1LT Patrick Cook's letter, read to the Texas Senate.

[bubba84]

To my friends, fellow Texans, brothers in arms, members of the committee, and everyone within the sound of my voice, greetings.

My name is First Lieutenant Patrick Cook of the 49th Transportation Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas, and this past Wednesday I found myself trapped in an enclosed room with fourteen of my fellow Soldiers, one of whom was barricading the door against a madman with a .45 pistol when he was fatally shot. Through what I can only describe as a miracle, he somehow found enough strength to continue pushing against that door until the shooter gave up and went elsewhere, at which time he collapsed. Nearly a week later, I can still taste his blood in my mouth from when I and my comrades breathed into his lungs for 20 long minutes while we waited for a response from the authorities. This Soldier’s name was Sergeant First Class Daniel Ferguson, and his sacrifice loaned me the rest of my life to tell this story.

But I write to you today not to memorialize this brave Soldier, nor to tell a war story about how we made the best of a losing situation, but to express the part of that story that some in high positions of power clearly do not want told: I knew this was going to happen. I had been saying for five years that Fort Hood was a tinderbox of another massacre waiting to happen. It had to happen, because our betters failed to learn the obvious lesson of five years ago. Worse yet, I know it will happen again. More will die, more will be wounded, more families will be torn apart, needlessly. It happened again, and will happen again, because Fort Hood is a gun free zone.

When the first shots rang out, my hand reached to my belt for something that wasn’t there. Something that could have put a stop to the bloodshed, could have made it merely an “ugly incident” instead of the horrific massacre that I will surely remember as the darkest twenty minutes of my life. Stripped of my God-given Right to arm myself, the only defensive posture I had left was to lie prostrate on the ground, and wait to die. As the shooter kicked at the door, I remember telling myself, “oh well, this is it.” It is beneath human dignity to experience the utter helplessness I felt that day. I cannot abide the thought that anyone should ever feel that again.

At the point blank range at which this shooting occurred, anyone with an M9 and some basic instruction could have ended the mayhem as quickly as it began. An MP by trade and a CHL holder, I am convinced that concealed weapons would have stopped it, but openly carried side-arms, like the ones carried in a law enforcement capacity, could have prevented it entirely. Instead, many more died because of the fatally misguided restrictions on the carrying of arms, which obviously the madman did not respect.

I shall conclude by restating my warning. This will happen again, and again until we learn the lesson that suppressing the bearing of arms doesn’t prevent horrific crimes, it invites them. To those of you who hold elected office, if you hear nothing else I have told you, hear this: you have the power to stop the next massacre from happening. You have an opportunity to restore the sacred Right to bear arms, which has been either stripped entirely or unjustly relegated to the poor substitute of a probationary, government-issued privilege. For God’s sake, do the right thing.

Thank you for your attention, and good day.

[jimlongley]

Getting this in front of the right eyes is now important.

[jmra]

Link
http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/ ... ven-right/

[C-dub]

I agree with him, but what can the Texas legislature do about it? Isn't this an Army and federal issue?

[bubba84]

You gotta climb a mountain from the bottom. It might possibly cause the Texas Senate Committee to take a VERY hard look at changing or rewriting CHL laws. Maybe it's just me, but I feel as there are more good intentioned, law abiding people arming themselves everyday. Before long, the politicians, will have to appease their constituents to stay in office.

[RoyGBiv]

Thanks for posting OP.

[Charles L. Cotton]

I agree with him, but what can the Texas legislature do about it? Isn't this an Army and federal issue?

The Texas Legislature can do nothing about military bases. This is a federal issue that Congress would have to address.

The warning however applies to all so-called gun free zones such as schools and every other location that is off-limits to armed CHLs. The Texas Legislature can and should remove all barriers to carrying self-defense handguns.

Chas.

[RoyGBiv]

I forwarded that letter in yet another (very polite and otherwise brief) note to our local ISD superintendent.
I suspect he's getting weary of hearing from me.

[AF-Odin]

Agreed that the LT's letter to the Texas Legislature will not solve our problem on Fort Hood, but as I currently am sitting virtually locked in my office just a few blocks from where these events transpired a week ago, waiting for the Memorial Service with the POTUS to occur, I fully agree with him. Some of the initial reports were that this event was taking place in MY building. In the normal workforce that occupies our building, only one is an active duty Soldier, however, the vast majority are military retirees most with combat experience (I really do not like being referred to as a civilian after almost 30 years of active duty and still drawing a DOD paycheck). Among our numbers are dozens of Texas CHL holders, at least three competitive shooters (3-gun, IPSC, IDPA), and a Texas CHL instructor. the best we could muster last Wednesday to defend ourselves had this actually been in our facility was a collection of folding knives, a sledge hammer, and a couple of shovels. Guess what we do, we train Soldiers. We are much like a school with hundreds of Soldiers coming in on a daily basis for training. Texas can take note of this predicament at the state level regarding college campuses and schools. We can then do our part to encourage our nationally elected officials to stop the practice that requires us to be unarmed in order to pursue our profession. Pray for those who lost their lives last week, pray for the recovery of those injured, pray for the Marine killed at Camp Lejeune last night, and pray that in the future we will be able to defend ourselves with the proper tools.

[gthaustex]

I agree with him, but what can the Texas legislature do about it? Isn't this an Army and federal issue?

The Texas Legislature can do nothing about military bases. This is a federal issue that Congress would have to address.

The warning however applies to all so-called gun free zones such as schools and every other location that is off-limits to armed CHLs. The Texas Legislature can and should remove all barriers to carrying self-defense handguns.

Chas.

Hopefully they will take note.

[gthaustex]

I forwarded that letter in yet another (very polite and otherwise brief) note to our local ISD superintendent.
I suspect he's getting weary of hearing from me.

Keep pounding away...wear him down.

[RoyGBiv]

Here's the video.
I thought reading it was more compelling, but, FWIW.

[youtube][/youtube]

[MeMelYup]

Bubba 84', the State cannot legislate federal law. You need to send a copy of your letter to every Texas Representative (http://www.house.gov/representatives/#state_tx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;), and to both Senators (http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_i ... m?State=TX" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;).

[bubba84]

Bubba 84', the State cannot legislate federal law. You need to send a copy of your letter to every Texas Representative (http://www.house.gov/representatives/#state_tx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;), and to both Senators (http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_i ... m?State=TX" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;).

It is not my letter. I realize the Texas Senate can not do diddly about allowing US forces to carry on post. However the Texas Senate can propose legislation that allows Texans to carry in more places, and it can/will eventually snowball into something bigger. If you havent been keeping up with gun right advocation in the last few months, a lot has happened and is being proposed.