aaaaThis year America got a new day to remember - September 11, 2001. Hijackers commandeered three airliners departing from two major East Coast airports and turned them into suicide bombs. Two crashed into the World Trade Center, bringing that monument of free market commerce to the ground. One smashed into the Pentagon, ripping a smoking hole in the command center of the greatest armed forces network on the planet.
aaaaAround the country, around the world, people watched their televisions in silence that went beyond horror and shock. As the hours passed, reporters on CNN and MSNBC began uncovering details. Viewers expected to hear accounts of terrorist squads armed with rifles and grenades taking over the planes, but what was reported only added to the shock and horror.
aaaaThese crimes were perpetrated by a handful of men - no more than five on each plane - armed with knives and box cutters.
aaaaHow could this happen? How could a few terrorists who, by almost any reasonable standard, were hardly even armed, slice three gaping wounds in the heart of the most powerful, resourceful, successful nation on earth? As the experts debated the efficacy of x-ray machines, security guards and impenetrable cabin doors, America began to consider these five words which have become the ingrained response to nearly any kind of crime: "Give them what they want."
aaaaSome years back, the same legislators and lobbyists who sought to put limitations on the Second Amendment began to tell Americans this should be their response to threats of violence and attack. When confronted by a robber, hand over your wallet. When threatened by a thief, surrender your car keys. When cornered by a rapist, remove your skirt and blouse. Give them what they want and don't get hurt. Losing your money, your possessions and maybe even your personal dignity is better than losing your life. Just give them what they want.
aaaaThese same people claimed Americans who want the right to defend their homes, protect their families and fight back against criminals rather than helplessly rolling over were being unrealistic. They claimed a gun was a laughable, archaic throwback to the "Wild Western mentality" and urged people to carry whistles instead of pistols, cell phones instead of tear gas, alarms instead of batons. They said self-defense weapons only increase the risk of violence and injury - give them what they want and let the authorities come and protect you.
aaaaOver the years, a lot of Americans have followed that path - which, make no mistake, is sometimes the correct one. The contents of a cash drawer or a few items of jewelry aren't worth the risk of winding up in the hospital or morgue. But, as the years have gone by, too many Americans have shifted from seeing "give them what they want" as just one possible option to seeing it as the only reasonable response. Store clerks, bank tellers, cab drivers and even airline pilots were trained, when threatened, to capitulate - always.
aaaaBut on September 11 America got a reminder that sometimes robbers shoot their victims even after they hand over their wallets. Sometimes kidnappers have no intention of returning their hostages unharmed, even if the ransom is paid. Sometimes rapists torture and murder their prey, even if they are totally compliant.
aaaaOn that day America was reminded capitulation can cost lives and level buildings. If the pilots on those three airliners did as they were trained to do, the hijackers faced no opposition. Minutes later, America saw the tragedy behind "giving them what they want."
aaaaThere was a fourth hijacking that day that didn't make as many national headlines and wasn't scrutinized by the news analysts. As the Pentagon and World Trade Center were under attack, Flight 93, departing from Newark, N.J., was taken over by terrorists and diverted toward Washington D.C. The passengers used their cell phones to contact authorities on the ground and were apprised of the situation. They realized they were headed toward the same fate as the three other planes which had crashed that morning, and they knew capitulation could cost the lives of many more innocent people. They broke out of the cooperative mentality and decided to take a stand. Their last words were not "We're going to give them what they want," but "We're going to do something about it." Flight 93 crashed in a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killing all on board - but no one else.
aaaaThere has been some speculation about what exactly took place on that plane. Perhaps the passengers fought with their hijackers using the tiny table knives provided in the airline meals; perhaps a group of them stormed the cockpit, fighting tooth and nail; perhaps the pilot sacrificed the plane and all aboard by shutting off the fuel supply. In any case, it was a true act of heroism, determination and resourcefulness. The passengers on Flight 93 decided if their lives were going to be snuffed out that morning, it was going to be done on their own terms and without harming anyone else in the process.
aaaaSadly, as the country begins to respond to these multiple tragedies, there are some who clearly just don't get it. Following the attacks, as the nation's airports reopened for business, airline officials announced a string of new policies and regulations designed to "increase security" in the sky. According to Associated Press, one airline reported wine bottles in the planes' galleys were being opened before departure so corkscrews and all other sharp implements would be removed from the planes during flight. Another airline refused to allow passengers to board planes with anything that could conceivably be turned into a weapon, including hairpins, pocket knives, even nail clippers. All flights leaving San Francisco International were required to discard their metal table settings and provide passengers only plastic cutlery with their in-flight meals.
aaaaThe concerns are sincere, but the reactions are misguided. This is the same line of thinking that strips law-abiding citizens of the right to carry defensive weapons in the hopes such measures will keep guns out of the hands of criminals. It doesn't work on the ground, and it's not likely to work in the air. The terrorists of September 11 weren't supposed to carry weapons aboard the planes, not even knives and box cutters, but they had them anyway. The law didn't stop them. They knew their victims would be disarmed and conditioned to "give them what they want."
aaaaInstead of preparing to repeat the tragedies which occurred in New York and Washington, D.C., the airlines should be taking cues from the heroes of Flight 93. Even the most basic assessment of the situation reveals the most effective means of preventing such an attack from occurring again is to prepare the crew and passengers to resist, not to helplessly capitulate.
aaaaFortunately, there are some who do "get it." In the week following the attack, Front Sight Institute, a defensive firearms training facility near Las Vegas, announced it would offer its tactical handgun seminar to commercial airline pilots free of charge. Additionally, a coalition of active and retired pilots from United, Southwest and TWA lobbied the FAA to allow airplane crews to maintain firearms in the cockpits of their planes so they will have the ability to fight back against terrorists and hijackers in the future.

aaaaBut more than knives or guns or corkscrews or cell phones, some people are beginning to recognize the folly of "give them what they want." In the wake of these terrorist attacks, the Air Line Pilots Association told its 67,000 members, "The cockpits should be protected at all costs, regardless of what kinds of security breaches have occurred or are occurring in the back of the aircraft. Pilots must be both mentally and physically prepared to take the life of a cockpit intruder."
aaaaOn Tuesday, September 11, helpless capitulation cost thousands of lives. The only proper way to honor those tragic losses is to make sure such horror can never happen again.
aaaaAlso on Tuesday, September 11, resistance saved lives. The passengers of Flight 93 decided they were not going to sit idly by and literally be turned into weapons against their fellow citizens. The only proper way to honor such heroism is to reject the powerlessness inherent in "give them what they want" and to respect our great American liberty which can, in times of danger, inspire someone to stand up and say, "We're going to do something about this!"