America’s Warriors Disarmed, Forced to Work & Live in Gun Free Zones

By David Cole

American Military
America’s Warriors Disarmed: He’s not allowed to have a gun for self defense when on a military base in America.
Gun Rights Magazine
Gun Rights Magazine

USA –-(Ammoland.com)- You would think that the idea of going and shooting up an American military base would be a real “mission impossible,” wouldn’t you?

Anyone brazen enough to walk into a military base and start shooting would be met with withering return fire from America’s warriors, right? 

Unfortunately, recent (and not, so, recent) history reveals the truth…that our military installations are just another example of the mythical “gun free zone,” and while on their grounds, our warriors have been reduced to disarmed targets.

The original directive disarming warriors was issued under then-President George H.W. Bush, as DoD Directive 5210.56, “Use of Deadly Force and the Carrying of Firearms by DoD Personnel Engaged in Law Enforcement and Security Duties.”  While this directive does not directly prohibit the carry of personal firearms by military personnel, it does so by exclusion, in that it specifies the situations where a service member may go armed…and personal protection is not one of them.

I can understand the reluctance to “turn soldiers loose” with weapons.  I was an Army officer, and served as commander of a PATRIOT missile battery.  Commanders like to be in control, and for good reason.  As commander, you are responsible to your boss for everything your unit does or fails to do.  As a former commander, I’ve seen soldiers do some dumb stuff…and my boss held me accountable for all of it.  One of your soldiers mishandles a gun and blows a hole in his foot, you’ll be in front of your commander explaining what happened and why.  So I understand the reluctance to entrust troops with firearms without “adult supervision.”

I do not, however, agree with it. 

Soldiers are not children.  If you want them to behave as responsible adults, you should treat them as such.  It seemed to be a common lingo during my time in command for leaders to refer to their soldiers as their “kids”…at least in some units.  Not in mine.  One of my platoon leaders once commented to me that he needed to go down to the motor pool to check on his “kids.”  We had a “one-way counseling session” right there on the spot, and he never referred to soldiers as kids again.

Allow me to be blunt here:  To disarm our warriors is wrong.  Period.  We spend millions to train them not just to use weapons, but to teach them when and when not to use them.  They deal not just with the mechanical operation of weapons, but with complex Rules of Engagement (ROE) every day.  They are the best, most professional military in the world…yet to allow them to go armed for personal defense is too risky?  While there are an estimated 8 million civilian concealed carry license holders in the United States, accidents involving firearms are at an all-time low.  Studies show that crimes committed by civilian concealed carry licensees account for less than 1% of total crime.

Our military service members are people with lives and families, and they are vulnerable to violent crime just like anyone else.  While our unit was deployed to Korea in 1994, the wife of one of my fellow officers was home alone when a man tried to break in their bathroom window…in military housing on base.  She was not permitted to have a gun for self-defense.  I do not believe…not for one second…that our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines are less safe or less responsible than the average concealed carry holder.  Their families are no less worthy of protection.

To treat them as such is an obscenity.  Military regulations leaving warriors disarmed need to be eliminated…now.

About Gun Rights Magazine:
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Max Dolan

I had weapons throughout my military career of 20 years, sometimes even while living in foreign countries (Germany and Belgium). Perhaps “times have changed,” but human nature has not, and soldiers should have the right to defend themselves, in and out of uniform and in and our of their homes. I seriously resent not being able to carry my concealed carry pistol to and from my job on a military base (as a civilian), although I can understand why they might not want me to have it in my office. I can hardly wait until we have a Conservative federal… Read more »

Mike Mason

My military career stretched from 1964 to 2013 with a 17 year break between the Air Force after 68 to the Army in 85. So I have witnessed a lot of changes, good and bad. The personal gun issue can go both ways. I witnessed drunks mishandling weapons. One guy shot a pistol down the hall in my barracks. Another fired rounds into his pillow also in my barracks. Alcohol and guns don’t mix and soldiers like to drink so that’s a problem. It gets complicated. My recommendation would be to issue weapons to some personnel at all places of… Read more »

DrSique

Dead bang right, TomF!!! It is not just the right of oir soldiers, however. Every American has an absolute right to self-defense and defense of family and home. The hypocrisy of the Washington elite stinks to high heaven. We are living in the times that Orwell warned of and, the pigs have taken over.

Tom F

If soldiers, who have risked their lives for their country cannot have the means of protection while on base, then neither should Congress or the President, while they are on duty. Take away all of those armed people that protect them, and see how they like living in a “gun free zone.”

Kenneth Waggoner

@hotshottertom morse: what about those that live on base? What are they suppose to do?

tom morse

When they take off their uniform at the end of the day, and still need protection,then let them get a CHL permit just like a civilian. There now every one is satisfied.

TSgt B

During my 2 decades of service I lived both on and off base. NOT ONCE were we ever prohibited from owning or possessing arms. During these years, on-base criminally violent incidents were unheard of.

It seems that we did not have such problems until the reign of William the Pervert (1993-2001) who went so far as to disarm soldiers IN COMBAT ZONES due to fears of reprisal due to his political agenda and the horrible treatment of military personnel by him, and especially that b!tch of a “co-president”.

Herb

with the current trash in the White House, Clinton waiting in the wings and the democrats policy to disable the capable and responsible in favor of giving the advantage to the irresponsible and failures in life, don’t bet on any positive changes.

oldgringo

Perhaps the reason why guns are not allowed on military bases is that many of our warriors feel as if they have been crapped upon by their commanders…Remember the fragging in Vietnam of dumb and dumber superior officers during fire fights with the enemy…A lousy commander can get his whole command wiped out…And many of our warriors are not privy to getting themselves killed for some stupid order given by an inept superior officer…War is not nice…On or off the battlefield…Personally I believe everyone would be much safer if our warrior were armed on base…Let the bullets fly to meet… Read more »