If airlines were free to provide their own security, I wonder if they’d choose to train their pilots to use guns, and have them carry on the planes. John Lott wrote a good article about this. Lott concludes:
About 70 percent of the pilots at major American airlines have military backgrounds, and military pilots flying outside the United States are required to carry handguns with them whenever they fly military airplanes. There are no records that any of these pilots carrying guns has ever caused any significant problems. Protecting people should be as important as protecting the mail once was.
I’m quite worried about airline safety, especially in light of the recent threats, and the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) incompetance and authoritarianism.
