Here's some irony for you. The Bush administration was against creating the FFDO program, while Barbra Boxer from California sponsored legislation that helped the program.

Crazy country we live in.

To prevent one of those nutjobs from slicing the throat of the average joe; you or me. We are naturally at a disadvantage because we are concentrating on flying the aircraft and can't foresee when an attack will occur. Also, the majority of pilots have no significant training in protecting their selves. The attacker will always be motivated, with one thing in mind, to kill you. We need everything we can get to make a slight advantage or to give us a second more to help defend the cockpit.

I'm pretty sure he's not against the FFDO program. He is against some average joe being able to legally own a automatic machine gun, or a 50 cal rifle. There is just no need for that.

I agree. The problem as I see it is that the "right to bear arms" folks have 60 or 70 guns in their "collection" for protection. When some goofball kid gets ahold of them, nothing good ever seems to come of it. Protection is one thing, but how many guns do you REALLY need to protect yourself, and better yet, does it really need to be an uzi? :confused:

TSA spokeswoman Gaches says she does not know what the basis could be for the assertion that $2 million was diverted from training. "In the past fiscal year, no funds have been transferred from operational program areas to fund additional administration employees" under the program, she says.


Interview with Lauren Gaches, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, 19 March 2009


We have contacted ALPA to receive our own copy of the statement. We also contacted the White House, which put us in touch with the Department of Homeland Security. DHS Deputy Press Secretary Amy Kudwa echoed the TSA's statements, saying: "The transfer of funds is, in fact, inaccurate, and there is no move to end the program."

Interview with Amy Kudwa, deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, 20 March 2009

Hopefully Rush got ahold of this so he could do some serious bashing (although inaccurate, it'll appease his followers) before the truth came out. ;)

The mind boggles.

The "average joe" can't head down to Wal-mart and pick up a machine gun. Their ownership is highly regulated.

I am all for the FFDO program, and while I am not an FFDO, I am pretty confident that the pilots are not carrying AK-47s. And yes, Bush was opposed to the program, so I think that means that Republicans hate guns. This whole argument has been twisted by the right wing to scare people. I know of very few Democrats who want to limit responsible gun ownership. I know of many Democrats who want to limit irresponsible gun ownership. If you are a true gun owner and sportsman, you should feel the same way.

That pompous windbag is nothing but a hypocrite. Going on and on about how people don't need anti-depressant medication, and then it comes out that he's addicted to pain killers. :rolleyes:

I'd love to see him run for president. I need some good laughs.

Gun program for pilots set for expansion, officials insist

Backers take exception to inaccurate editorial

Audrey Hudson THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Tuesday, March 24, 2009


The Obama administration has no plans to end a program that trains commercial airline pilots to carry guns and thwart terrorist attacks, and in fact is seeking to expand resources for oversight and training, government officials and pilots organizations say.
"We're looking for new resources and more money to bring in for next year. The benefits of the program are obvious. The pilots are an intrinsic part of our whole aviation-security strategy and one of our layers of security," said Robert Bray, director of the Federal Air Marshal Service, which oversees the program.
The Federal Flight Deck Officers (FFDO) program was created after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and has since trained 12,000 pilots on how to carry weapons and defend their aircraft against an attack. Among the planned expansions, Mr. Bray said, is the construction of a new center in Dallas, where armed pilots can receive recurring training.
Mr. Bray and the pilots groups disputed a March 17 editorial in The Washington Times entitled "Guns on a plane: Obama secretly ends program that let pilots carry guns," which suggested that recent discussions about spending some of the program's money for supervisory jobs amounted to killing the program.
"That is completely false," said Capt. John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the largest pilots union in the U.S. and Canada, with 53,000 members.
After the editorial appeared, Capt. Prater said, his group called a meeting with Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials and were reassured the new administration supports the program.
"We're not seeing anything other than cooperation, and certainly the fact that as soon as this opinion piece came out, ALPA and TSA met immediately, and from what we've determined, there is no truth to the fears that were put forth in that opinion piece," Capt. Prater said.

The Times' editorial pages recently were brought under new management and operate separately from the newsroom. Editorial writers produce content that is not reported or overseen by newsroom employees.
"The Editorial Department has been in transition these last few weeks. We're aware of the error and are investigating what happened so we can learn from the mistake and not repeat it," Associate Publisher Richard Amberg Jr. said.
Homeland Security officials and pilots say that the program has proven to be an important security layer and that they are interested in making the program more efficient.
"We look forward to working with the Obama administration to improve the management and funding of the program to make it what Congress originally intended it would be," said David Mackett, president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, an organization that lobbies Congress on behalf of the program.
The editorial cited information from pilots it did not name, claiming that the approval process for letting pilots carry guns on planes has "slowed significantly" and that the "approval process has stalled out."
Mr. Mackett said the approval process did slow last fall during the final days of the Bush administration, but it was before the election and possibly a result of dwindling funds at the end of the 2008 fiscal year.
The editorial also said the Obama administration recently "diverted some $2 million from the pilot-training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots."
However, pilots are supervised by the airlines, not Homeland Security, and Mr. Bray added that no funds were diverted; rather, he said, additional money is being sought to manage gun-training programs.



NOTE: This article is from the newspaper that printed the editorial!