Senator Ted Cruz wants to change the law to allow troops concealed carry on bases, but surprisingly, top military brass oppose the plan. After several shootings and terrorist attacks on U.S. military bases like Fort Hood, it makes sense to reexamine the issue and change the policy.
According to the Washington Times:
Mr. Cruz formally sent a letter to Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican and chairman of the committee, on Tuesday afternoon asking for a hearing on the subject, saying that current restrictions impede Second Amendment rights and weaken the safety and security of troops.
“The men and women in our military have been at war for over a decade; they understand the responsibilities that go along with carrying a firearm,” Mr. Cruz wrote in the letter. “Yet their Second Amendment rights are removed at the front gate.”
Mr. McCain said he has referred the issue to the personnel subcommittee “to let them take action if they want to.”
“I think we ought to have the hearing, but we need the input of the military. They’re the ones who are directly affected by this, and I’m not making up my mind until I hear from the United States military,” Mr. McCain told reporters Tuesday.
The military’s official position is to keep the ban on personal firearms:
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said that the cost of training and certification requirements would be prohibitive.
“There are a lot of barriers to this idea, and the department’s position — and we’ve spelled this out before — is that we do not support it,” Col. Warren said last April.
…Commanders against concealed carry fear accidental discharges and fights between soldiers may escalate into serious violence.
These excuses are pitiful. Soldiers who own guns have already passed any training and certification requirements the state has, never mind the fact that they are already extensively trained in the safety and use of firearms by the military itself.
If the military can trust its troops with weapons in training and in combat situations, surely it can trust them with simply walking around base – in fact, they used to:
Before 1993 each base commander determined what the carry rules would be at his base. But federal regulations put into effect that year block personnel who are not on security duty from carrying firearms. In the years following, even more regulations have been put in place. Following the shooting at Fort Hood, that installation now requires soldiers to register their weapons with commanders.
What do you think – do you agree with Sen. Cruz that members of the military should be able to carry weapons on base? Tell us in the comments below!
