The recent accidental discharge of a pilot's gun highlights tensions over whether the number of authorized guns aboard U.S. commercial aircraft translates into safer skies.
A long list of travelers are permitted by law to carry guns on planes, including federal air marshals, certain pilots and law-enforcement agents traveling for business.
Supporters of the practice insist that the presence of armed pilots and law enforcement agents — on and off duty — cuts the chances of hijacking.
But others argue that the sheer number of guns on planes greatly increases the likelihood of an accident such as the one on a US Airways flight on March 22, when a gun carried by a pilot went off during flight in the cockpit. No one was injured.
"It's clearly a minor incident, but I think it's endemic of potentially larger problems," said Stuart Klaskin at KKC aviation consulting.
Klaskin says it is unnecessary for so many people to travel with weapons. Pilots, in particular, have enough to think about during a flight without worrying about keeping their weapons safe.
"When things happen like this, at best the industry looks silly. And at worst, the industry looks stupid," Klaskin said.
The US Airways pilot was a Federal Flight Deck Officer and authorized by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to carry a firearm.
The armed pilot program was enacted after the September 11, 2001, hijack attacks in New York and Washington. Pilots are trained to use weapons to defend the aircraft in the event that a hijacker manages to get through the reinforced cockpit door.
First such incident
In the six-year history of the armed pilot program, the US Airways incident was the first time a weapon had been fired in the cockpit, the TSA said.
The agency would not say how many pilots carry guns, but said thousands are qualified to do so and interest in joining the program remains high.
According to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the largest pilots union, about 10,000 of the total 120,000 U.S. airline pilots are permitted to carry guns.
The program is voluntary and pilots usually pay for their own training and ammunition, said Bob Hesselbein, ALPA's national security chairman. ALPA supported the program from the beginning, and Hesselbein said it greatly reduces the chance of a successful hijacking.
"We see almost all good coming from it," he said.
Packing heat at 30,000 feet
Undercover air marshals, the primary law enforcers of the TSA, also carry guns in the passenger cabin on random flights, as do other authorized law enforcement personnel. The Department of Homeland Security, which runs the TSA, does not disclose the number of air marshals.
The armed pilot program was created by Congress over objections from the Bush administration, which favored stronger cockpit doors, closer passenger screening and other steps.
Guns are otherwise prohibited in the passenger cabin. More than 750 firearms were seized at airport passenger checkpoints last year, 10 percent fewer than the prior year, the TSA said.
The law enforcement officers permitted to carry weapons are a particular concern to Joseph Gutheinz, a former agent with the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Gutheinz, who flew armed in his job, said there is the distinct risk that a hijacker could take a loaded gun away from an inattentive officer.
"On the ground I'm a Second Amendment advocate," Gutheinz said, referring to the portion of the U.S. Constitution that certain people say guarantees an individual's right to bear arms. "(But) I do not believe there should be as many guns in the air as there are now."
