[RKBA] EDITORIAL: End Clinton-era military base gun ban

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
EDITORIAL: End Clinton-era military base gun ban

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Time after time, public murder sprees occur in "gun-free zones" - public places where citizens are not legally able to carry guns. The list is long, including massacres at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School along with many less deadly attacks. Last week's slaughter at Fort Hood Army base in Texas was no different - except that one man bears responsibility for the ugly reality that the men and women charged with defending America were deliberately left defenseless when a terrorist opened fire.

Among President Clinton's first acts upon taking office in 1993 was to disarm U.S. soldiers on military bases. In March 1993, the Army imposed regulations forbidding military personnel from carrying their personal firearms and making it almost impossible for commanders to issue firearms to soldiers in the U.S. for personal protection. For the most part, only military police regularly carry firearms on base, and their presence is stretched thin by high demand for MPs in war zones.

Because of Mr. Clinton, terrorists would face more return fire if they attacked a Texas Wal-Mart than the gunman faced at Fort Hood, home of the heavily armed and feared 1st Cavalry Division. That's why a civilian policewoman from off base was the one whose marksmanship ended Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's rampage.

Everyone wants to keep people safe - and no one denies Mr. Clinton's good intentions. The problem is that law-abiding good citizens, not criminals, are the ones who obey those laws. Bans end up disarming potential victims and not criminals. Rather than making places safe for victims, we unintentionally make them safe for the criminal - or in this case, the terrorist.

The wife of one of the soldiers shot at Fort Hood understands all too well. In an interview on CNN Monday night, Anchor John Roberts asked Mandy Foster how she felt about her husband's upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. Ms. Foster responded: "At least he's safe there and he can fire back, right?"

It is hard to believe that we don't trust soldiers with guns on an Army base when we trust these very same men in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Clinton's deadly rules even disarmed officers, the most trusted members of the military charged with leading enlisted soldiers in combat. Six of the dead and wounded had commissions.

Most people understand that guns deter criminals. Research also shows that the presence of more guns limits the damage mass murderers can unleash. A major factor in determining how many people are harmed by these killers is the time that elapses between the launch of an attack and when someone - soldier, civilian or law enforcement - arrives on the scene with a gun to end the attack. All the public shootings in the United States in which more than three people have been killed have occurred in places where concealed handguns have been banned.

Thirteen dead bodies in a Texas morgue are the ultimate fruit of gun-control illogic - in which guns are so feared that government regulation even tries to keep them out of the hands of trained soldiers. With the stroke of a pen, President Obama can end Mr. Clinton's folly and allow U.S. soldiers to protect themselves. Because we clearly cannot protect our soldiers from harm, the least we owe them is the right to protect themselves.

[Book of the Day] "Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us" by Robert Hare

Chilling.

[Colorado] Melting...

On Marc's patio at sunset yesterday. At sunrise the snow on the chair was a full 12" deep.

[Colorado] 12" of Snow at Marc's House

The snow has stopped. The sky is brightening to the west. I think I have already received all the snow I am going to get. The TV says that Fort Collins, just 7 miles to the north of me, got 20".

[Colorado] 10" of Fresh Wet Snow So Far, Still Falling

I have between 10" and 12" depending on where I measure. We'll call it 10" officially.

I went out and knocked the snow and ice off my maple trees' branches. Many of the longer branches were bowed down by 6' to 10'. I feared they would break under the snow load of tonight's predicted additional snowfall. To reach the higher branches I had to run my 12' pole vertically. I discovered that snow falls vertically when knocked off of branches, and when one is standing directly beneath the branches in question one gets quite a bit of snow onto one's head. :-(

[Colorado] Snow Pictures at Marc's House

[Colorado] 6" of Fresh, Very Wet Snow, More Falling

I shoveled the first four inches and then decided that it was time to awaken the snow blower from here on. The first two inches were nearly-frozen wet slush about the consistency of wet concrete, and a lot heavier. The roads are poor and degrading, as the slush layer on the bottom offers no traction for stopping. If the temperature dips far enough enough tonight to freeze the bottom layer of slush into ice, travel is going to get very exciting (in an unhappy way).

[Colorado] Washed My Car Yesterday, Snowing Today

Just for the record, I washed my (filthy) car yesterday. Therefore, we are getting sloppy rain and snow today. :-(

[Colorado] Light Snow Falling

The sky is heavily overcast and I have light snow falling. I got the great juniper hedge trimming exercise finished up just in time. :-)

[Household] Hedge Trimming Completed, Borrowed Pickup Truck Returned

I finished the great juniper hedge trimming exercise. I washed, vacuumed, topped-off, and returned my kind neighbor's loaner pickup truck (with a 12-pack of Fat Tire beer).

7 very full pickup truck loads of blue juniper hedge clippings went to the Loveland Recycling Center to be transformed into mulch and compost.

[Household] Sun Shining, Juniper Hedge Trimming Resumes

The sun is shining brightly. The temperature is in the low 40s F. Hedge trimming has resumed. The new Black and Decker 22" electric hedge trimmer works wonderfully. I expect to take at least one more pickup truck load of clippings to the recycling center today, maybe two.

[Household] Rain Delaying Hedge Trimming Efforts

Still raining. This is most unfair. I had hoped to be done today. :-(

[Household] Snow Interfering With Juniper Hedge Trimming

The drizzling rain has just begun to convert to very wet snow. This moisture is significantly interfering with the remaining hedge trimming I had hoped to finish today.

[Household] Juniper Trimming Adventure Continues

Thus far I have taken five pickup loads of Juniper trimmings to the Loveland Recycling Center. I have at least one more load on the ground. I still have more trimming to do, though I am nearly done. I have light rain falling now, so I can't get out to use my new electric hedge trimmer to finish off the last of the detailed work.

[Household] Marc's 20-Year-Old B&D Hedge Trimmer Dies

Or it is on its last legs. The motor still runs but has lost most of its power. It is time to go hedge trimmer shopping soonest, as I still have quite a bit more trimming to do. "So many hedges, so little time" or something like that.

[Household] Trimming the Blue Junipers

Think of it as a work in progress. This summer has been very wet, and the blue junipers have celebrated with as much as four feet (really) of new growth in some places. Sheesh.

[Colorado] First Snowfall in Loveland

Italian scientist reproduces Shroud of Turin

(Reuters) - An Italian scientist says he has reproduced the Shroud of Turin, a feat that he says proves definitively that the linen some Christians revere as Jesus Christ's burial cloth is a medieval fake.

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE5943HL20091005

[Colorado] No Snow

I’m heartbroken.

 

[Colorado] Raining at Last

Now I am getting the rain I was supposed to have gotten last night.  I am still hoping for snow.

 

[Colorado] No Snow, Vastly Disappointed

Skunked.