Dateline: 05/30/02

While a federal agency has denied airline pilots' requests to carry firearms in the cockpit, a bill to arm guards of federal buildings has taken another step toward passage.

No Guns For Pilots, Says TSA
On May 21, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) issued a controversial decision not to allow airline pilots to carry guns.

TSA Administrator John Magaw told a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on aviation security, "They [pilots] are there to fly, not to fight." 

Republican Senators supporting a House bill introduced in September to allow pilots to carry guns, the Arming Pilots Against Terrorism Act, asked Magaw to reconsider the decision and promised to see the legislation move forward. Two similar bills to arm pilots, S. 2546 and S. 2554, have been introduced in the Senate.

While the major airlines supported the TSA decision to ban guns from the cockpit, major pilots' unions continue to support arming their pilots and vowed to lobby for passage of pilot-arming legislation.

Magaw told Senators that the TSA was still considering allowing pilots to carry non-lethal, electric stun-guns capable of disabling attackers. In anticipation of this approval, United Airlines reportedly purchased 1,300 TASER, Inc. stun-guns and will be training its 9,000 pilots in the use of the non-lethal electric shock gun.

Guns and Raises for Building Guards, Says House Committee
While airline pilots may not get guns, guards at federal buildings will, along with raises and arrest powers under a bill unanimously approved last week by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

The bill, H.R. 4770 - The Ronald C. Sheffield Federal Property Protection Act of 2002, would give Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers, guards of federal buildings and property, the same powers, pay and benefits as U.S. Marshals, Border Patrol, Customs, Capitol Police and other federal law-enforcement officers.

Beginning salaries for FPS officers currently average $10,000 per year below those of other federal officers.

According to the bill's cosponsor, Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio 19th), alarming numbers of FPS officers have been leaving the service for better paying federal security posts created since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Only 290 of the needed 750 officers now remain in the FPS, according to Rep. LaTourette.

Along with giving them a pay raise, H.R. 4770 would empower FPS officers to:

• enforce Federal laws and regulations for the protection of persons and property;
• carry firearms;
• make arrests without a warrant for any offense against the United States committed in the presence of the officer or agent or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if the officer or agent has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing a felony;
• serve warrants and subpoenas issued under the authority of the United States; and
• conduct investigations, on and off the property in question, of offenses that may have been committed against property owned or occupied by the Federal Government or persons on the property.

The bill is named in honor of Ronald C. Sheffield, a Federal Protective Service Officer killed in the line of duty at the Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building in Detroit, Michigan.