Out of the carnage committed by a lone gunman armed with two handguns at Fort Hood on Thursday, there was one refreshing moment of total candor, if not downright common sense.
An observation to a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram by Staff Sgt. Jacob Dorisca of Dallas suggests why it is that many people consider the Army to be run by sergeants, and rightly so. According to the newspaper, “Dorisca wondered whether the slayings would lead Fort Hood’s commanding general to rethink the policy of requiring soldiers to remain unarmed while on post.”
What occurred at Fort Hood is not a “tragedy” as it is being portrayed in the politically-correct media and political arenas. What happened at Fort Hood is an outrage, and while politicians and the press, and even some (not all) members of The High Road gun rights forum are dancing around the issue of the suspect’s religion, others are not so shy.
Dorisca wondered whether the slayings would lead Fort Hood’s commanding general to rethink the policy of requiring soldiers to remain unarmed while on post. Only military police are allowed to carry firearms.
How the fundamentalist Islamic religious beliefs of alleged shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan may have played a role in the crime must be examined, and they are certainly open to discussion. It should be really no different, or any more off-limits, than a discussion about the disputes between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland a generation ago. (Broadcast and print reports were quick to note that at least one of the guns used in this attack was "a semiautomatic," but they were rather reluctant to mention the suspect's religious background.)
However, Staff Sgt. Dorisca’s observation also deserves some scrutiny, and the subject can only be underscored by what seemed a rather odd question posed by reporters to various Fort Hood spokesmen: How did Major Hasan get firearms onto a military base?
Take a moment to think about the absurdity of such a question. Fort Hood is, after all, a huge military installation with tens of thousands of soldiers. The place is full of guns; tightly-regulated, perhaps, but there is no shortage of small arms firepower on any military post. For a reporter to wonder about this is perhaps as mind-numbing as asking how a rogue doctor got some pills in a hospital. Only among people to whom the notion of firearms possession and ownership is an alien concept would such a question seem relevant.
An investigation will determine how the shooter brought guns onto the base, where, like at allmilitary installations, firearms are kept secured unless they are needed for training or security work.-- Washington Post U.S.
At this writing, it is not clear whether the handguns used were Hasan’s personal sidearms, or whether at least one of them was not an Army-issued pistol.
Col. John Rossi told the Washington Post that Army personnel are permitted to keep privately-owned firearms ‘in accordance with local gun laws.” Those firearms must be registered with the post authorities. To his lasting credit, he was candid and matter-of-fact about this. (He should be applauded for not head-slapping a reporter and saying something like: "Look around, dummy. This is an Army post. There's at least one gun for every soldier here.")
My colleagues David Codrea and Daniel White both write about the Fort Hood attack today, and their observations are worth reading.
Equally compelling are my colleague Howard Nemerov’s observations this morning. His take on Fort Hood: Death by gun control, and St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner Kurt Hofmann weighs in here as well.
Staff Sgt. Dorisca’s remarks to the Star-Telegram were underscored by a remark attributed to Spc. Jerry Richard in the Washington Times, who noted, “Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can’t even defend yourself.”
It took the quick reaction of a civilian police officer identified as Fort Hood Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley. She reportedly shot Hasan four times before he wounded her, but it apparently brought his rampage to a halt.
Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can't even defend yourself."-- Spc. Jerry Richard
On America’s largest military post, with thousands of soldiers, perhaps the real question here should be how was it that Hasan was only shot four times, rather than 40 or maybe even 400 times? During press briefings, Col. Rossi and post commander Lt. Gen. Robert Cone both seem like tough, honest, no-nonsense men who lead legions of warriors; people with the skill and training to fight back, so long as they have the tools for the job.
Eighteen years ago in nearby Killeen, a raving lunatic named George Hennard opened fire at Luby’s cafeteria with a pair of 9mm pistols, killing 22 people and wounding 17 others before taking his own life. Texas changed its concealed carry laws because of that massacre.
There may be a lesson in that.
More from Gun Rights Examiners
Atlanta: Ed Stone | Austin: Howard Nemerov | Boston: Ron Bokleman | Charlotte: Paul Valone | Cheyenne: Anthony Bouchard | Chicago: Don Gwinn | Cleveland: Daniel White | DC: Mike Stollenwerk | Denver: Dan Bidstrup | Grand Rapids: Skip Coryel | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Phoenix: Douglas Little | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Wisconsin: Gene German
And Don’t forget to visit:
For more info: America Fights Back: Armed Self-Defense in a Violent Age. Assault on Weapons: The Campaign to Eliminate Your Guns
Comments
Unfortunately this isn't the first time this has happened, just a first for a guy with a funny last name. Can you imagine how many more times this would happen if there were firearms floating around freely on base. How many drunken brawls would quickly get out of hand.
In September 2008, a 21-year-old Fort Hood soldier shot to death his lieutenant during a confrontation at his off-base apartment before turning the gun on himself.
