[gunsmith]

just the other day a guy from india got a knife onto
a plane,it's real easy too.
I can make weapons out of stuff I can bring on a plane,so can
determined bad guys. the TSA has made it impossible
for pilots to jump through all the hoops to carry guns with
them. The Bush admins hands are tied due to contributions
from airlines who do not want armed pilots.
the media plays along with them,leading the public to believe
there are armed marshalls and pilots when in fact there are hardly
any at all...in Iraq the citizens are allowed to keep AK 47's
here in the "free" USA only a few can.
terrorist can and probably will inflict terrible damage to this
great country of ours.
it angers me to no end that we are not allowed to carry guns in the places where terrorist are likely to strike (NY ,PRK, DC)
these God forsaken laws only encourage terrorist
and thugs:banghead:
we have to do something!
:fire:
the question what can we do that is effective and can we do it
before they repeat 9/11/01 on a larger scale?

[TheOtherOne]

I think it was obvious on 9/11 that it would never happen like that again... look at Flight 93. Those passengers figured out what was going on in less than an hour and stopped the hijackers from getting to their target. If anyone tried to take over a plane here in the U.S. again, I don't think they would stand a chance -- even against unarmed passengers.

But of course, there are still plenty of other threats that could bring another "9/11".

[VaughnT]

It is inevitable that there will be another attack within our borders. However, the scale or severity of that attack is unknowable. I would like to believe that 9'11'01 and the subsequent strengthening of our defenses (mental more than physical) would preclude another successful hijacking.

[Sean Smith]

I would like to believe that 9'11'01 and the subsequent strengthening of our defenses (mental more than physical) would preclude another successful hijacking.

Another hijacking would be a cake walk. U.S. airline security is still pure comedy compared to many countires. Heck, we are probalby the only country where comedians literally use airline security as part of their comedy routines... the TSA is pure imbecillity.

Of course, odds are that Al-Qaeda will do something different, just based on the fact that their attacks have always shown alot of variety from one to the other. If not them, somebody else... maybe Hamas if we start pushing that "roadmap" too hard.

[toro]

I think it is important to close the borders. It seems that people are able to get in the US from Canada and from Mexico. I remember when they caught some terrorist who were trying to get into the country from Canada to kill the elder Bush when he was president. We need some strong border control, maybe with the military? :uhoh:

I don't believe there is a way to be secure. We haven't stopped much criminal activity. Mostly because the criminal carries guns at all times and we have to wait untill a state lets us carry. Crazy if you ask me that the terrorist and the criiminal will carry as they please and we have to beg in order to carry.:banghead:

Mrs. Torro


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1 Kings 20:28
And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, The Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am Lord.

[Mike Irwin]

Another plane hijacking?

Maybe, maybe not.

Something else?

Oh yeah, pretty much inevitable.

[Waitone]

Another hijacking of a passenger plane? Nah!

Hijacking of a cargo jet and doing the same thing? Highly probable. Security at US airports is pretty much a laffer and its even worse in the world of cargo transportation.

[Erik]

I'll second what Mike Irwin typed.

[another okie]

Al Qaeda has history of coming back to finish up what they left undone, so I would expect something targeting either the Capitol or the White House, whichever one the plane that went down over Pennsylvania was after.

Otherwise we can look for something involving:

1. General aviation.

2. Cargo ships in ports.

[Hkmp5sd]

There's an old adage, "He who defends everything, defends nothing."

There will be more terrorist attacks. We just do our best to defend against them and not turn into a country of Chicken Littles.

[sonny]

I hate to say it but.....yea,I think there will be more attacks,there will ALSO be more wars in places like Afhganistan and Iraq after they foolishly attack us.....who's next?.....I not sure it matters because whoever we hold responsible will pay and pay dearly.
It's a crazy world we live in and I'm glad I'm AMERICAN!!!!!!!!
Maybe we sent a message with our cake walk wars in the middle east .....I think we may have made them think a little harder about messin with us.....if not then we will have to keep on kicking butt......It's not a pleasant way to live but we're still king of the hill untill someone knocks us down.....we'll see!

[longeyes]

Open borders and little or no direct citizen involvement in the WOT...

Yeah, inevitable. Our Government is all but ensuring that.

[rrader]

the question what can we do that is effective and can we do it

You have to hope the US Government is pouring money into basic reseaarch at the best physics departments in the world (Cal Tech, Moscow Univ., the Technicon) to come up with a way of detecting radioactive decay products through shielding. And you have to hope that the physicists can come up with something soon. With all of the barely secured warheads available in Russia, and the ongoing nuclear weapons development programs going on in Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, Brazil, etc..., it's just a matter of time before we lose numbers of our cities to nuclear attack, IMO.

Even that is only a stopgap. The technology is advancing for laser triggers for fusion weapons (H-bombs) and it's just a matter of time (< 50 years) before anyone will be able to build one in their basement.

[Don Gwinn]

No, it won't happen the same way again. Remember the recent incident with the guy with a knife on Qantas? He was lucky to get off alive.
It has nothing to do with the official security. Passengers will no longer cooperate in the hope that they will be released.

[Sean Smith]

You have to hope the US Government is pouring money into basic reseaarch at the best physics departments in the world (Cal Tech, Moscow Univ., the Technicon) to come up with a way of detecting radioactive decay products through shielding.

If I'm remembering my nuclear engineering right, that's mostly a non-starter. You can stop alphas and betas with cardboard and gammas with lead. A neutron detector would be more sensible, but not much since the whole point of an atomic bomb design is to keep neutrons IN. If you are counting on quantum tunneling to sneak a few decay products out, you might have a one in a billion shot of finding something, especially when you consider all the natural background radiation to sift through and the inverse square law.

