(Note to literalists: the Watched column presently contains only a smattering of 'warblogs' because the facilitator of the template-change--Dr. Menlo--is not very familiar with them, and will be adding more as they are sent to him. Also, this blog may contain areas of allusion, satire, subtext, context and possibly even a dash of the surreal: wannabe lit-crits beware.)
Control
[Watch this space for: Pentagon and Petroleum, The Media is only as Liberal as the Corporations Who Own Them, Wash Down With, and Recalcify]
A&D isn't the only venue to consider this plan. The Libertarian Party of Hawaii floats such a proposal as well, though without that coarse, preemptive derision of opposing viewpoints ("The anti-gun bien pensants of the world wet their pants at the thought of flying airplanes containing hundreds of armed civilians") typical of warbloggers and adopted by A&D.
I am sympathetic toward the People of the Gun on Constitutional grounds, as I have previously written. But universal gun suffrage would not, even in a perfect world, mean universal gun presence. Even Wild West saloon-keepers required that firearms be checked at the door, and airlines are within their rights to do the same.
A&D says guns were once upon a time considered less of a problem on passenger flights. Once upon a time, we could also get into nightclubs and concerts without being frisked or routed through metal detectors, as we are now. But times have changed, and more people in more situations now seem inclined to express their dissatisfaction with services, restrictions, or glances at girlfriends with explosive violence than in days gone by. Given the uptick in non-terrorist-related violence on passenger aircraft, I would think twice (at least) about sharing a small, sealed space several thousand feet in the air with a lot of strangers holding loaded guns.