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Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert

8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org

Tuesday, April 6, 2004


Gun Owners of America alerted you in January to legislation that
would soon be introduced by two pro-gun legislators, Senator Jim
Bunning (R) of Kentucky and Rep. Joe Wilson (R) of South Carolina.

Last week, both legislators announced the introduction of their
bills at a press conference that was attended by GOA and several
pilot organizations.

"These pilots are the last line of defense against hijackings," Sen.
Bunning said.  "They very well may be the only thing that stops the
Air Force from having to shoot down a plane full of passengers."

Both S. 2268 and H.R. 4126 are entitled the "Cockpit Security
Technical Corrections and Improvements Act of 2004" (or "Cockpit
Security Act" for short).  This legislation would require that 90%
of all pilot/applicants be trained and certified within six months
of passage.  This short time frame will put pressure on the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to encourage training
by private facilities -- a measure which has been consistently
resisted by the TSA.

The TSA has set up numerous roadblocks that have severely restricted
the number of pilots who can carry firearms.  Initially, the
administration certified fewer than 100 pilots.  Many applicants
were "flunked" because they expressed reservations about TSA policy,
and elaborate and redundant physical and psychological exams were
used to deter pilots who had already been certified to fly planes
containing hundreds of passengers.

Only one training facility was authorized by the TSA at a remote
site in New Mexico, making it needlessly inconvenient for most
pilots to participate.

According to an explosive news story by CNSNEWS.COM, when pilots
began to complain to the Congress and the media about problems with
the program, they were threatened with fines and dismissal from the
program.

The TSA also implemented an absurd "lock-box" requirement, which
forces a pilot to carry his firearm outside his person until the
flight deck door is sealed.  Pilots who are "deadheading" must place
their lock boxes in the cargo area.  This has led to firearms being
lost, mishandled or stolen.

One pilot with years of federal law enforcement experience told a
reporter that, "Pilots go down [to the cargo hold] to get the gun
and the baggage handlers have already been in the belly... and the
gun is on its way to baggage claim.  The [pilots] then have to get
back up into the airplane, go down out of the terminal, down to
baggage claim and hopefully find their gun on the carousel."

The Bunning-Wilson bills will require that pilots carry their
firearms when they deboard their planes -- repealing the awkward
"lock-box" procedure and putting thousands of additional certified
law enforcement officers on the streets of America�s major cities.

"Tens of thousands of armed pilots are a real deterrent and
defense," Sen. Bunning stated.  "A few thousand are not."

This would be the third time that Congress has passed bills forcing
the TSA to implement an armed pilots program.  "[The TSA will] get
the message or they'll lose their money for the program," Bunning
added. "We'll put it somewhere where it will get the job done."

The current bills also allow for pilots with military or law
enforcement experience and proof of firearms proficiency to be
deputized immediately.

Opponents of this legislation hate the fact that average citizens
(that is, pilots who may or may not have law enforcement training)
are being allowed to carry firearms on planes.  This is pro-gun
legislation that advances freedom in the right direction.

ACTION:  Please ask your Representative and Senators to cosponsor
this legislation.  You can contact your legislators by visiting the
Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send them a pre-written
e-mail message.


----- Pre-written message -----

Dear

Now that Senator Jim Bunning and Rep. Joe Wilson have introduced the
Cockpit Security Act, I encourage you to add your name as a
cosponsor to this legislation if you have not already done so.

Among other things, this legislation would require that 90% of all
pilot/applicants be trained and certified within six months of
passage.

I find it absurd that our planes are still undefended for the most
part, even though Al Qaeda has continued to issue threats against
our safety.

It is very important that our airplanes be adequately defended, so I
urge you to add your name as a cosponsor to this bill.  Please let
me know what you intend to do.  Thank you.

Sincerely,


****************************

"Live Fire" radio with Larry Pratt is now broadcast by the
Information Radio Network on Saturdays at 12:00 Noon Eastern. "Live
Fire" is simulcast on the web at http://inforadionet.com and
previous episodes are archived at
http://www.soundwaves2000.com/livefire/ in RealAudio. Recent
episodes have included:

  * Dr. Frederick Whitehurst: Blowing the Whistle on the FBI Lab's
    Junk Science

  * Nat Hentoff, a liberal columnist discussing Patriot Act threats
    to the 2nd and 4th Amendments

  * Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, author of Scam: How the Black
    Leadership Exploits Black America


****************************

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