Allow Armed Pilots

Congressman John L. Mica, May 6, 2002

The newly created Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has done a good job implementing the Transportation and Aviation Security Act passed last year. Congress included many tight deadlines, and, so far, the TSA has met every one.

But there is one area where the agency has fallen short. That involves the pilot's right to defend the cockpit.

Unfortunately, the TSA has failed to reach a decision on this matter.

While we have improved airport security, it is not perfect. As we have seen, cockpit doors, while strengthened, are not necessarily impregnable. More than 20,000 flights take off daily, many without sky marshals.

And even when a sky marshal is aboard, aviation security is based on redundancy. As a last line of defense against hijackers, pilots need to have the right to be armed. It is unacceptable that our last line of defense today is an F-16 shooting down a hijacked passenger aircraft.

That is why House transportation committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, and I introduced legislation this week to give properly trained pilots the right to have a gun in the cockpit.

Pilots had the right to be armed in the past. This bill does not require a pilot to be armed. It is voluntary, and it mandates that all pilots who choose to be armed undergo proper training.

Law enforcement experts at the TSA would develop the training and decide the types of weapons and even what ammunition could be used.

When Congress passed the security law last year, we did not give up our oversight role. For the next year, we have an aviation system in transition. As problems arise, Congress will act when necessary.

An overwhelming number of pilots are convinced that the TSA's failure to allow them to carry guns is a significant shortcoming in our aviation-security system.

Pilots are the experts in this area. They know the weaknesses in the aviation-security system. We should give them a fighting chance and make certain that they have the tools they need to defend their lives and the lives of the passengers they transport.

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