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SSANZ calls for pilots to be armed Sporting Shooters Association of New Zealand US pilots, many with prior military training, are lobbying Congress to have the right to be armed. If you trust a pilot with a $US 50 million aircraft and 300 passenger's lives, why wouldn't you trust him with a gun to protect those lives? The Sporting Shooters Association of New Zealand calls for the government to allow armed pilots to enter and leave New Zealand without restriction. Note that Israel's El Al airline pilots and stewards have long been armed with the result that there have been NO hijackings of El Al airlines in 33 years. SSANZ also calls on our government to allow NEW ZEALAND pilots to be armed, if they meet the same training standards as their American counterparts. Also, SSANZ calls for retro-fitted armored cockpit doors on international flights. Individual pilots who, for whatever reason, do not wish to be armed, should not be obliged, as terrorists would not know which plane's pilots are or are not armed. Shooting within an pressurized aircraft does not cause it to crash, this happens only in fictional movies. In fact, aircraft fly at the height they do so that, if depressurized, they can quickly descend to a safe height, hence the use of oxygen masks until that height is reached. All aircraft hydraulic systems have a back-up if one is damaged. Also special bullets can be used, ("safety-slugs"), that do not leave large holes in infrastructure. The risks, for instance, of a passenger accidentally killed or injured in a gunfight, are negligible compared to flying into a building. The US regularly used armed "sky-marshall's" in the 1970's. These were dropped to save on costs, about $ 5 per passenger ticket. Bad call. But "sky-marshall's" are limited in number, where-as every plane has a pilot ! The United States has identified New Zealand as easy for terrorists to get into and to then use as a staging post for their entry into other countries. If American pilots arm, but New Zealand does not reciprocate, we leave ourselves wide open. ENDS. For further information contact the Sporting Shooters Association of New Zealand: Sporting Shooters Association of New Zealand |