JP/6/OTHER6

Airline pilots carrying guns:

The U.S. House voted last week to allow pilots to carry guns in the cockpit, but the measure has an uncertain future largely because President Bush opposes it.

Wait a minute. Isn't this the same politician who, as governor of Texas, signed a 1995 law allowing Texans to carry concealed handguns for the first time since the Wild West? So it's all right for Texans driving pickups to pack heat, but not airline pilots? ...

The Bush administration's reservations can be summed up this way: Pilots with guns could be dangerous. A bullet could pierce the plane's control panel. A pilot would be distracted from his duties if he had to shoot a hijacker.

No one needs any reminder that U.S. airport security remains, at best, an uncertain proposition. A few days ago, the federal government acknowledged that fake guns and bombs - even sticks of dynamite - cruised past airport screeners at least a quarter of the time in undercover tests at some airports nationwide.

Airport screening will never be foolproof. As a last line of defense - one that's a far sight better than dispatching F-16s to shoot down a hijacked jet - let the pilots be prepared to make rational decisions about how best to protect their plane and their passengers.-- Chicago Tribune, Chicago