The current Libertarian presidential and vice presidential candidates are to gun rights what PETA is to foie gras. Over at thelibertarianrepublic.com, Aya Katz shows that not all libertarians are gun grabbers. His article — Heroes of Flight 93 Should Have Been Allowed to Have Guns — makes the case that airline passengers should be tooled-up against terror.
If the passengers and crew of Flight 93 had been armed from the outset, the outcome could have been even more positive. The terrorists would have been shot, and most likely everyone else would have survived.
But the authorities learned nothing from the lessons of Flight 93. The Patriot Act divested passengers of even more civil liberties, and today at the airport the blue rubber gloves of the TSA, dressed like proctologists, terrorize little children, elderly women and the disabled. Instead of trusting in the good will of most passengers, the TSA treat us all like criminals.
I bet the 9/11 pilots wished they’d been armed. Anyway, I’m OK with armed passengers. Period. As Mr. Katz points out, a bullet won’t depressurize a jetliner. But it can depressurize a terrorist.
Some of my less “extreme” colleagues reckon there should be some kind of permitting system for pistol-packing passengers. If not guns, what about knives, baseball bats, a crossbow, etc.? When Mr. Katz makes that suggestion to his “friends” the usual pearl-clutching ensues.
At this point, without fail, my liberal friends forget all about their previous argument, and they categorically declare that nobody should have weapons of any sort, except security officers and military. Because it’s safer that way. At which point I throw up my hands, because I don’t think these people really believe what they’re saying. I don’t know what their real motive is, but it can’t be the concern for safety.
To his credit, Mr. Katz pulls no punches, concluding his pro-pistol polemic thusly: “Let’s work tirelessly to arm every passenger on every flight so that this kind of senseless killing of innocents never happens again.”
I don’t know about arming every passenger, but if I had a choice, I’d fly with my gun. You?