but more on that later.)
We thank all of you who contacted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay asking him to support the amendment.
When we issued our action alert "30,000 feet" late Tuesday morning, the amendment was to be introduced by Congressmen Joe Wilson, Virgil Goode and Ron Paul. However, at the last minute, Congressman Wilson decided to withdraw his name, even though the amendment was based upon his own bill, H.R. 4126 -- The Cockpit Security Technical Corrections and Improvements Act of 2004. The bill has 62 cosponsors and is strongly endorsed by the Airline Pilots Security Alliance.
We knew the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) would aggressively oppose the amendment and do all it could to stop it from being accepted by the House Rules Committee. TSA has deliberately dragged its feet on implementing the Federal Flight Deck Officers (FFDO) program that Congress approved and President Bush signed over two years ago. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, a former congressman who has a long history of being anti-gun, fought against the FFDO program from the beginning.
To satisfy some members of the House Judiciary Committee and House Transportation Committee, some provisions of the now Goode-Paul amendment were removed. The most important provisions, however, were kept. We thought the revised amendment would then be accepted by the House Rules Committee because of the active support of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, along with your calls to Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Gun Owners of America also actively supported the Goode-Paul amendment. Unfortunately for the flying public, the high-level bureaucrats and well-connected special interests prevailed and the Goode-Paul amendment was rejected.
On May 6, 2002, Congressman Ron Paul stated, "More than 20,000 airline pilots presented a petition to Congress last week, demanding the right to carry guns in the cockpit to prevent future terrorist hijackings. Pilots from all of the major unions, including the large AirLine Pilots Association, overwhelmingly favor having the choice to carry a gun when they fly. These pilots are the men and women who actually stand in harm's way in the event of future hijacking attempts, and surely we should trust their judgment over the judgment of armchair bureaucrats and pundits in Washington. Yet the Transportation department continues to ignore both the wisdom of pilots and federal law by refusing to implement rules allowing firearms in the cockpit."
TSA has had over two years to implement the Federal Flight Deck Officers program. During those two years, only 1% of the 40,000 pilots who signed up to participate in the program have been trained. Of the 28,000 daily commercial flights in the U.S., only around 5% have armed air marshals. It's clear that Secretary Mineta, who answers to President Bush as a member of his Cabinet, doesn't want commercial airline pilots to be armed, even though the captains of those airliners do want to have that last line of defense against onboard terrorists.
Secretary Mineta and other high-level federal bureaucrats don't have to worry about onboard terrorists, since they travel aboard government aircraft stationed at Andrews Air Force Base. But for the millions of Americans who have to fly commercial airliners, we do have to worry about onboard terrorists and want pilots to have that last line of defense. We trust commercial pilots during every second of a flight, and we trust their judgment about having firearms.
We thank Congressmen Virgil Goode and Ron Paul for their initiative and hard work. We also thank the commercial airline pilots throughout the country for their diligent efforts, in the cockpit and in the halls of Congress. We greatly appreciate your efforts too.
We will keep fighting.
Kent Snyder
The Liberty Committee
http://www.thelibertycommittee.org
The Goode-Paul amendment dealing with arming pilots to H.R. 10 -- The 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act was rejected by the House Rules Committee. (Wasn't it the Wilson-Goode-Paul amendment? Yes, but more on that later.)
We thank all of you who contacted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay asking him to support the amendment.
When we issued our action alert "30,000 feet" late Tuesday morning, the amendment was to be introduced by Congressmen Joe Wilson, Virgil Goode and Ron Paul. However, at the last minute, Congressman Wilson decided to withdraw his name, even though the amendment was based upon his own bill, H.R. 4126 -- The Cockpit Security Technical Corrections and Improvements Act of 2004. The bill has 62 cosponsors and is strongly endorsed by the Airline Pilots Security Alliance.
We knew the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) would aggressively oppose the amendment and do all it could to stop it from being accepted by the House Rules Committee. TSA has deliberately dragged its feet on implementing the Federal Flight Deck Officers (FFDO) program that Congress approved and President Bush signed over two years ago. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, a former congressman who has a long history of being anti-gun, fought against the FFDO program from the beginning.
To satisfy some members of the House Judiciary Committee and House Transportation Committee, some provisions of the now Goode-Paul amendment were removed. The most important provisions, however, were kept. We thought the revised amendment would then be accepted by the House Rules Committee because of the active support of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, along with your calls to Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Gun Owners of America also actively supported the Goode-Paul amendment. Unfortunately for the flying public, the high-level bureaucrats and well-connected special interests prevailed and the Goode-Paul amendment was rejected.
On May 6, 2002, Congressman Ron Paul stated, "More than 20,000 airline pilots presented a petition to Congress last week, demanding the right to carry guns in the cockpit to prevent future terrorist hijackings. Pilots from all of the major unions, including the large AirLine Pilots Association, overwhelmingly favor having the choice to carry a gun when they fly. These pilots are the men and women who actually stand in harm's way in the event of future hijacking attempts, and surely we should trust their judgment over the judgment of armchair bureaucrats and pundits in Washington. Yet the Transportation department continues to ignore both the wisdom of pilots and federal law by refusing to implement rules allowing firearms in the cockpit."
TSA has had over two years to implement the Federal Flight Deck Officers program. During those two years, only 1% of the 40,000 pilots who signed up to participate in the program have been trained. Of the 28,000 daily commercial flights in the U.S., only around 5% have armed air marshals. It's clear that Secretary Mineta, who answers to President Bush as a member of his Cabinet, doesn't want commercial airline pilots to be armed, even though the captains of those airliners do want to have that last line of defense against onboard terrorists.
Secretary Mineta and other high-level federal bureaucrats don't have to worry about onboard terrorists, since they travel aboard government aircraft stationed at Andrews Air Force Base. But for the millions of Americans who have to fly commercial airliners, we do have to worry about onboard terrorists and want pilots to have that last line of defense. We trust commercial pilots during every second of a flight, and we trust their judgment about having firearms.
We thank Congressmen Virgil Goode and Ron Paul for their initiative and hard work. We also thank the commercial airline pilots throughout the country for their diligent efforts, in the cockpit and in the halls of Congress. We greatly appreciate your efforts too.
We will keep fighting.
Kent Snyder
The Liberty Committee
http://www.thelibertycommittee.org
