Apparently Rep. Young and Rep. Mica, the two top members of the House Transportation Committee, are as frustrated as we are with the inaction of the newly created Transportation Security Administration. As a result they have introduced new legislation designed to force the creation of a voluntary program to arm commercial airline pilots.

To read the Committee's statement, go to this web page:
http://www.house.gov/transportation/press/press2002/release253.html

The full text of this bill, HR 4635, may be read by going to this web address:
http://www.house.gov/transportation/aviation/hr4635.pdf

We must now let the full House Transportation Committee know how we feel. Contact information for all of the committee members can be found at the end of this message.

Let them know that you are not satisfied with current security measures. The answer is not to close down an airport because someone finds a pair of scissors in a trashcan! The solution lies with letting the pilots you trust your life with every time you step on a plane properly defend their cockpits with whatever means they find necessary, including firearms.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said on March 4, "I don't feel that we should have lethal weapons in the cockpit." Shooting a loaded plane down with a missile seems like a reasonable solution to higher ups such as Mineta, but allowing the pilot to first defend the cockpit with a gun does not. I fail to understand that logic.

Under current law, Undersecretary for Transportation Security John Magaw - the former director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms - makes the final decision about arming pilots. Remember, he works for Norman Mineta.

HR 4635 would change this. Rather than allowing Magaw to decide, this bill would require him to establish a program to deputize qualified, volunteer pilots as "Federal Flight Deck Officers" within 90 days after the law is enacted.

Give Rep. Don Young the support he needs. Contact the members of the House Transportation Committee and let them know that like 75% of Americans, according to the Winston Group and the Wilson Center, you favor the arming of commercial airline pilots.

Action:
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Dear Representative:

I am writing to express my support for H. R. 4635, the Arming Pilots Against Terrorism Act, as introduced by Rep. Don Young and Rep. John Mica. The inactivity of the Transportation Department and the White House in the matter of making the skies safer by arming pilots has become unacceptable.

It is time to allow pilots to protect their passengers and those in their flight paths by properly equipping them to defend their cockpits with the only effective tool for such situations. A firearm!

Recent polls indicate that 75% of all Americans as well as commercial pilots favor arming pilots. Support H. R. 4635 and let's roll!

Sincerely,

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