From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Tue Aug 20 2002 - 20:06:56 MDT
On Tue, 20 Aug 2002, Mike Lorrey, responding to Harvey wrote:
> No, we shouldn't. Restoring the ability of law abiding Americans to
> exercise their constitutional rights while onboard aircraft would go a
> long way to preventing future hijackings.
Not so fast Mike. If you show up at the door of my house or my
company and ask to come in and make use of the services I provide
I may legitimately ask you whether you have a concealed weapon
and whether I may search you for such. You may of course refuse
to be searched in which case I have the right to deny you the
right to visit my private premises. (This IMO is similar to
the old Wild Wild West principle of checking your guns as you
entered the town or the saloon.)
You have the right to keep and bear arms -- that doesn't give you
the right to come onto *my* property with such. Should the government
completely remove restrictions on weapons on planes, I for one would
be calling the airlines wanting to know which prohibit such weapons
from being carried by individuals. I would not travel on airlines
that allowed such for the following reasons: 1) accidents happen;
2) air rage is not an uncommon occurence when the baby behind
you is screaming on the last leg of your 30 hour trip home;
3) with my luck I would probably end up on the plane where
the only passengers with the weapons happen to be those who
plan to hijack the plane.
Airplanes are private property -- not the Boston Commons or the
Lexington Green which are "common" property. One could argue the
same is true for trains and buses.
I've got no objection to pilots carrying stun weapons and
perhaps guns (though I consider these to be highly dangerous
at 30,000 feet). After all -- they have my life in their
hands to start with -- I'm presuming they are responsible
(though the recent America West(?) case with the pilots who
had been drinking showed that is a somewhat risky assumption).
But I'm *not* willing to trust my life with every Tom, Dick
and Jane on the plane. If I *were* I'd insist that alcohol
be banned from the passenger cabin. I don't think that is
going to happen anytime soon.
Robert
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