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Task force makes cockpit gun recommendations


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Pilots on U.S. commercial airlines could be carrying guns within months after a task force made recommendations on how to go about arming pilots. CNN's Patty Davis reports (February 20)
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pilots on U.S. commercial airlines could be carrying guns within months.

A task force on Wednesday made recommendations to the head of the Transportation Security Administration on how to go about arming pilots.

The task force said pilots should carry 40-caliber semi-automatic pistols and be trained for 48 hours over five days on how to use the guns. That is significantly less training than the 12 weeks air marshals receive.

Training would begin in late March and would include psychological testing to make sure pilots don't freeze in a crisis situation.

"We have to make sure they can deploy the weapon and actually shoot the intruder," said TSA spokesman Robert Johnson. "That's easier said than done."

Forty-eight pilots will be selected to participate in the first training class, according to Johnson.

Several thousand pilots applied for the first slots, according to a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association.

Only pilots and co-pilots would be allowed to carry the guns, and then only in a holster. Pilots would only be allowed to use the gun in the cockpit -- they could not enter the passenger cabin with it. After flying, pilots would have to put the gun in a lockbox and the lockbox in a nondescript bag to transport it out of the plane.

The TSA has been studying how to arm pilots since Congress passed legislation last year allowing pilots to carry guns on a voluntary basis. TSA head Adm. James Loy must make his recommendation to Congress by February 26.


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