Stand By, Here Come the Anti-Gun Nuts
By Duane Lester • Mar 25th, 2008
An airline pilot’s gun fired on a plane this weekend, and no one knows why yet.
Well, I know why. Negligence:
The “accidental discharge” Saturday aboard Flight 1536 from Denver to Charlotte did not endanger the aircraft or the 124 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants aboard, said Greg Alter of the Federal Air Marshal Service on Monday.
“We know that there was never any danger to the aircraft or to the occupants on board,” Alter said.
Where I come from, there are no “accidental discharges.” There are “negligent discharges.” For a gun to be in a position to go off, the owner has not fully accepted the responsibility of possessing that gun. This airline pilot should be disciplined, and possibly retrained, but I don’t think he’ll make this mistake again.
The fact is that almost 50% of airline pilots are ex-military and trained to handle weapons. The other pilots in the program will without a doubt be briefed on it, will learn from this mistake, and will take a look at how they are carrying their weapons.
But one thing this incident has already brought out of the woodwork are the gun-grabbers who hate the idea of a pilot having a gun. I heard the radio news interviewing people who were against the program and didn’t see any reason for a pilot to have a gun.
I can think of a few.
