Don't Shoot!

The recent F-16 fighter plane "escorts" of civilian airplanes illustrates the absurdity of denying pilots access to cockpit weapons. The fact is that every passenger in those planes was faced with an air-to-air missile as a "last resort" in case of hijacking. Wouldn't it be prudent to allow the pilot a 9mm pistol as a "next-to-last resort"? As a passenger, I would rather risk a stray bullet aimed at a terrorist, which I would be likely to survive, than a missile aimed at the plane, which I certainly would not.