First, thoughts and prayers to the service member and civilian victims and their families. I've been to Ft. Hood, and this is tragic and preventable.
While speculation, this may be workplace violence brought on by the irresponsible and frankly poor treatment and downsizing of the military. Lot's of stressed out and PTSD and otherwise folks who need help are finding the military is coldly discharging them. I've seen, personally, an alarming number of suicidal or very angry individuals who unfairly were getting their walking papers.
Does anyone know where the specific regulation is regarding personal weapons on base? Specifically, is it a DoD, Service, or command-level guidance?
There are layers of rules and regulations. Top down:
1. UCMJ prohibits concealed carry, Article 134.
Elements.
(1) That the accused carried a certain weapon concealed on or about the accused’s person;
(2) That the carrying was unlawful;
(3) That the weapon was a dangerous weapon; and
(4) That, under the circumstances, the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.
Explanation.
(1) Concealed weapon. A weapon is concealed when it is carried by a person and intentionally covered or kept from sight.
(2) Dangerous weapon. For purposes of this paragraph, a weapon is dangerous if it was specifically designed for the purpose of doing grievous bodily harm, or it was used or intended to be used by the accused to do grievous bodily harm.
(3) On or about. “On or about” means the weapon was carried on the accused’s person or was within the immediate reach of the accused.
2. Base rules and regulations, orders by the Senior General Officer or the Garrison Commander
3. Unit/Brigade level punitive orders, by an 06 Commander.
4. Company level punitive SOPs by an 03 Commander.
So, you can (potentially, although unlikely) get whammied from a variety of levels if you violate orders, each of which carries serious penalty.
Keep in mind also that there are requirements to REGISTER all guns on post. Presuming that the person carrying a gun illegally also failed to register it, that person could be charged with another felony level offense.
So, in theory (and quite commonly), a Soldier will be caught carrying a concealed unregistered gun on base and face 2 or 3 felony level offenses. And it doesn't end well.
Well, you want to stop this nonsense, allow every senior enlisted and officer with a concealed carry permit, who is not otherwise administratively flagged, to carry concealed when in garrison.
I see zero valid logical reasons that it is prohibited.
I've never liked that policy, and it's among the top reasons I left military service. Despite being an officer with a clearance, and significant training, I'm not trusted enough by the US Army, but I am by the 45 states in the US, to carry a handgun! An untrained person can pay $50 and get a concealed carry permit that works in 45 states. Yet a trained Soldier can't carry a sidearm, concealed or open, on a military installation while at work. Oh, wait, the 21 year old E3 traffic cop MP can carry a sidearm and long guns. But not officers or senior NCOs with combat experience! Asinine leadership.
And it costs lives. There've been a handful of times over the last few years where service members have absolutely died because they were not armed. Same is true carrying totally unloaded duty weapons downrange. Asinine leadership decisions get people killed.
Sadly military members are hyper-targets and at the same time super vulnerable to attacks. Our vehicles are obvious when off base. Everyone knows we can't carry to/from work, so we're vulnerable in transit to/from work. And clearly people can get guns onto base.
I have seen a lot of threats by Soldiers against leadership - who are effectively sitting ducks at their duty stations. Those same threatening Soldiers could be armed, and they know their leadership is not.
Same was true when we were deployed. Policies actually prevented us from having loaded firearms. NO mags in the weapon, no chambered rounds. So, we're walking around on base with our clubs slung around our backs, showing our IDs to the Ugandan and Nigerian and Iraqi guards armed with loaded AK74s and AK47s at the DFAC, MWR, and other buildings. ***, over??!!
Big surprise. Lots of our Afghan and Iraqi 'partners' have figured this one out, and they get onto base as our 'friend' and then open fire into groups of essentially unarmed American Soldiers with our unloaded clubs slug around our backs. Asinine policies get men and women killed, time and again.
I really, really would like changes from the top down that valued the lives, security, and safety of military members, rather than just more FRG meetings.
But it won't change in favor of liberty and sanity. If anything, more gun restrictions will follow.
