The federal government Tuesday finally said no to the idea of allowing commercial airline pilots to carry firearms, ending months of intense debate over the issue.

        Despite the declaration from Undersecretary of Transportation John Magaw to the Senate, pilots who have been pushing for guns in the cockpit say they will continue fighting.

        “We're going to go through the legislative route, and we feel we have a good shot at it,” said Marc Feigenblatt, a Boeing 727 captain for a major airline who lives in Anderson Township. Mr. Feigenblatt is vice chairman of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, a coalition of commercial pilots in favor of guns in the cockpit.

        Previously, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge had voiced opposition to arming pilots. But the law that set up the Transportation Security Administration said it would be up to Mr. Magaw as head of the TSA to make the final decision.

        “Pilots need to concentrate on flying the plane,” Mr. Magaw said Tuesday at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. Specially trained air marshals should be the only armed officers on board, he said.

        The issue has been bubbling since the Sept. 11 attacks, which many pilots say might have been prevented if pilots had been armed and able to ward off assaults on the cockpit.

        Delta Air Lines, which operates its second-largest hub in the Tristate, welcomed the decision. Delta, the nation's No. 3 carrier, had opposed arming pilots.

        Yet internal polls conducted by the major pilots unions showed that as many as 80 percent of pilots wanted to be able to choose whether to be armed, and other polls have showed support for the concept among the general public.
       

        The Associated Press contributed to this report.
       

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