RSS
Home
In the wake of Ft. Hood is it time to prohibit former and current service members from owning guns?
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 and wounding 29 at Ft. Hood
Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy - U.S. Marine Corps
Charles Whitman the Texas Tower sniper killed 14 - U.S. Marine Corps
Timothy McVeigh killed 168 in the Oklahoma City bombing - U.S. Army
John Allen Muhammad killed 10 in the D.C. sniper attacks - U.S. Army
Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly killed 13 in the Ft. Hood shootings - U.S. Army
In the aftermath of any large scale killing grief is soon overcome by the need for understanding. How could any individual commit such a monstrous act and how can it be prevented in the future? Some point to group identification and seek to place restrictions on members of the killer’s group.
U.S. service members are willing to die in service of their country. They are also willing to kill in that same service. But what if the ‘kill-switch’ cannot be turned off after leaving the battlefield? If men and women trained to kill and oftentimes traumatized by the combat experience return home are they a threat? Is it worth limiting the freedoms of all for the acts of the few in the name of domestic security? In short, is it time to take the right to bear arms away from those who serve?
Gun industry rights activists point to the futility of legislating against criminal behavior; pointing out that laws only impact the lawful putting them at even more risk at the hands of the lawless. Some on the Right wish to limit the rights of some groups they consider a threat to domestic security or at the very least consider them enemies who need to be watched carefully. Some on the Left consider hate speech laws a reasonable limitation on freedoms in the name of domestic security.
Those who serve and are trained to kill are not like the rest of us. They take enormous risks in the name of duty and face a difficult reintegration into society after leaving the battlefield. They deserve respect in the form of better treatment for PTSD and the aftereffects of the combat experience. They deserve respect as individuals and to enjoy the rights they fight to protect. That some in the group have used their training to commit heinous acts is no reason to limit all who received the same deadly training. Restricting individual Americans based on group identity is un-American and should not be tolerated because at the end of the day we all belong to one group: the American People.
Related Articles:
Comments
