TinCan Assassin has a post up about his anger that the slain National Guardsmen at the Carson City iHop were unarmed, and it appears were targeted by this nut.
I can’t even list all the stupid stories I’ve heard of our men and women in uniform while on base or stateside were disarmed or issued weaponry that was absolutely silly. I know Kurt Hoffman once told me about a guard duty he was posted on where he wasn’t even issued a full magazine. This is stupidity on the lines of Barny Fife, and the single .38 special round he was allowed to carry, and never in the gun, only in his shirt pocket, lest he hurt himself.
REALLY? What are we saying? Are our armed forces as incompetent as Barny? If so why issue them weapons in-country? Seriously! A close friend of mine did a tour in Iraq and he sent me a home video of him talking to people on base, and shopping in the local Bazaars…all with an M16 strapped to his back or chest. I assume the gun was loaded, I suspect he would have told me. But those kids selling him bootleg CDs and knock-off rolex watches don’t deserve to die…why let an armed imbecile near them? (Of course this guy went to school with me from K-12, and then 4 years of College…no shit! And I think in every one of those 16 years he kicked my ass in grades…and I’m trusted to carry a cocked-and-locked 1911, and I haven’t shot anybody)
Also the world is NOT Mayberry! To quote TinCan Assassin:
But I’m just being fucking paranoid. According to Fox News: “This happens in third-world countries, not here,” Swagler said. Bullshit. It happens here often enough for me to want to do something about it if it happens in my general vicinity.
He’s right. The Fort Hood shooting got HUGE media coverage, tho I’m horribly unsatisfied at the lack of outrage that the insane Islamic Doctor was shooting UNARMED SOLDIERS! Yeah everybody he shot was trained and qualified in at LEAST the M16 rifle, if not other weapons, and they were sitting ducks for one idiot with an underpowered pistol.
What got almost NO play was the Little Rock Recruiting Office where another violent Muslim targeted US Service members for murder. Again they were unarmed and unable to fight back.
How sick is this? Its not like US Armed forces are bombs or bio-weapons. We train them not only how to shoot, when to shoot, and how to make their shots count, but when NOT to shoot. If they can be trusted to kill enemy forces overseas, while not butchering civilians indiscriminately, then we can trust them to be armed while home or on base…at the VERY least with the M9 pistol.
This also brought up my thinking of my teen years when my school engaged in the DARE program (I won’t argue the validity or value of this program at the time, maybe we’ll save it for another day). From skimming the linked wiki article it appears that all the classes are taught by local Law Enforcement, and our class was no different. What ties this together was our officer taught the class in her town police uniform, but she drove to-and-from the class in her private car, and she would put on a DARE varsity-style jacket when she left the class. She told us once that she wore the jacket because while she was DRESSED as a cop, she wasn’t allowed to wear her body armor, or her sidearm while teaching the class. She had the outward appearance of a cop but none of the protections. She was concerned that somebody who may be targeting a cop might do just that, and she wouldn’t be able to defend herself.
Dunno how valid that was in our quiet home town, but you obviously never know, and such behavior DOES exist. Certainly I took this class in the days when everybody was talking about Ice-T’s song “Cop Killer”, so true or not, it was in the air those days).
Needless to say the rationale of a cop wearing a badge and a uniform wouldn’t also have their gun and handcuffs et al, just because they were teaching a class. Certainly she was one-and-the-same cops we used to waive to as they drove by in the cruisers as we played in the park or were out riding our bikes, and we were all thrilled when they’d waive back.
Obviously the gun isn’t the entirety of either military service or Law Enforcement. Most cops never fire their weapons outside of their qualification exam, and maybe if they are allowed, in private practice. I know many US Military members who never discharged a weapon, even while serving in a military campaign.
The gun is but one of their tools and skills, but just like many skills, when you need that one skill, you’re glad to have it. These instances these service members NEEDED their weapons training as they were being engaged by hostile forces, but through pure foolishness they were disarmed.
That should make us all FURIOUS.
