Having been around this business for a long time, I can say that pilots 'tip the glass' quite abit more often than gets reported...the only way around it is a mandatory breath analyzer before every flight...it's rather unfortunate, but it does happen...I believe more so in the regional airlines that drive their crews pretty hard.

On the issue of guns, I have a very reasonable argument why pilots should not have guns - the 1st commandment of the post 9/11 era is the flight deck door should never be opened, never ever ever. In order for the pilot to use his gun against a 'terrorist', he would need to open the flight deck door, thus opening himself and the copilot up to being attacked. As long as that door is closed and secure, and the proper reinforcements and kevlar are in place, he/she can maintain control of the flight regardless of what is happening in the cabin - and priority #1 should be to maintain control of the aircraft and land as soon as possible.

No one is going to benefit from exposing the flight deck and having a shootout at the OK corral.