Location: The Heritage Foundation's Van
Andel Auditorium
On September 11th of last year, nineteen men--armed only with
box cutters--were able to take control of four commercial airliners
and turn them into devastating weapons of mass destruction. Airport
security has been changed and cockpit doors supposedly have been
reinforced, but many maintain that there is still no effective
means of defending American airliners and their passengers against
terrorist attack once they leave the airport, given that relatively
few flights have air marshals on board. The Arming Pilots and Cabin
Defense Act of 2002 is intended to provide flight crews with the
tools to carry out this responsibility. It would permit commercial
airline pilots who volunteer to receive special training to have
guns in the cockpit as a last line of defense against terrorism. It
also provides for the training of flight attendants in self-defense
and terrorism prevention and for installing new security equipment
on planes. The House passed the bill with overwhelming bipartisan
support but the proposal is still awaiting Senate action and is not
without its skeptics. Please join us to hear this distinguished
panel of experts discuss - the potential benefits and dangers of
this legislation.
More About the Speakers
John R. Lott
Resident Scholar
American Enterprise Institute
Robert Sproc
First Officer, American Airlines and
Allied Pilots Association, Vice-chairman Miami Domicile
With special remarks from
Senator Bob Smith (R - NH)
United States Senate
Hosted By
Edwin Meese III
Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy and Chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies
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