I've been against

it and I've been for it. Then I changed my mind and was against it again.

Finally, I think I have come to an inescapable conclusion. I am for it.

I will be criticized

for voicing my opinion on this subject and some will even declare that

I am a heretic to the faith for making the declaration. Let them rant.

I have decided.

Arm the pilots; put firearms into the cockpit of passenger airline flights.

There. I've

said it. The fact is that a firearm is the best deterrent possible against

a suicidal manic bent on killing himself, a plane full of innocent people,

and whoever he might crash the airplane into. Pepper spray, stun guns,

mace all have a high failure potential. Terrorists who would repeat Sept.

11 must be stopped.

Several years

ago, I was visiting a patient in one of Atlanta's inner-city hospitals.

Late at night, sometime past midnight, I was driving on a darkened street

when I stopped behind a car that was sitting at a red light. From out

of the bushes to the right came a disheveled man who quickly attempted

to get into the passenger side of the car in front of me.

Fortunately,

the door was locked and, as the man pulled and jerked futilely at the

handle, the terrified driver ran the red light and sped away. The man

then ran