As a kid I got to see the business end of the plane several times as my Dad was a gate agent for TWA and he knew all the crews out of PHL.
But this is so stupid. 22 years ago the first two aircraft were successfully hijacked and used to attack targets on the ground. The third aircraft was taken down by the people on the plane because they knew how it was going to end. It hasn’t happened since.
If you think about it, this does nothing to protect the passengers on the plane. If anything it means a fighter pilot won’t have to live with the memory of shooting down a civilian airliner. Just allow the pilots to be armed again.