Good post Rich. +1. The reason terrorism works is because it is random and difficult if not impossible to stop. More legislation and regulation will not stop the determined.

"I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery." Thomas Jefferson.

More to the point, that isn't the real order of events. Statists on both "wings" first write the "emergency laws" they want to enact, then find (or make up) the "emergency" to give them an excuse. Look at the "USA PATRIOT Act", which was nothing more than a 20-year-old DEA "wish list".

At this point, no one in the federal govt. can tell how many laws and punitive regulation type laws exist, not counting state and local laws and regulation. Nothing has improved my lot from any of that.

I have yet to feel safer or be more at ease with ANY law they pass. I'd rather they pass a law that says both Congress and the unelected gov't agencies are to respect my right to be left alone.

No more regulations and knee jerk reactions. However, if an airline wants to install a radar device that would over-ride a mad man,s actions and put an airplane into an evasive maneuver the same way Mercedes now offers auto-braking... Well, that would be a marketing and technological option. The airlines should handle this. I believe I heard report that they have already responded like others in mandating two people in the cockpit at all times.

Every time something bad happens there is a rush to pass legislation to prevent something similar from happening with no sense of perspective.

The most egregious example of this that I've encountered was Jessica Dubroff, the 7 year old student pilot who died trying to become the youngest person to fly across the U.S. Dying with her was her flying instructor and her father. No one knows who was actually in control at the time and certainly the adults are the ones responsible for the decision to take off in the bad weather in the Cheyenne area.

In response the federal government passed the "Child Pilot Safety Act" prohibiting anyone who does not hold at least a private pilot certificate and a current medical certificate from manipulating the controls of an aircraft, if that individual "is attempting to set a record or engage in an aeronautical competition or aeronautical feat."

Clearly 7 year old pilots trying to set records was not a national craze or a pressing problem, yet they felt the need to "Do something about it." And, surprise, there is more regulation controlling people in circumstances they have no idea about.

The old saying is, "Set a thief to catch a thief" which basically means don't send amateurs to stop professional thieves. Now as to which side of the equation the Congress falls on...

Disasters rarely repeat in the exact same way. Battles in war rarely have all the same qualities and therefore respond to the same battle plans. There will never be another 911- the passengers would do whatever they had to in order to subdue the terrorists- I mean why not if you are going to die anyway. I would do TERRIBLE things to the terrorists to subdue them and not feel guilt at all.
I do think that personal vigilance goes a long way to stopping random terrorism. When things just dont look right, they probably arent.

Standard practice everywhere. In a nearby city, a few years ago, there was an accident that could have been prevented. It seems that after a city-sponsored parade one of the horses was being a bit of a problem for his rider. They were also inadvertently blocking the movement of a police car. To get the horse to move out of the way, the policeman turned on his lights and siren. The horse panicked and flipped over backwards, killing the rider.

The city council has prevented any such accidents in the future by banning horses from the city's streets.

I would say that the Airline Industry does it's own increase in training and screening of pilots. It's not up to the government to put more regulation on a regulated industry. More regulation would mean an increase in airfares.