Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns How come so many LE Agencies have switched from the 9mm?

The airlines just got through buying SIG .357s and .40 S&Ws for their pilots.Now Obama wants to disarm them again, so maybe there will be a bunch of those on the market.

9mm is fine! Use the improved ammo that was not there in the 86 shootout, do your part, and it will all work out. 15+1 and you cannot get it done? PLEASE!

What do you do for a living?

Pugs, I stated what the pilots and Air Marshals carry, and that some airlines provide the handguns to their pilots. I was correct.

Now, you try to weasel out by saying, "The subject is the FFDO program...", in an effort to change the subject. Democrats call that "nuancing" when they do it.

Pugs, if you have TSA and TWIC clearances and an ID which lets you carry a weapon onto an airplane, why don't you know the basic facts of how things work? What do you do for a living?

The airlines just got through buying SIG .357s and .40 S&Ws for their pilots.Now Obama wants to disarm them again, so maybe there will be a bunch of those on the market.

Do you remember last March 2008, when a US Airways pilot accidentally discharged his HK USP 40 in the cockpit while in flight?

Here is what US Airways said about their program to screen and train pilots before issuing them the HK USP 40:

"The gunshot marked the first time a pilot's weapon has been fired on a plane since the flight deck officer program was created following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Alter said. The Transportation Security Administration is investigating how the gun discharged, and Gee says the unidentified pilot has been taken off duty during the probe.

Pilots in the program undergo 50 hours of training at the federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, N.M. Alter said it appears the pilot of the US Airways flight wasn't following "proper procedures. ... We just don't know exactly what procedure wasn't being followed."

Since April 2003, about 5,000 flight deck officers � captains or first officers � have gone through the training program and received permission to carry weapons in the cockpit, said Capt. Bob Hesselbein, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association's National Security Committee. The union represents more than 61,000 pilots at 43 airlines.

Gee declined to say how many US Airways pilots have graduated from the program and carry guns while on duty, citing security concerns.

But they all carry the same gun, the high-priced and high-quality H&K USP, which Alter said was specially selected for the program. Gun safety expert Ronald Scott, a ballistics expert who served for 25 years with the Massachusetts State Police, said the gun wouldn't discharge accidentally if dropped or jarred in some way.

"It's a top-of-the-line model," Scott said. "They're accurate and highly reliable. This is not something that you would just walk into a gun store and buy. And it's also not something that goes off by itself. ... Someone would have to squeeze the trigger."

Pugs,
I happen to know several pilots. USAir recently bought .40 S&W SIGs for their pilots. That's a fact. I know it directly.

Law Enforcement

* FFDOs are considered Federal law enforcement officers only for the limited purposes of carrying firearms and using force, including lethal force, to defend the flight deck of an aircraft from air piracy or criminal violence.
* FFDOs are not granted or authorized to exercise other law enforcement powers such as the power to make arrests, or seek or execute warrants for arrest, or seizure of evidence, or to otherwise act as Federal law enforcement outside the jurisdiction of aircraft flight decks.
* FFDOs are issued credentials and badges to appropriately identify themselves to law enforcement and security personnel, as required in the furtherance of their mission.
* FFDOs are issued firearms and other necessary equipment by the Federal Air Marshal Service.
* FFDOs are responsible for the readiness and daily security of their firearms, credentials and equipment.
* FFDOs are authorized to transport secured firearms in any state for a flight on which they are flying to or from as approved by the Federal Air Marshal Service as necessary for their participation and activities in the program.

"But they all carry the same gun, the high-priced and high-quality H&K USP, which Alter said was specially selected for the program."

Selected by US Airways for their program to arm their pilots.

But they all carry the same gun, the high-priced and high-quality H&K USP, which Alter said was specially selected for the program. Gun safety expert Ronald Scott, a ballistics expert who served for 25 years with the Massachusetts State Police, said the gun wouldn't discharge accidentally if dropped or jarred in some way.