Arm the Passengers

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sun, 02 Jun 2002 12:00:00 GMT

Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary. -- Robert Louis Stevenson

and:

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome. -- Isaac Asimov

His economic plan could fit on the back of a shampoo bottle. "Cut taxes, increase spending, borrow, repeat". -- Sen. Joe Lieberman

From samizdata:

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -- Phillip K. Dick

Eric Raymond, Armed and Dangerous - Arm the Passengers - good job of explaining why arming pilots and/or providing sky marshalls doesn't work nearly as well as allowing the passengers to be armed.

The worst realistic case from arming passengers is that some gang of terrorist pukes tries to bust a move anyway, and innocent bystanders get killed by stray bullets while the passengers are taking out the terrorists. That would be bad -- but, post-9/11, the major aim of air security can no longer be saving passenger lives. Instead, it has to be preventing the use of airplanes as weapons of mass destruction. Thus: we should arm the passengers to save the lives of thousands more bystanders on the ground.

...

Think of it. No more mile-long security lines, no more obnoxious baggage searches, no more women getting groped by bored security guards, no more police-state requirement that you show an ID before boarding, no more flimsy plastic tableware. Simpler, safer, faster air travel with a bullet through the head reserved for terrorists.

Extending this lesson to other circumstances, like when we're not surrounded by a fuselage, is left as an exercise for the reader...

David D. Leahy at The Albany Times Union - Arming pilots an effective way to combat terror - an airline pilot from San Diego (CA) explains why pilots should be armed.

There are multiple layers required to enhance aviation security. Armed airline pilots will bridge the huge gap that currently exists between ground screening and a military shoot-down of a commercial aircraft. Roughly 70 percent of today's major airline pilots (including myself) are former military pilots and are very familiar with handling firearms. For those with the training and familiarity, a firearm is a tool, something to be respected, not feared.

J.J. Johnson at Sierra Times - Rules of Engagement: Before you start shooting the bastards... - don't shoot the bastards yet. Instead, spend your energy, money, and time becoming as self-sufficient as possible. [sierra]

If the electricity goes out, how will you keep your food fresh? What will happen at your job? What will you do if there is no water supply? If the mail stops, the trucks, planes trains, and mail service stops running, what will you do? If the phone lines stop working, how to we communicate? Even a limited nuclear exchange could start a currency devaluation faster than the World Trade Center collapse. What would we do as an alternative?

If you don't have a real answer to these questions, I'd suggest holstering that shootin' iron until you do - cause it won't do you a damn bit of good until we start sorting out some priorities. That's what this country needs more than ever -- to become self -- sufficient. If we are not doing this, it might be time better spent than just fussing and agonizing over the whole mess. Don't expect the Office of Homeland Security to drop off these plans on your doorstep. Real Americans are the ONLY ones than can put such a plan together.

Duncan Philp at KeepAndBearArms.com - The "Charade" - the other guy who was arrested on Bill of Rights day in Denver tells the story of his court case. Search for "charade". [kaba]

Shortly afterwards the jury was brought in for jury selection and the "charade" continued and the jury was questioned by both lawyers. The city attorney crossed off the people he felt would find me innocent and then the list was handed to Mr. Grant who refused to participate in this aspect of the "charade". The judge quickly dismissed the jury from the courtroom and demanded to know why Mr. Grant had refused to participate in the jury selection

Grant instructed the judge that he had a fifth amendment right not to participate. The judge read him the riot act from the book of court rules and instructed Mr. Grant to either select three jurors to be removed form the jury pool or else she would find him in contempt and have him arrested. Mr. Grant again refused to participate in the "charade" and the judge quickly ordered the court clerk to get the deputies. The judge again demanded that Mr. Grant select three jurors "or else". Mr. Grant asked the judge to help make the selection for him and she then became incensed. It looked like they were going to haul my lawyer off to jail and I would have to continue on without him, but suddenly three uniformed cowboys came into the courtroom and started "walking around with guns strapped to their legs". Yea the deputies with the GUNS on their hips were sent to intimidate my lawyer and his very life was in "immediate danger", so he was forced to name off three jurors at GUN point.

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Quotes

Government doesn't work. Never did. Never will. Can't. But there are lots of good people. Love them.

-- Bill St. Clair

The Atlanta Declaration

Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission.

-- L. Neil Smith

Reread that pesky first clause of the Second Amendment. It doesn't say what any of us thought it said. What it says is that infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms is treason. What else do you call an act that endangers "the security of a free state"? And if it's treason, then it's punishable by death. I suggest due process, speedy trials, and public hangings.

-- L. Neil Smith

A Penalty Clause for the Bill of Rights

Any official, appointed or elected, at any level of government, who attempts, through legislative act or other means, to nullify, evade, or avoid the provisions of the first ten amendments to this Constitution, or of the Thirteenth Amendment, shall be summarily removed from office, and, upon conviction, deprived of all pay and benefits including pension, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

-- L. Neil Smith

Based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some of its own empirical work, the panel couldn't identify a single gun control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide or accidents.

-- John Lott, commenting on the National Academy of Sciences report on gun control laws.

Who is a libertarian?

Zero Aggression Principle ("Zap")

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

-- L. Neil Smith

(Formerly called the "Non-Aggression Principle", or "NAP")

Why Did It Have to be... Guns?

Make no mistake: all politicians -- even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership -- hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician -- or political philosophy -- can be put.

If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude -- toward your ownership and use of weapons -- conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

-- L. Neil Smith

Concise

"Tell me," I was once asked, "What do you think about gun control? Give me the short answer." To which I replied, "If you try to take our firearms we will kill you."

-- Mike Vanderboegh

Also from The Atlanta Declaration:

... like going to the bathroom, breathing, eating, sleeping, or making love, it turns out that self-defense is a bodily function one cannot safely or effectively delegate to a second party.

-- L. Neil Smith

This does not mean that "Marijuana should be available by prescription." It means that morphine sulfate should be available in five pound bags at the supermarket for a couple of bucks, like sugar... but probably in a different aisle, to avoid confusion.

-- Vin Suprynowicz

If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.

-- Edward Abbey

The state can only survive as long as a majority is programmed to believe that theft isn't wrong if it's called taxation or asset forfeiture or eminent domain, that assault and kidnapping isn't wrong if it's called arrest, that mass murder isn't wrong if it's called war.

-- Bill St. Clair