USA Today is running a story about the high rate of crime among the Transportation Security Administration’s federal air marshals. One marshal used his badge and top secret security clearance to smuggle cocaine and drug money. Another attempted to “disappear” his ex-wife via a contract killer (who was another federal air marshal). Still another used his authority to engage in child pornography. There have been dozens of such cases since 9/11, when the number of marshals ballooned from about thirty to more than thirty thousand.

Maybe it’s time to reiterate a suggestion that I made over two years ago. During the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks I proposed the creation of “citizen marshals”: ordinary American citizens who, after a background check and some training, would be allowed to carry firearms on commercial airlines as a volunteer service to their fellow countrymen.

From my post in 2006:

Such persons

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