Air Marshals, what were they supposed to do?

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I always wonder about this; Hundreds of thousands of people die every year because of medical mistakes, and no one blames the doctors, nor should they. Those doctors, nurses, ect. are just doing their jobs and trying to save lives, which they do and in much larger numbers. Police do the same thing yet due to media attention ect. they are often crucified foy making the only choice they could at the time.
 
But I feel real badly for the wife and family. He could just as easily have run up the aisle screaming "I'm the President of the United States, put me on Air Force One" and he'd be alive, but hospitalized, today. He was having a psychotic episode. He did not "deserve" to die, but the marshals had no way of knowing and they did what they were supposed to do. I expect they are sad to find to learn the guy was mentally ill and off his meds too.
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Keep watching... Someone is going to suggest that we get some sort of "Sane Individual I.D. Card" that certifies our mental health before we can fly, and there'll be a new no-fly list of anyone on medication for depression, whatever... After all, how can the security people know who is on medication and has kept up with the dosage? :rolleyes:


I also agree with the air marshalls' actions in this case. The woman and her husband bear responsibility for what happened to him, and no one else. HE probably was aware of how he can get when off his meds; and SHE had to be aware of how he can get when he's off his meds. Now AFTER the fact, the family is saying that he was off his meds? They didn't think about what could happen if he went nuts on an airplane because of it?


And I HATE these idiots who ask (when they ask, they're not asking, they're suggesting) that someone in law enforcement or even a civilian would-be victim should have "shot to wound" rather than shot to stop -- which generally involves lethality in order to be sure the attacker is "stopped." Get a life.


-azurefly
 
about those Glaser rounds...

I thought Air Marshalls all used frangible ammunition to prevent decompressing the cabin should they have to shoot while the plane is in flight? Do they really use plain old HP's?
 
I thought Air Marshalls all used frangible ammunition to prevent decompressing the cabin should they have to shoot while the plane is in flight? Do they really use plain old HP's?
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I don't know one way or another what they use.... However frangibles thus far only work on things like walls and trees. The soda-can-like skin of an airplane would get punched by pretty much anything.

Thats why I think the .357 Sig is an interesting choice. It has alot of power, however should it punch the airplane, it'll make a slightly smaller hole than a .45, or even the .40.
 
I think the air marshal did exactly the right thing and should now be holding his head high, because he did the right thing. Forget what crap the media spout because you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Better to be the wolf that you are rather than a sheep they want you to be.
 
A bullet hole will not de-pressurize an airplane. Several bullets holes won't do it. A door or window missing? Probably. As usual of course, reality doesn't make very good hollywood movies.
 
Sad but True

It's unfortunate but the Fed Air Cop did what he was supposed to do as per his training. Like someone else said, what was he suppose to do? wait until the perp blew up the bag and then shot? On the other hand the person had to get screened before coming on the plane up to the point of taking his shoes off and everything. There was a good chance that he had no bomb. But U don't have time to think of all that in situations like this. That is why U have to rely on Training. Speaking of training, I hope everyone on The Firing Line goes to the Shooting Range at least once a week.
 
If the man was truly mentally ill and not cognizant of the consequences of his actions, then his death is regretable. One can feel sorrow over it.

That is different from not thinking this was a reasonable shoot if the facts are correctly presented so far.

One does not have to think is was a glorious thing to shoot him. It was a sad necessity.
 
A bullet hole will not de-pressurize an airplane. Several bullets holes won't do it. A door or window missing? Probably. As usual of course, reality doesn't make very good hollywood movies.
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+1

Now its sad that he got shot but if I was a Air Marshal I would have done the same as they did. They did what they are trained and told what to do instead of trying to discredit them someone should be giving them accomadations or something for staying claim and doing what they were trained/told to do. :D

Dimitri
 
air marshall shooting

I wish they (the news) would shut-up about it for just 10 seconds, my god talk about over-analizing something! They should say ''nut gets shot by auth. at airport'' and let it go away for christ sake. see ya
 
+1 for the good guys.

I agree with others who say, "What if it was a legit threat" and nothing was done? Who's ass then?

Think about it!
You do not have the right to threaten others with lethal force of a bomb.
That is the definition of a terroristic act, even muttered.

Stems off of the yelling "FIRE" in a crowded theatre.
Not cool.

The responsibility should lie on his wife and family.
His mother is claiming he wasn't right in the head, but the brother in law said he was normal!?

Need to find out there what is going on, but it was a good shoot.
 
Re Air Marshalls

Hi
It is a sad situation that a person who is supposed to be on psychotropic meds and is not was even in this situation, i.e. flying without the meds in his system. The air marshal had NO CHOICE, I mean running and screaming that he has a bomb and refusing to show his hands. Who is willing to take a chance after 9/11? The man's wife is now a widow and that is sad. As far as the "media" questioning the marshal's decision to shoot...are we really surprised by this? The "news" we are allowed to see is a highly sanitized unilateral product clearly reflecting the bias of the "media elite". :barf:
When was the last time you saw a news story on the "big three" that showed a firearm being used in lawful self defense or the prevention of a crime? Anyway, the marshal did the right thing.
 
guys even if a plane decompressed it would only last for a moment and would not suck everybody out of the hole. that's hollywood bs. if some guy was standing right next to a door that opened, yea likely. but all that bs about people flying around and papers and luggage is just that, bs. the aircraft would equalize very quickly.
 
Bomb??

This all may well end up similiar to the "terrorist" shot six times in the head in London. All's well that ends well eh?
The London electrician was murdered by brit LEO and evidence was altered including the film shown on our Orwellian Box (that's a TV kiddies!)
Why oh why do so many folks claiming to be non PC follow lock step everything fed to them on the boob tube?
This morning BTW, witnesses from the plane don't recall anyone saying BOMB except for the cops in the later interviews.
 
I don't think I would describe the dead man as a "victim".

+1 - There is no way we should call this man a victim - he was more of a perpetrator to me. If he had not been killed, say he was just wounded, he would definitely have been tried - and hopefully convicted - of multiple crimes. So, unless you are going to call the drunk wandering into your house and saying he has a gun while trying to grab your wife a victim when you shoot him dead, we should stop calling this guy a victim. It's almost as bad as calling the Iraqi terrorists insurgents, but enough already.

There are a few good things we can take from this episode:
1) The Air Marshalls are effective.
2) The government is protecting us in the air.
3) Every terrorist in the world should see this as a deterrent to any future attacks - because they can see we are serious.

Now I only hope the government does NOT apologize for the actions of the air marshalls or say they are going to review their actions and change their policies. If anything, they should say that this incident shows their plan is working and that we are sticking with it. Better yet, they should say nothing and let things remain as they are. Do I feel compassion towards the man's family - of course. But it is better to do the right thing and be wrong than to do nothing and be wrong. If they hadn't taken him out, and hundreds of people on the plane or in the airport had died, this would be a much different discussion.
 
they did what they were trained to do. save people. they did the right thing.I'm glad I'm not writing about 200 dead Americans. even if he did not have a bomb. who new. I do feel bad for them taking a life is not mentally easy.
 
From what little I know about Bi-polar, this sounds more like Depression caused suicide by Air Marshall. I thought they used to be Sky Marshalls?

Geoff
Who notes they are not well paid, and are overworked.
 
the more i think about it i am flat out proud of the marshalls. they have proven they can do the job.

sorry about the guy off of his meds though. i guess his wife wishes she could turn back the clock and gets his meds prior to the flight.
 
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