I've seen this argument before. It seems almost illogical that a military base would be a gun free zone when everyone on there has at least the basic qualification training in firearms. Plus...its a military base, you would think those places should be more difficult to shoot up than a school or something. I mean its the military after all, they fight actual wars and whatnot. Well here's the thing. There is a reason why the government doesn't let troops walk around armed with their standard issue M4s or 9mm's all the time. People need to understand that the military isn't like a normal job, especially the combat branches like the Army and Marines. All of the workplace regulations and whatnot that protect the average civilian in their normal jobs aren't applicable in the military. Your civilian boss can't make you crawl through the mud outside because you were late to work. Your civilian boss can't make you do pushups until you collapse from fatigue because "you did something stupid". And your civilian boss likely can't scream at you until their veins pop out calling you something along the line of a "stupid mother (*)(*)(*)(*)er". The military would be considered a hostile work environment in the civilian world. The military (and maybe the police force I'm not sure) is the only "job" where they are legally allowed to physically punish you for screwing up. No they can't hit you anymore but often times the physical punishment they inflict makes you wish they would just hit you and be done with it. That sort of thing is stressful. The military is full of a bunch of people many would consider grade A (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)s. Many decisions are made that you won't like, you are forced to do many things you believe are stupid, and when you are a lower rank depending on what job you are doing you may very find find yourself getting treated 1 level above absolutely garbage day in and day out for absolutely no reason at all. Plenty of leadership in the military has walked outside to find their car tires slashed, windows busted, cars keyed, etc as the result of a disgruntled private not particularly appreciating their leadership style. I don't have soldiers anymore, I've moved to a new job that doesn't put me in charge of anybody. But I used to be an NCO before this and I know how some NCO's are. Now granted I wasn't even "mean", I really wasn't. I rarely yelled at people and I always figured that talking to people was a better alternative to yelling except in a few cases where people did something REALLY stupid or dangerous. I showed my fangs on occasion when people screwed up badly just to let the guys know that I "could" be mean. One time my Platoon SGT came up to me and jokingly said I was Santa Claus because I couldn't be mean to anybody. One of my privates walked by and said with wide eyes "Yes he can...trust me he can, my damn legs STILL hurt from last week". I just laughed. But my guys loved and respected me which is why we still talk to this day even though they are no longer my guys and most of them hold the job I had now when I was in charge of them. However...I know PLENTY of NCO's who were full flown rapid wolverines from the second they walked in the door to the second they went home at night. Especially the damn Corporals. It was by no means uncommon to walk into work at 6am and see a chair come flying out of the office or see somebody crawling down the hallway whimpering or hear somebody getting chewed to pieces on the other side of the entire huge building. I'm pretty sure if everybody has guns on them then quite a few people would be getting shot in the military everyday. I personally wouldn't arm the military on their bases. In my military job now things aren't as hostile as they were when I was a combat arms soldier but things do still get stressful from time to time. Lower ranks still get frustrated and upset and people who out rank you still say things to you that makes you envision punching them in the mouth if you could get away with it. I wasn't always in the position I am in now. I remember full well the days and agony of being a private in the Army in a combat unit. It is not a fun life to live during that trial by fire for your first couple years. I knew how to "play the game" and I knew that the majority of the people yelling at me everyday were nowhere near as upset as they portrayed but it was all part of the game of being treated like garbage because you're a private. So it didn't bother me so much, but it sure as hell bothered plenty of other people. All those who have served can attest to this. When you went to the shooting range in boot camp the Drill Sergeants seemed to magically go from the devil incarnate to almost human in an instant. The last thing they wanted to do was stress out an already irritated pissed off private who spent the past few weeks being physically and emotionally beaten to death who now has a loaded gun in his hand. Plenty of my friends are Drill Sergeants now and they tell me that all the time. They are flat out nicer to you at the shooting range because they don't want you going over the edge and saying screw this crap and turning those guns around. I always believed that Soldiers should train how to shoot accurately under extreme pressure because thats what it would be like in combat. Their response "yeah but that stressing them out too much could have them turn around and shoot your ass with that thing". Now I see why they don't stress them out more than they have to. I personally wouldn't feel comfortable AT ALL if we armed everybody on military bases. Yes it seems to make logical sense because we are the military but I also understand the types of work environments some people have in the military. If we armed everyone in the military then I honestly foresee a disgruntled soldier killing somebody they didn't agree with. Some will argue that it would be even safer because nobody would try to shoot anybody because everybody has guns. Well...normally I would agree. But the military is different, its designed to push you over the edge on a daily basis and it wouldnt be farfetched at all for somebody to not even care and pull their 9mm out and shoot that damn NCO who just made him crawl through the mud for an hour in the rain. I think in this case its a smart decision to not arm the military walking around base. The tension is simply way too high on a daily basis for everybody to be walking around with guns on their hips.
