Pistol-packing pilots may be trained in Georgia

WASHINGTON - Georgia Representative Jack Kingston said Thursday that airline pilots could be trained to fire guns at a Glynn County, Georgia, facility should the Senate sign off on a House-passed measure allowing them to carry weapons. <br> <br> During Wednesday&#39;s floor debate, Kingston won a nonbinding assurance that the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center near Brunswick would provide the firearm safety lessons. <br> <br> That would represent yet another expansion of duties for the center at the site of the old Glynco airport, which recently took on the task of training federal air marshals in response to the September eleventh hijacking attacks. <br> <br> However, many senators have lined up against the concept of pistols in the cockpit, and Georgia Democrat Zell Miller -- one of the sponsors -- concedes he doesn&#39;t yet have enough votes. <br> <br> Still, Kingston and Miller are confident the measure will prevail in the Senate and eventually increase the mission of the Georgia facility constructed in 1974 as a training ground for some 70 federal agencies. <br> <br> Regardless of whether they are trained at FLETC or somewhere else, Miller said it was essential that pilots be allowed to carry firearms. <br> <br> He says, ``The pilot is the last thing standing between landing a plane safely or having it shot down. We trust the pilot with our lives, and it&#39;s time to trust them with a firearm.&#39;&#39;