It Is Dangerous to Be Right When the Government Is Wrong by Andrew P. Napolitano

Author:Andrew P. Napolitano
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc.
Published: 2011-09-06T16:00:00+00:00

What Could Have Been: Two Fewer Days of Remembrance?

As the previous statistics prove, these bans do not help protect you. In fact, you are worse off with gun prohibitions because you are unable to protect yourself, and criminals know this. This can only be exemplified by two tragic incidents at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The events leading up to the collapse and destruction of the World Trade Center do not need to be repeated. However, it is important to consider what would have happened if the passengers or pilots of those planes were armed. I believe it is unlikely the terrorists would have been as “successful” in causing destruction and taking American lives.

You may argue the idea of armed pilots or airline passengers is frightening, but to do so, you are ignoring history. Until 1963, American commercial passenger pilots were required to carry guns on any flight carrying U.S. mail in order to protect the mail—not the passengers, but the mail—in case the flight landed away from an airport. Moreover, until 1987, pilots could legally carry guns on their flights. In fact, the pilots’ union for American Airlines and the Airline Pilots Security Alliance claim that until 1987, up to 10 percent of all pilots regularly carried guns. Okay, so pilots carried guns on the planes, but how many injuries or diverted flights resulted from this practice? None. That’s right; there are no recorded instances of any significant gun-related problem arising from a legally armed pilot.18

Additionally, since 2003, pilots have been legally able to carry guns on their flights. Yet, in order to do so, the pilots must receive extensive training and psychological evaluations. In the time between 2003 and the writing of this book, there has been only one reported incident where a pilot accidentally discharged his gun. However, it is ironic, because the gun was discharged when the pilot was attempting to follow federal regulations calling for pilots to put a trigger lock on a loaded gun as the plane is landing. The incident caused no flight problems, and the plane landed safely. This is just another example of federal regulations causing more harm than good.19 What is the value of a handgun when it is incapacitated by a trigger lock? Absolutely no value. It’s kind of silly not to trust a pilot with a gun but to trust him or her with a passenger plane, essentially a guided missile.

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On April 16th 2007, a monumental, yet avoidable, shooting took place on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia. The attacker, Seung-Hui Cho, killed thirty-two persons and wounded many others before taking his own life. The events took place over a period of two hours, and once called, the police took nearly six minutes to enter a barricaded building. Keep in mind, this was six minutes after the shooting stopped. The first shooting had occurred two hours earlier. While the events are tragic, one must wonder what would have happened

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