Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered the Pentagon to implement rules about personally-owned firearms held by military personnel. An interim policy will be in effect this summer, with a final policy due in 2011. Currently, many bases have different rules, and the new policy will set a single set of rules regarding personally-owned firearms.
While having a uniform set of rules will make it much easier for servicemen and women to know what is allowed on all bases, the actual rules may not be what anyone wants. Currently, gun registration appears to be a likely base rule. Other restrictive rules are likely.
Much of this was prompted by the shootings at Ft. Hood. If I recall correctly, the shooter was not allowed to carry his personally-owned weapons onto the based and begin killing people. So, more rules are clearly needed.
Here’s an idea: let all service members carry firearms. I know it is a silly concept, letting a soldier have a gun. But, if those soldiers who were attacked had been armed, maybe the number of victims would have been fewer?
Kim Rhode took an important first step towards her quest to set an all time record for individual American Olympic athletes by winning the initial International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup competition in Acapulco, Mexico.
