After yet another vicious, cowardly, murderous assault that has left five American service personnel dead on American soil, someone has finally insisted on an appropriate response. After the recent atrocity at the Marine recruiting office in Chattanooga, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has ordered full time National Guardsmen in his state to be armed on duty. http://www.thv11.com/story/news/2015/07/17/gov-hutchinson-directs-states-full-time-guardsmen-to-be-armed/30319691/ .
Asa Hutchinson, we recall, was the man named to head the NRA School Shield program to put armed security in our nation’s schools in the wake of the horror at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. He is a man who understands the logical truth: the only way to stop mad dog mass killers is to do what we would do with any other mad dog.
“Big Army” may be reviewing something similar, though apparently more hesitantly: http://www.aol.com/article/2015/07/17/army-chief-security-at-recruiting-posts-will-be-reviewed/21210711/?icid=maing-fluid|bon|dl2|sec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D1496193374 .
According to the Associated Press, “A day after a gunman shot and killed four Marines and wounded three other people in Chattanooga, Gen. Ray Odierno, chief of staff of the Army, told reporters that arming troops in those offices could cause more problems than it might solve. ‘I think we have to be careful about over-arming ourselves, and I’m not talking about where you end up attacking each other,’ Odierno said during a morning breakfast. Instead, he said, it’s more about “accidental discharges and everything else that goes along with having weapons that are loaded that causes injuries.”
“We’re always going to be somewhat vulnerable to a lone wolf, or whatever you want to call it, a surprise shooter, because we are out there with the population and that’s where we have to be,” added the Chief of Staff.
Kudos to Governor Hutchinson for decisively doing what is obviously the right thing. I sincerely hope it starts a trend.
In the meantime, that picture of the bullet-riddled window of the recruiting office in Chattanooga – replete with its “no guns” sign – stands as stark proof of the fact that “gun free zones” are simply hunting preserves for mass murderers.
I have been reading, in a very few sources, that two pistols were found at the crime scenes, apparently the personal property of two of the dead service members, and one of them shows evidence of being fired. There is also non fact based speculation that the Muslim extremest shooter may have been at least hit by round(s) fired by a service member.
We shall see.
In the mean time, I’m glad some service members are ignoring “official” policy and taking steps to arm themselves.
“It’s better to be judged by 12 than carried by six.”
I’m a retired USAF guy with a CCW permit. I frequent the base close to where I live to shop at the base commissary and BX. I can NOT even have a weapon in my vehicle (unloaded and locked in the trunk) let alone on my person while on the base. In IL where I live, to get a CCW permit one must under go both classroom training and a live fire demo to show that one knows how to handle a firearm.
Two points. first, if I want to go to the base, I must leave my gun at home. If I’m out and about and want to go to the base for any reason, I have to go home first to leave my gun.
Second, if it were only about training, CCW permit holders could be allowed to carry on base and/or some troops could be trained similar to how CCW permit holders are trained. But I doubt that will ever happen give the current political climate and resulting military leadership. It will only get worse if the angry white woman becomes president!
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