FCAlert 6/20/02

 June 20 Neal Knox Update -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) plans to offer S. 890, his and Sen. Joe Lieberman's (D-Ct.) bill to regulate gun shows to death, as an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill, which is now on the floor.

    Neither Democrats -- who are nervous about any gun bill -- nor Republicans -- who never want a gun vote -- want McCain to offer that amendment. And they're telling him about it.

If he won't back off on his plan to force a vote this month -- and there are rumbles that he might -- the Senate might block the vote on a "germaneness" challenge, arguing that the bill is unrelated to the Defense Department. McCain claims that it is related because terrorists can buy guns from individuals at shows without a background check, but that's a reach. Few non-dealer sales are the kind of guns a terrorist would want.

A "germaneness" challenge might succeed for it would be a "procedural vote" rather than a "vote on the merits," though the effect might be the same.

   The House Aviation Subcommittee yesterday approved the Young- Mica bill to allow up to 1,400 commercial pilots to be armed in a test program.

    On Tuesday, a compromise had been struck to allow volunteer pilots to undergo extensive firearms training as "Flight Deck Officers" deputized as Federal agents.

The type gun and ammunition, the ownership, and how the guns will be transported and stored are all left up to the Transportation Security Administration, headed by John Magaw, who vetoed armed pilots last month.

     Although Republicans are leading the push to overthrow the Bush Administration's decision, they're getting a considerable amount of support from Democrats -- enough to pass the bill in the House. But it will face a rocky road in the Senate, where it is opposed by Transportation Committee Chairman Fritz Hollings (D- S.C.) and Ranking Member John McCain.

    There has been strong support for the bill from the pilot unions but the flight attendants' union grumped that it has 14 pages about armed cockpits and only one page about defense training for cabin attendants.

    A factor that attendants and opponents of the bill have overlooked is that the terrorists' objectives isn't to take control of the cabin, but the cockpit -- so the plane could become a guided bomb to be used against ground targets as on Sept. 11.

    Because that is the objective, the only defense against terrorists who take control of planes -- despite the various security measures -- is for an Air Force fighter to blow the plane and its passengers out of the sky.

     That key point was made in an article by Transportation Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) this week in the Capitol Hill Newspaper, Roll Call. Considering that horrible alternative, the arguments against armed pilots -- made in Roll Call by Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) -- pale to insignificance.

     It would be nice if every U.S. flight had an armed Air Marshal aboard every flight, as on Israel's 30 El Al flights each day, which is what the opponents say they want. How many Air Marshals the nation has is classified, but according to published reports, there were only 50 Air Marshals last September, and only 1,000 now -- while there are 30,000 scheduled U.S. flights daily.

    As I reported Monday, I'll be at a fundraiser for Ramsey Farley -- Rep. Chet Edwards' opponent -- in Temple, Texas Friday evening. But the Congressman who is the star attraction is Rep. PETE Sessions (R-Texas [Dallas]) not "Congressman" (actually Senator) JEFF Sessions (R-Ala.).

    My keyboard was in motion without brain being in gear.

    I first met Pete, and his father, former FBI Director Bill Sessions, at a Capitol Hill Club fundraiser when he, too, was a Congressional hopeful.

     I look forward to seeing some of you in Temple. For details, call the Farley Campaign Office at 254-899-0678. It's a $50 per person party, but if you can't handle that, Ramsey says come anyway.