Wonderful, he sighs.
US airline pilots get guns, courtesy the BBC.
I believe this is a bad, bad idea. Bullets and airline windows (hell, skins) don't play well together at 30,000 feet. If a terrorist can get through the cabin door, how can a pilot defend themselves and the plane? Let's all remember that the doors are now reinforced and NOT opened during flight - or are they? Don't quote me on this.
My favorite part? "There are also psychological tests which indicate whether or not a pilot would have problems about killing another person." Gee, that's nice.
Since I abhor the complainer who offers no solution, I offer this. Let us make the flight deck sacrosanct - pilots stay in (we're talking domestic US flights here) and don't come out. Let us make approaching the flight deck a death-trap: iron maiden torture traps activated whiplash-style. No one even gets near the door. Considerably harder to take it out, and we don't deliberately arm terrorists with guns by daring them to dash into the cockpit, where the guns have been placed, courtesy the defenders.
I'll refine this idea. Or I might even change my mind. Personally, I think we're being too unimaginative about this problem.