Yes, my post was tongue-in-cheek, but I have to admit something.DEB wrote:I understand what you are saying and there are many that appear less than capable, some probably wouldn't even pass the background check. But, with that said many of these soldiers have CCW, they can and do carry off the installation, what exactly is the difference, other than one is controlled by the Federal Government? I know that I am preaching to the choir as it were, I read your post with tongue in cheek as I am sure it was intended. But an idea could be to allow senior personnel to carry their assigned side arms, especially at mass gatherings? We have all of these weapons assigned to trained individuals and still must wait for L.E. to show in case of an emergency. I would hate to be shot while knowing that probably within walkin distance I maybe could have effected a difference, my hat is off to all of you who serve.Purplehood wrote:I understand completely why the Brass restrict firearms for Active Duty personnel on Military Bases. It is simply a result of the quality of people that the same brass allow to enter the Armed Forces with various waivers for crimes, drugs, drinking and so on.
They simply don't want to hand guns to the people that they allow to be enlisted. Overseas it is fine. The only people that they can hurt are Service members and locals. Here in the states they might shoot an officer's dependents. We couldn't have that.My major complaint is that all of us fully vetted, CCW civilian workers/retired personnel are fully disarmed when we come on post either for our job or to conduct other business, P.X. Commissary and such. At least the soldiers can be armed in case of emergencies, probably won't be but they have the ability to be, while I would have to hunker down and place my life in the hands of those same soldiers/commanders.
I grew up as a Military Dependent and then spent another 24 years in the Military (Active/Reserved/Mobilized, etc.). I spent that entire time never wondering about the apparent incongruency (I hope that is a word) between being a member of the Armed Forces being trained in weapons, but not being allowed to carry ANY civilian or military weapons except in very controlled circumstances. As a result, my gut-reaction is to agree with the status quo.
But when I think about it, I realize that only in the last few years have I even developed any sort of awareness of the Second Amendment and what our rights actually mean. Now that I am a convert that believes that we all should indeed be allowed to carry on-base, I see that converting the masses (both civilian and military) is going to be a hard-row to hoe.