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Pilots Will Not Be Allowed to Carry Guns in Cockpit: Federal Government
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| Mineta testifies in Congress |
WASHINGTON
D.C., May 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. Undersecretary
of Transportation John Magaw on Tuesday said he would not authorize
pilots to carry guns as requested by airline pilots following the
hijackings of September 11.
"Utilizing
the experience of my 40 years of law enforcement and consulting with
all the interested parties and having our staff with a lot of
experience look at this issue... I will not authorize firearms in the
cockpit," Magaw told the Senate committee.
Magaw
also stated that the decision was made in close consultation with
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta.
"I
wish you would reconsider that," responded Senator Conrad Burns
(R-MT), one of several legislators backing U.S. airline pilots' demand
to be allowed to carry guns aboard passenger planes to prevent a
repeat of attacks that killed some 3,000 people last year.
Congress
passed legislation last November, Aviation and Transportation Security
Act, permitting pilots to carry handguns at the discretion of the U.S.
administration and the airlines. But the plan to arm pilots was never
enacted.
The
agency has not yet decided on whether “nonlethal” weapons,
including stun guns, which “stun” the muscles. United Airlines is
training its pilots to use Tasers, electric stun guns that disrupt
control of the muscles, CNN reported.
To
date, the administration of President George W. Bush has preferred to
boost airline security through improving safety checks and having
armed air marshals on board commercial flights.
Arguing
that the safety of their passengers was at stake, pilots had said that
only lethal force could counter a deadly threat.
"I
believe it is essential that the pilots remain in control of the
cockpit at all times," Marc Flagg - a business pilot whose
parents died aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which plowed into the
Pentagon on September 11 - told lawmakers earlier this month.
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