Oleg Volk

I was listening to a former soldier talk about the base. He kept going on about how the only people armed on this base were the MP's. He then said, "Its just like church on Sunday morning."

Uh....not so much. I go to a rather large Baptist church in Texas. I'm fairly certain about 30% of the deacon body has a 1911 on them. I know for a fact that 90% of my Bible Study class is armed. Two of the three members of the sound booth are carrying mid to full sized Glocks with at least one spare full size mag.

HERE HERE!!!

The 1991 Killeen Luby's Cafeteria massacre galvanized the Concealed Handgun License movement in the US, and inspired me to be an armed citizen.
I hope that this incident can be a nail in the coffin of "gun free zones", and I want to work to see that happen.
I hope that you, Oleg, and all your followers will join me in working for an end to "gun free zones" wherever they crop up.
I came up with a slogan today... I'm not sure it's original to me, but I hope you'll help me spread it far and wide:

GUN FREE ZONES = CRIME SPREE ZONES

I'm not sold on it. Having been there, the people just joining up don't give me a whole lot of faith in humanity. A lot of blind patriotism (read: My country, right or wrong) and egos that rival the size of the base they're on. Maybe after they've been in for a while and have been allowed to mature. But let E-0s - E-4s walk around with guns right after basic and AIT and you'll see a lot more arguments solved with them.

This is the one thing I hate about where I work. As a university employee, I am unable to carry on campus. The Assistant Dean of Police and I have debated several times about whether or not staff should be allowed to carry. He's firmly against it,and I can see his point of it being confusing for officers on the scene to arrive to find several ununiformed people holding weapons. He's also not a fan of me telling him that should someone walk into my library and start firing, that I'll be doing my damnedest to distract/disable the shooter, even if I'm only armed with heavy stapler and my pocket knife (which they'd rather I don't have on campus either, for that matter...)

/born in Killeen

//not sure, but parent's may still have friends stationed at Ft. Hood

///never had problems with private firearms at Ft. Knox, and I know of at least one soldier who was allowed to carry concealed. Idiot accidently shot himself while arguing with his wife and banging the table too hard. Tore a nice line down his ribs and hip when the weapon discharged in his shoulder holster.

I have been at Ft. Campbell for 5 years....all the rapes assaults thefts and even murders few may they be all could have been prevented! how can they trust me with a rifle back in Afghanistan and Iraq but not back home! what did you do there?

No wonder the body count was so high. =[

Yeah, that was one of the first things I thought of.

In particular, it struck me as a very clear example of how being young and healthy (and highly trained!) doesn't help that much when faced with an armed attacker.

They allow civilian usage of the Sportsman's Range, you have to check in your firearms with the Provost when you go on base. They also allow hunting on base at Ft. Hood. They should not allow hunting of soldiers by disarming them. That's sick.

--This travesty brought to you by the same military that had a acquaintance of mine's USMC Unit do a practice beach assault upon arriving off the VietNam coast without issuing anybody any ammo in a semi-secure area as a training exercise.

I understand the "no firearms in the barracks" policy. A building full of (mostly) drunken 18-20 years olds looking to be the biggest badass. (I used to be an 11B3X -- Infantry Drill Sergeant.)

What I do NOT understand is things like a few years ago in Alaska, where a general issued an order that military personnel, EVEN OFF DUTY, EVEN OFF BASE, were prohibited from carrying concealed, EVEN IF CARRYING IN COMPLIANCE WITH STATE LAW. Even those soldiers who lived off post.

The military doesn't trust soldiers with guns. Not really.

It may be hard for some to comprehend, but putting on ACUs doesn't make you a weapons proficient commando. If they let every cook, clerk, and nurse carry around loaded weapons 24/7 there would be many more "accidental" deaths than this per year. The average "soldier" doesn't shoot for a living and non-combat arms (the vast majority is support) troops are lucky to even see the range twice a year.

They would also have to lock the base down from un-verified (without prior clearance) civilian entry as weapons would be too easily accessed.

What kind of contracting did you do? 3D design? And you wanted to pack heat on a base?

Bwahahhahaha.

I wish it were simple to trust members of the military with a weapon but military training is not what most think it is. Sure, I suspect our infantry guys get a lot of good training and I suspect they, on average, are much better trained with weapons that our non infantry men and women.

Myself, I am an Avionics Marine. While I would put myself up against most infantry personnel, my confidence does not come from any training I have received from the USMC; it comes from training I have paid for or have been handed down from my dad.

Yes, all military members (Marines at least, I have no clue about other branches) are required to qualify with a weapon, that doesn't mean they are competent. In my few years I have seen many Marines who have qualified with the pistol yet have managed to shoot everything from the bench they are shooting behind to the concrete walkway they are standing on while firing.

If we were as competent as most people thing we (as a group) are, we would be in much better shape.

I have to agree, as a former grunt myself. I currently work on a DoD installation, and I can't carry there either... I hate it, but I understand the reason why. The PLAN is to create a secure zone. The problem in THIS case is that we assume that those we trust, our battle buddies, are NOT going to try to kill us. In this case, that wasn't so.