putting the enforcement in law enforcement

I'm sure you've heard about the Miami airport shooting by now. Even though this one was a false alarm it's reassuring in a big way. Huge kudos have to go out to the air marshals. It is so nice to see that they really are willing to shoot and kill if some lunatic threatens to blow up a plane. Any rule is only as good as the enforcement backing it up. In this case the officers eliminated the threat and secured the plane in a matter of seconds. In my judgment, the air marshals and the nation's homeland security in general passed this test with flying colors.

Unfortunately, it seems the guy was only guilty of being crazy. No bomb, no threat, no terrorism. But given his actions it was impossible for the marshals to know that. If some dude runs down the aisle of a plane screaming about a bomb he has, refuses to stop when confronted at the door, ignores repeated orders from officers, and finally reaches into his bag, they'd better shoot him. That's what they're there for. Forget about being nice and erring against the use of deadly force, their job is to protect the lives of the people on the plane. That can sometimes require shooting first and asking later.

I can already hear the BS about the guy's wife yelling during the scene, or the guy being dark-skinned, or the fact that he never actually displayed a deadly weapon. Get over it, fools. Insane or not, he gave those marshals plenty of reason to take him out. If you don't think so just look at all the misses that led up to the 9/11 attacks, or how so many illegal immigrants commit crimes after being let go for lack of the "right" evidence. Now force yourself to make a snap decision with many lives at stake. Do you shoot to protect others? Or do you roll the dice with a suspicious character? If you chose the latter then I dearly hope indecisive, spineless folks like you are never responsible for protecting the lives of the rest of us while we fly.

The moral of the story here is, don't mess around on a plane. The feds just proved they mean business. That certainly puts them a cut above money-wasting pushovers like the FBI and INS. Great job, marshals! I hope they do the exact same thing the next time a situation like this arises.