(Thursday, June 13, 2002) — Thanks to your efforts, legislation in the U.S. Senate to mandate arming pilots is gathering steam.

Since our last e-mail on the Smith legislation (S. 2554), several Senators have signed on to the bill. So as of today, there are eleven cosponsors on this important piece of legislation. They are Senators Miller (D-GA), Murkowski (R-AK), Burns (R-MT), Bunning (R-KY), Thurmond (R-SC), Hutchinson (R-AR), Crapo (R-ID), Campbell (R-CO), Sessions (R-AL), Enzi (R-WY) and Thomas (R-WY).

Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) introduced S. 2554 after the Bush administration denied pilots the ability to protect their passengers and crews. His bill would force the administration to let pilots carry arms in the cockpit and take away any discretionary authority from the Secretary of Transportation, who up until now has been working 100 percent against us.

Currently, pilots and airline passengers are defenseless against terrorist efforts to take over their planes. And, with F-16 fighter jets positioned to shoot down hijacked airplanes, it is only a matter of time until the current policy of disarming pilots results in another terrible calamity.