By: Logan Dierker

Politics plays an important role in how Americans view gun rights based on arming pilots. In a news article by Shadee Ashtari, covering a news interview between Fox News and Rand Paul, a Republican U.S. Senator, includes information and background about the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program. Concerning a bill in 2014 that would facilitate pilot’s carry permit process, Republican Senator, Rand Paul, explained that the Obama administration has cut funding for armed pilot programs (Ashtari). Obama, and many of his supporter’s, views on guns rights is that there should be many restrictions on guns in general. With the Obama administration cutting funding for a program that arms trained pilots on commercial and cargo aircraft shows how the administration is pushing their ideologies into every aspect of the government, even the TSA, whose goal is to secure the safety of aviation transportation for all involved. This ties back into how the FFDO Program impacts society’s view of gun rights, in that many liberal Democrats view guns as a safety hazard and that causes them to be more against allowing pilots to be armed, rather than wanting them to be armed. Politics does play a role in society’s view of gun rights, but not nearly as much as the aftermath of breaches in aviation security.