In article , Chad Irby
wrote:

A minor scenario: If a law officer (or qualified agent of the
government) wants to fly on a plane, not only do they get to carry their
guns, they get a discount. A *big* discount. Maybe free. With perks.
All they have to do is show up sober, not drink on the flight, and be
ready to shoot someone in the right situation. A minor training course
on shooting people in planes (along with How to Recognize a Terrorist),
and you get a little card that makes all of this go smoothly.

Much cheaper than trying to hire a few thousand Air Marshalls to try and
cover all flights. Sure, you won't get 100% coverage, but you'd
certainly get a lot with that cheap/free ticket.

Trouble is, most (that's most) police officers are fairly lousy shots.

There was an incident in downtown L.A. a few years ago where 5
sheriffs deputys were chasing a perp down the street. He's shooting
over the shoulder at them, they're chasing him.
He makes the big mistake...runs down a driveway into an underground
parking lot, and ooops: the gate is down and he can't get out.
The cops are at the top, he's at the bottom, straight line of sight.
He starts shooting at them.
They shoot back. Cops shot something like 45 rounds at this guy in half
a minute and hit him exactly once. Winged him in the arm.
Spray and pray.

This is what the TSA with their Air Marshal program is intent on avoiding
and I say good for them.

I'm just glad MY car wasn't parked in that underground lot.

--
Harry Andreas
Engineering raconteur