Congressman favors arming pilots

Iowa’s Democratic Senator Tom Harkin said last week he has deep reservations about proposals to arm airline pilots against terrorism. But Democrat Representative Leonard Boswell, a Vietnam Veteran himself, has no such worries.He says lots of pilots are veterans, so they could just get some training and maybe use a weapon like a stun gun. Boswell says nobody can guarantee absolute safety, but it’s getting better and people should go about their everyday lives. Boswell says he’s doing all the traveling he planned before the September 11th attacks on the east coast, and he urged Iowans to get on with it.He says people should continue with any plans to travel, or make major purchases. Boswell had advice for investors, too: not to make any major changes in their portfolios. During the taping of this Sunday’s “Iowa Press” program for Iowa Public television, Boswell was asked about baby-boomers’ worries that the Social Security system will run out of money by the time they retire. People who are near or at retirement now have nothing to worry about. Boswell added there’s still plenty of time to expand the Social Security program so it’ll be available in the future.