I'm actually not that worried about nukes. Real nuclear weapons are devilishly hard to make. And "dirty bombs" are basically a joke; the only reason they'd "work" as a terror weapon is because the American public is so stupid.

[Waitone]

A dirty bomb is more than a SWAG. Locally available raw materials are abundant in the US and with a little enterprising skulduggary home grown terrs could assemble a dirty bomb featuring radioactive materials generally available at hospitals, doctors offices, and some industrial locations.

Not the really bad stuff mind you. A good alpha emitter will set off a geiger counter. Depnding upon the scale used it will sound like doors of hell have been unhinged. Out technically sophisticated media (at all level) will stoke the panic. Experts will crawl out of the woodwork and either add or subtract from the panic. 24 hour news cycle will saturate the public's mind with a Hiroshima aftermath images. Images and perceptions will paint a picture of a dangerous terr hit while the reality is a polar opposite.

Media coverage of the first dirty bomb will closely parallel that of the anthrax attack of last year. It took media less than on week to introduce pictures of a small pox victim (due to reporter's boredom). It took that same media outlet 3 weeks to pass out the news that readily available antibiotics will work against anthrax as well as Cipro.

The biggest danger we face is a breathless, ignorant, and aggressive mass media.

[rrader]

Out technically sophisticated media (at all level) will stoke the panic

Yep, it's why hospitals now call it MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) instead of NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging). Public can't handle the word nuclear.

[gunsmith]

if we knew what they were planning we could stop it.
my biggest beef is that we disarm vulnerable targets
like schools/airplanes/national parks & monuments.
DC/NY/LA/SF all largely populated by folks who will
have to capitulate to any armed force that rolls in.
20 or 50 terrorist with grenade's and 20$ pakistani
AK47 clones could wreak havoc in any of the places
mentioned above.
the 2nd amendment says we have the GOD GIVEN right
to fight back.
schumer,fienstein,kennedy all of whom are content
with armed security,would rather Amerians die then
FIGHT BACK :fire:

[243_shooter]

The biggest danger we face is a breathless, ignorant, and aggressive mass media.

I'll second that..

Will it happen again? You bet.

Can it be stopped? Doubtfull.

What can we do? Live life.

By allowing it to get whipped up into the mess it is today (homeland security dept, patriot act, etc..) The terrorists have won. Even if America was a maximum security prison, it WOULD STILL HAPPEN.



Leo

[VaughnT]

Sean, I think Don Gwinn touched on what I was getting at. With airline passengers aware of their potential fates, a successful plane hijacking is extremely unlikely. Folks will tend to fight back when there is strong evidence that death is the only other option.

Other avenues of attack are still open, however. I would guess that the next big thing will be a few gunmen raking a crowded park, concert, schoolroom, courthouse, or street corner. I don't know if they'll use explosives, but a few full-auto rifles will be enough to send waves of fear throughout the region.

What can we do? Just like that commercial on TV says, "live your life like you normally would." You can't go around fearing death and dismemberment all day and expect to stay sane. I might be one of those that dies in the next attack, but I don't give it even a moment's thought. Just because I can't carry here or there doesn't mean that I am defenseless anymore than it means I'll be killed by some idiot.

I could die in the 'jihad' or in a robbery or in a lightning strike or in a car accident or just by normal, everyday natural causes. Death comes for all men and you shouldn't be afraid.

[Double Naught Spy]

While well intentioned, gunsmith, I think you have missed the point by suggesting gun laws need to be changed to protect against events like 9/11. While quite newsworthy, hyped, sensationalized, and used as a backdrop for various companies selling all sorts of self defense crap, the threat of terrorists to any one individual here in the US is almost nil, especially in regard to everyday, normal, non-newsworthy, not hyped threats such as burglary, robbery, murder, by everyone from professionals to crackheads.

If you want to argue for changes in gun laws so as to allow Americans to better protect themselves, trying to justify such changes based on 9/11 just is not going to work. Not only that, but even if New York did allow people to carry guns, there was not a darned thing they could have done to stop the planes. Keep in mind that most of the people killed were NOT on planes. Also note that there were armed security folks in the Pentagon. They didn't manage to do a darned thing.

You mention that you don't like the fact that you can't carry in places like DC, NY, and PRK where terrorists are likely to strike. I am not sure how you are determining where terrorists are likely to strike or not, but in the case of 9/11, strike in NY were secondary acts of terrorism. The primary acts were the hijacking of the planes really boils down to their origin, Boston. Control was gained by terrorists not while in New York, but most likely over MA airspace.

Day in, day out, the threat of terroristic acts to you as an individual are incredibly low. Even within the low percentage, there is still and even lower percentage potential that an armed person would be able to stop the terroristic act. The 9/11 acts were overt. Most recent terroristic acts we have had in the US are covert. It would not matter how many guns you had and what the laws were if you were in the parking garage of the World Trade Center when it was bombed in the early 90s. It would not matter how many guns you had if you were working in the federal building in OKC, riding on the train that was intentionally derailed in AZ some years back, or if you received a letter containing anthrax.

The intentions are good, but the reasoning is swiss cheese.

[bogie]

Keep in mind that these guys are low-tech. They didn't construct a cruise missile - they stole some. They don't produce explosive - they buy it or they steal it.

I suspect that the next attacks (and there will be attacks) will be similar to stuff they've already done. I think that the most likely ones will be:

Antipersonnel bombs in public places

Hijacked trucks full of flammable/explosive material

Attacks using firearms and dedicated operatives in large gatherings of people (shopping malls, parks, theaters, etc.)

The average Joe Citizen can't do a lot about the first two.

But I suspect that theaters in Chicago are a lot more likely to get hit than those in Dallas...