The Washington Times published my piece on allowing military personnel to carry personal firearms on military bases.
On Jan. 13, Attorney General William Barr announced that the Dec. 6 attack on the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida was an act of terrorism.
The attack was carried out by a member of the Royal Saudi Air Force who was assigned to the base for pilot training. Motivated by jihadist ideology, he entered the base and shot and killed in cold blood three American sailors and wounded eight others prior to being killed by security forces.
“During and after this heinous attack, there were many specific acts of courage, and I want to draw special attention to two U.S. Marines: Gunnery Sgt. Ryan Maisel and Staff Sgt. Samuel Mullins,” Mr. Barr said at the press conference. “They were outside the building when they heard gunfire and, although unarmed, they ran into the building to confront the shooter. Their only weapon was a fire extinguisher that they had pulled off the wall as they ran toward the gunfire. Who but the Marines?
“We are grateful as well for the bravery of the base personnel and local law enforcement responders who initially arrived at the scene and engaged the shooter.”
Although the security response to the shooting was quick and effective in taking out the shooter, perhaps had those brave Marines been armed with their personal firearms rather than a fire extinguisher, fewer people would have been shot and killed.
I stood my fair share of security watches while serving in the U.S. Navy, and later as a Defense Department (DOD) civilian I oversaw physical security and other programs for a tenant command at a naval base in Philadelphia. DOD policy prohibited military and civilian personnel from bringing their personal firearms onto the naval base, even if they possessed a valid Pennsylvania License to Carry Firearms, and even though our military people had more training and more experience with firearms than the armed civilian contract security officers we employed to guard the base.
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jan/15/allow-the-military-to-carry-personal-firearms-on-m/
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