Image Courtesy of The Bush White House Archive

As many of you have heard by now, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has commented on the somewhat bleak security situation on domestic military bases across the United States. First, I should tell you that I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Gates. I would go as far as saying that he was a breath of fresh air after enduring the grim years of Donald Rumsfeld. However, I believe that he missed the mark in a major way when it comes to the real security problem on American military bases…

How would a soldier from another country respond if you told them that US military personnel are disarmed on military bases across the US? Well, shortly after the attack on Ft. Hood, a group of Israeli soldiers allegedly lost their lunch when they discovered this fact.

Here’s the thing, Israeli’s have a bit more experience in dealing with domestic terrorism than Americans do. Therefore, they understand the usefulness of actually having their soldiers be armed. They also understand the worthlessness of mythical places called “gun-free zones” such as our college campuses, public buildings, churches, and other prime targets for terror. Israeli soldiers are always armed… always.

Image Courtesy of www.israelity.com

Beyond arming their military personnel, civilians are also permitted to carry concealed firearms quite freely throughout the country. As a result of these measures, virtually every domestic terrorist in the recent history of the nation has been stopped in mere seconds after they launched their assault.

Now, I’m not writing this article to boast Israel as some sort of utopia for freedom. I have plenty of quarrels with the Israeli government that I won’t waste your time discussing right now. However, I’ll be the first to admit that Israel knows how to defend herself, and that perhaps we might learn a little something from her experience.

This leads me back to Secretary Gates, who totally failed to address one simple fact; the Ft. Hood slaughter could have ended before it even began if our soldiers had their M4’s slung across their backs like they should have. Instead, Mr. Gates placed the blame on military medical/psychiatric personnel for failing to predict Hasan’s actions. Needless to say, hindsight is always 20/20. Foresight on the other hand, is a rare gift that most mortals do not possess. So, unless the military starts to issue an M-something crystal ball, perhaps we ought to consider other more realistic measures.

Along with misplacement of blame, Mr. Gates appears to be implying that they should have reprimanded Hasan before he ever even committed a crime. This coincidentally, is the same mentality behind “gun control”, “watch lists”, and other preemptive attacks that are carried out against millions of law-abiding American’s every year.

This brings us to the widespread paralysis suffered by the people of the United States as a result of a failed Federal property policy… “no guns” (and no common sense for that matter). From post offices to military bases, law-abiding American citizens must disarm themselves when setting foot on these purgatories of civil rights. At Ft. Hood, our service people were left helpless until local police Sgt. Kimberly Munley arrived and shot Hasan. Thats right… a local street cop had to come and rescue trained, but helpless soldiers on a military base. Sounds pretty ridiculous doesn’t it?

Whats even more ridiculous is that some of our nation’s leaders actually believe that a little piece of paper at the front door saying “no guns allowed” could actually stop a suicidal/homicidal maniac from from carrying out terrible acts. Considering that highly-motivated terrorists still manage to slip though the TSA checkpoints despite the strict security measures, it’s hard to imagine that a poorly enforced law and a piece of paper would somehow manage to stop them.

Sadly, Americans will continue to suffer such home-grown terror attacks as long as we continue down the same path. Regardless of the trillions of tax dollars we funnel through the DHS/DOD, regardless of how much our nation begins to resemble a giant prison, regardless of how big they print that “no guns” sign, violent attacks will still occur. As long as victims are unable to stand their ground against armed attackers, they will continue to be victims.

You see, we cannot predict which people will deal with life’s stresses, and which will snap. Even if we could accurately distinguish potential attackers, we cannot predict when or where a solo attack will take place. Remember, soloists rarely tell others of their plans. And more importantly, we can’t just go around grounding/harassing/arresting people solely on speculative and preemptive judgments and suspicions. After all, as political agendas continue to change, you and your way of life could be the next target on the list.

On the other hand, we can allow our citizens to stand their ground against those who would otherwise do us in. We can allow individual citizens to take responsibility for their own security. And, most of all, we can allow the 2nd Amendment of the Bill of Rights to do the job it was designed to do… the job of protecting The People.