Does screaming at someone till your veins stick out and they are whimpering down a hallway need to be done over something stupid to begin with? Do you want people that will follow orders out of respect or fear. Small about of fear is fine. That's a daily part of life in every job. But if I have no respect for you and you scream at me. I will do nothing for you, no matter the consequence.
A good chunk of the stuff you do as a young private in the military may SEEM stupid but has a purpose and a good chunk of the stuff you do really IS stupid. Therein lies the problem. As a young private its pretty hard to differentiate what is just flat stupid and what is necessary but you just don't particularly like it. As I advanced in my career I began to understand why I had to do a lot of the stuff I had to do as a private. It didn't make sense at the time but it makes sense now. But even to this day I openly admit that there is some stuff that is just flat out pointless and dumb and is the product of somebody simply being bored and wanting to harass you because you are a private and they can. Thats pretty much my entire point. The military can be a hostile place. Whether you are doing at 15 mile ruck march on Friday afternoon as "punishment" or "to make you a better Soldier" doesn't matter very much to you as a private, you are still equally pissed off. Whether somebody is making you crawl up and down that hill because you were late to show you how important it is to be on time in combat or because they are just being (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)s doesn't matter much to you. You are still crawling up and down the hill and you are equally pissed off. Much of the screaming and yelling and physical punishment is actually done out of necessity. In war we really can't afford for people to make mistakes and even mistakes that may seem trivial could be very big deals in combat. Being 5 mins late to work should be no big deal. Being 5 minutes late to "zero hour" in war is a HUGE deal. Many operations are coordinated down to the minute and having one guy come stumbling in a few mins late screws up everything. Thats why they scream and yell at you for being late at work. Forgetting your dog tags at home seems like a tiny mistake. Then you forget your dog tags in your bunk in a combat zone and get shot. Medic goes to stick you with morphine and ends up killing you because you are allergic to morphine and it says so on your dog tags but you left them in your bunk so he didn't know. Thats why they scream and yell at you at work because they can't afford to have you make such tiny mistakes in war. I understand these things because I have been in the service a long time, I "get it" now. At the time I thought people just screamed and yelled and punished people all the time because they "can" and they got a kick out of harassing people. Like I said, there are people out there who DO just harass young soldiers for no reason. But a lot of the stuff you get chewed to pieces for does actually make sense. But as a young Private you likely don't care much about WHY you are doing pushups in the rain, you just know that you ARE. And after awhile you may very well just get sick and tired of these people yelling at you all the time. I have literally seen Privates punch NCO's square in the mouth because they just got fed up with it. I remember watching an E-5 and an E-6 get into a legit fight at work because the E-5 was sick of how the E-6 was talking to him. They duked it out for a good few minutes while all of us Privates at the time sat back and watched in shock. None of us were going to dare break them up, they were NCO's, they were "God" in our eyes. It took the 1st Sergeant to come running in there to grab them. Military is full of type A personalities, arrogant cocky people, disgruntled Privates, and battle hardened combat veterans. Tempers flare and they flare often on all levels. You don't want to throw guns into that mix. It would be a legit recipe for disaster. I literally can't remember a single day where I went to work and at least SOMEBODY wasn't nuclear pissed off about something or talking trash about somebody else or getting into heated arguments with each other. I don't want guns anywhere near that type of situation. The Army is one of those rare places where you can get in trouble because you AREN'T mean enough to other people. I'll never forget the day that I got promoted to Corporal and my Platoon Sgt pulled me into his office and flat out said in a cold stern voice: "You better be the meanest son of a (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) in this company from now on. That's what these 2 stripes mean, you are a Corporal, if the guys get out of line even a little bit, crush them! Because if I have to crush them then I'm going to crush you with them". Don't need any firearms in that environment. Thats why when we deploy we keep the "mean" part to a minimum because for one the war itself is stressful enough and two everybody is walking around with loaded assault rifles and machine guns.
