    Why would pilots need to be armed? What is the benefit of having those who are meant to fly planes equipped with weaponry? Many actual and attempted terrorist attacks have been carried out over the years. These terrorist attacks not only take lives, but are shocking events that affect all people around the world. Whatever can be done to prevent them should be done. One concerns may be for how a pilot is qualified to carry and use a firearm, but those are unfounded arguments, and overall arming pilots on commercial and other airlines is a good idea.
    Terrorists tend to be extremist, generally with extreme views relating to religion. The main threat to the United States are the Middle Eastern terrorist groups, and as they’ve already launched several serious attacks on planes and shown pride in what they’ve done, there’s no reason to believe they won’t do it again. Precautions should be made.
    One of the major terrorist attacks of the 21st century were the 9/11 suicide missions. These attacks consisted of several commercial plane hijackings that turned into suicide bombings. There were 3 planes hijacked.  One went for the twin towers, one to the U.S. Pentagon, and one was believed to be heading to the White House; this plane was removed from the sky and luckily did not hit the White House, but did result in the death of all of its passengers. These attacks cost thousands of lives, 2,977 to be precise, and shocked the entire world. Al-Qaida a Middle Eastern Islamic terrorist group, claimed responsibility for these attacks, which most likely could've been avoided if the pilots were armed.
    Terrorism isn’t the only reason pilots should be armed. Many things can happen on a plane that can require someone with authority and power to take control and solve the situation. Not all of these are people trying to hijack the plane, and although these are only minor things compared to a hijacking, having the pilots armed will greatly help maintain peace and serenity on the entire plane. It will be as though there was an marshal on the plane, but the cockpit is hard to penetrate and perpetrators would have a difficult time targeting the pilots, as of 2003 most cockpit doors are reinforced.
    Some other reasons for arming pilots are, for example,  passengers that have really short tempers and can become violent with little provocation. Everybody's different, and some people are just a disaster waiting to happen. With the pilot being able to settle any disputes that come up, the plane would become a much more calm place. Another helpful solution to these situations would be to arm the pilots with a taser for lesser situations, and keep the gun somewhere hidden in the cockpit. The pilots would carry their guns to the plane in locked cases in nondescript bags, and hide them somewhere that is not easy to access in the cockpit. Or they could use a less lethal weapon that is similar to a gun but does not shoot bullets that are as lethal the TSA would decide which weapons are suitable then set up weapons training for the pilots. This would allow them to handle situations in a less lethal way and still maintain peace.
