Pilots are unarmed

Andy send this story:

The pistol-packing pilot was supposed to be the last line of defense against a terrorist who managed to get into a cockpit.

But now, more than two years after Congress sanctioned a training program to deputize aviators and allow them to carry guns in the cockpit, it's believed that only about 5,000--a little more than 5 percent of the estimated 95,000 commercial pilots in the country--are armed while they fly.

Pilot advocacy groups say there's a pent-up demand of as many as 40,000 pilots willing to arm themselves, but they charge that the Bush administration has deliberately undermined the program by making training inconvenient and insisting on an awkward protocol for transporting weapons.

Transportation Secy Mineta is usually blamed for sabotaging this important security program.