Kate's got a good post on the deeper implications of the bipolar passenger who air marshals shot down on an American Airlines flight yesterday. It's hard to fault the marshal -- the dude was charging up and down the aisles claiming he had a bomb in his bag -- but that leaves it all the more unsettling. It's a pity that we're in such a dangerous world that the crazy can be mistaken for the deadly, and dispatched accordingly. That's not to say most would have it any other way, but it doesn't seem totally out of the question to equip air marshals with high-voltage tasers* and shotguns so they've an intermediate step between lethal force and verbal warnings. We have an inventive, ingenious weaponry industry, why don't we call on it?
* And yes, I know tasers can be lethal, just as beanbag cannons can kill. But the difference between a weapon that rarely takes a life and one that's designed to kill on contact shouldn't be elided.