It's probably a good idea that bases be gun free. I've never been in the military but I've done enough playing and coaching to know that sometimes the intent is to draw some nastiness out of people.
I have no problem with off duty military concealing a handgun while they are at the BX or anywhere else on the base. On duty would be at the discretion of the base commander. Concealed guns should never be allowed around mission critical assets. (armories, tanks, flightlines, missile silos, etc......) Those areas are already protected by on duty armed military police. Why do the military have less 2A rights than civilians?
In my job in the Navy, we fixed ships. It wouldn't make any sense to be armed. It's already difficult and often dangerous to move and find places for the stuff you need to do the job. I lived on the ships I served on, so off duty carry was not an option. On ships we have the Security Alert Team and Back-up Alert Force. That amounts to the ships' police force. When there's a problem that becomes known to someone who has the authority to call a security alert, a team of people who are armed with pistols, rifles and shotguns respond very quickly. We never had a "real" situation on my ships, and a team of SEALS were able to take over the ship in a drill, but I think ships are defended well enough in port. I don't know what the people ashore do.
I'm not trying to deny the military the right to defend themselves but this is one of those cases where I honestly believe arming everybody would do more hard than good. Off duty concealed carry on base would be perfectly fine with me but issuing everybody a 9mm to walk around with on duty would be a bad idea in my book. Way too much tension in the air for that. This is one of those rare cases where I would literally feel less safe if everybody around me was armed at work. Now what I would support is issuing one or two people firearms per company while at work each day. Perhaps make it a weekly detail or something and assign one or two people in the company to carry around a 9mm or M4 with them while on duty. That way in case of an emergency there is firepower already on the scene instead of waiting for the MPs to arrive. Everybody in the Army regardless of the job has to qualify with the M4 so they are qualified to use it. It could be up to the company commander to determine who they feel is responsible enough to carry out that duty and make a roster or something. I wouldn't make it a duty that everyone has at some point because like I said there really are quite a few people that I don't want armed around me. I could support having a few guns around me at work in the hands of responsible people. I can't support arming everybody though. It sounds bad to say but I flat out don't trust some of these lower enlisted folks with very stressful lives to have a gun on their hip. I'd much rather have somebody assigned to protect them at work rather than arming them to protect themselves. Yes everyone has a right to self defense but I'd honestly foresee some of those kids shooting their evil NCO's long before they ever used those weapons for self defense.
I think that mostly describes my position. First, there is no reason to have your service weapons, whether it's an M-4 or Beretta, unless you actually have a duty reason to have it. Otherwise it should be secured in the arms room. For personally owned weapons however, I see nothing wrong if you have a concealed carry license to be packing off duty. Obviously on duty is a different story. But I wouldn't want personal weapons stored in the barracks. If you live on post, you should have to story your weapon in the arms room. Weapons in the barracks is asking for trouble...
I don't know for sure, but I think on base you're dealing with a whole lot more aggression and testosterone. Sometimes it's a practical matter.
At first, I did have a firearms collection, and I was required to keep it in the armory. It would have been the same on a ship. You can check your guns out if you want to take them off base and do whatever you want to do, but when you return, you have to check them back in. Military members certainly do enjoy fewer rights than their civilian counterparts, but it's understood that a greater good is being served. In exchange, there certainly are very heavily armed people wandering around who are responsible for the rapid neutralization of threats. It just doesn't always work.