The lieutenant and a staff sergeant went to the Army specialist's apartment, and a confrontation ensued. Killeen police officers responded to a call of a man with a gun, and they saw the specialist hit and then shoot the lieutenant as they arrived at the scene, Killeen police spokesman Carroll Smith said.
Two months later a New York parolee with an extensive criminal record was executed for robbing, raping and fatally shooting an Army medic at her apartment near Fort Hood.
Denard Manns, 42, who came to Texas after a second prison sentence in New York for armed robbery, was condemned for the murder 10 years ago of Michelle Robson, 26.
In July of 2009, Fort Hood Spc. Armano Baca was charged with murdering fellow soldier Spc. Ryan Richard Schlack from Wisconsin.
Baca and Schlack were members of the 1st Calvary Di
Why don't you just write that you are a racist and you think the shooter did it because he is Muslim with brown skin?
So - the trolls are out. One writes: "Can you imagine how many more times this would happen if there were firearms floating around freely on base."
I guess in an imaginary world where "firearms float" about, one could "imagine" anything.
This statement presumes that soldiers have no self control. And - guess what? In bases overseas - like Afghanistan and Iraq - firearms -- real ones, that fire fully automatic, "float about" in the hands of EVERYONE. I haven't either heard, nor imagined, any 13 dead and 31 wounded fraggings "over there." So put your widdle imagination to rest.
Another troller asserts what the author is thinking in his article. Since this troll is omniscient, I have to ask why you failed to intercede in this matter, and report it before it happened. BTW - I didn't notice that any photos of the shooter showed that he has "brown skin."
Do you suppose that that statement constitutes trolling projection on the troller's part?
Thank you for having the courage to exploit this tragedy before the bodies are even cold. Bravo! <clap><pause><clap><pause> <clap>
One of them was a Five-Seven.
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Hey, Greg, you are the racist. Brown skin had nothing to do with it; it had all to do with the content of his religious character.
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Islamic Militant. Just another terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Can you imagine how many people would still be alive if the soldiers at Ft. Hood were allowed to wear their side arms while on base?!?
Soldiers walking around without a weapon makes about as much sense as doctors walking around without their stethoscope.
^, are you being facetious? Armed persons interact without shooting one another be they cops, soldiers or security guards.
In complete agreement with Ruby and Gunther. A military base should be no different than the civilian streets. At least the military are trained, to a certain extent, to take out hostile agessors. Whether they be new elistees or brazen veterans, let them be armed. That is the only way to protect anything.
I wonder where the military police where.To call in the civilian police tells me there where no MP's around.
@Breakout545....The MP's on active duty military posts man the Provost Marshals office and do some gate guard duty...mostly on weekends and holidays. All active duty installations have contract civilian police forces now. Sgt Munley was a member of the Ft Hood PD. That is why she and her department were the first to arrive on the scene, and not the MP's. Most of the MP's are busy training for deployments and cannot handle the dual responsibilities of post safety and a training cycle simultaneously.
SFC Jones ,it's seem different since I was in.We took care of all police business on the military post.Civilian ploice could not come on.Between the MP'S ,MPI's, and theCID we had no problems controling the base.I think that open bases are wrong go back to when all gates where maned 24/7.
just think if we had a red dawn attack,the reds will win the war,before the rifles and ammo is unlocked much less given out, seens to me the GI's at Parl Harbor were able to get a few rifles,and other guns into action, not today's service you could get busted for having a box of ammo, that you got at Walmart, and was going to use later for private hunting... We have lost FREE AMERICA it's realy AMERIKA NOW >> no freedoms left ,it's all for show........ We are only fighting for BANKERS PROFITS (FED)
"Why don't you just write that you are a racist and you think the shooter did it because he is Muslim with brown skin?"
The shooter's motivation may or may not be tied to his brown-skinned muslim-ness, but I saw nothing to indicate that Kurt is racist. If the shooter was so motivated, are you saying that somehow makes Kurt a racist? You're worse than a racist, you're an idiot.
Sorry, nothing to indicate that **Dave** is a racist. Wrong examiner on the brain.
Fools don't need truth: it gets in their way. Cain killed Able, probably with a rock -although Scripture does not say. Personally, I feel much safer in the company of armed people -if they are not drunk or doped. Firearms are used much more often in preventing gun violence than in the commission of crime. If the anti-gunners had the intelligence, they would read the statistics and know the truth -instead of the half-cocked trash they fill their feeble minds with!
The Fort Hood murders are a tragedy, but one that should have been predictable: the shooter had been giving signals for some 6 years. But the Army didn't listen. Even so, such an incident is a perfect reason for barring all immigration for at least 20 years: except for immigration, we would not have nearly so many such incidents -especially when we know that radical Muslims are commanded to kill all non-Muslims. It speaks for itself: if these people were not allowed to come here, we would not have this problem!
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