Gun Owners of America welcomed cargo pilots to the world of concealed carry this past Friday, after GOA-backed legislation was signed into law.

While this new law will allow cargo pilots to carry firearms onto their planes, GOA remains concerned that the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) will work to limit the number of cargo pilots who can carry guns, just as it has impeded the number of eligible passenger pilots.

Captain Tracy Price published an editorial in The Washington Times last week which detailed the extent to which the TSA has dragged its feet in this area.

The TSA has “very intentionally and successfully” minimized the number of volunteers to the armed pilots program, Price says, by employing “thinly veiled threats” and making the program extremely difficult to get into.

[You can read the details at http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20031211-085721-8712r.htm on the web.]

While the TSA has technically complied with last year’s law, it has only done so in the manner of a little child who goes to his room when ordered — stomping his feet along the way.

At the current rate of arming pilots, it will take 15 years to arm all pilots who wish to be armed. In the mean time, Air Force pilots continue training on how to shoot down hijacked planes.

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