By: Phil Williams
Gun control laws continue to fail.
And where gun control laws make the least amount of sense are on US military installations. A policy that must change.
The world turned its attention recently to an active shooter incident in Manhattan. A depraved individual drove to the heart of New York City, walked calmly into a downtown high rise, killed five people and took his own life. No one knows why a bad guy took up arms and committed heinous acts of terror.
Just weeks prior to the New York shooting we saw the heroism of a former Marine named Derrick Perry in Michigan, who pulled his concealed carry firearm and saved innocent bystanders from a knife-wielding madman who had just stabbed multiple people at random. A good guy who took up arms and stopped heinous acts of terror.
In reality, it is not guns that are bad. It is bad people with guns that are bad. Let’s keep in mind that both New York and Michigan have stringent gun control laws. Gun control did not stop the loss of life in Manhattan. Gun control laws did not stop the violence in Michigan. More recently another episode of gun violence erupted at the US Army’s Fort Stewart, Georgia. Army Sergeant Quornelius Radford, using a personal weapon, opened fire on fellow soldiers, wounding five. He was stopped by other servicemembers who have since been decorated for their bravery. But none of the responding soldiers could be called “good guys with guns”. Why? Because the US military has the most draconian gun control laws in the nation.
Let that sink in.
Fort Stewart, home to the legendary 3rd Infantry Division, whose exploits include those of Audie Murphy. The same Fort Stewart with two Armored Brigade Combat Teams, and its nearby sister installation Hunter Army Airfield which houses the 1st Ranger Battalion. Soldiers who are trained as experts in the use of firearms. Yet they cannot have their own firearms on post. Unless of course they are a bad guy who snuck it in with intent to do harm.
What about red state Alabama whose state motto resounds “We Dare Defend Our Rights”? All personal firearms on Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal must be registered or be subject to confiscation. Outside the gate Alabama citizens may freely open carry a firearm, and concealed carry no longer requires a permit. But on Redstone Arsenal where soldiers have far more firearms training than the average citizen that freedom is curtailed. The same is true for Alabama’s Fort Rucker.
Consider the disparity in treatment here. Outside the gate civilians freely exercise their 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. They do so with no prerequisite training or conditioning. There are no mandatory gun safety course. There are no annual weapons qualification requirements for civilians. But on an Army installation soldiers have all of the above. Basic training with firearms. Advanced training. Reflexive fire training. Annual qualification. Awards for marksmanship. And yet, the complete curtailing of their 2nd Amendment rights. In 2016 President Donald Trump called for the military gun control policies to be rescinded. General Mark Milley opposed the idea. Go figure.
Firearms are not scary. People are scary. Period. Aside from noise and a general lack of familiarity most people are more concerned about the manner in which firearms are used, maintained or handled, which are issues of purely HUMAN fault. Issues for which the US military is more than qualified to address.
I have spent hours and hours on many ranges, both civilian and military. I have never minded the strict observance of basic gun safety procedures, and the respect of others while they are on the firing line. But I have also been the victim of those that have a lesser degree of care and concern. I bear the surgical scars from someone being lax with firearm safety. Despite getting shot by one of those evil firearms I was able to separate the causation from the instrument. It was not the shotgun that shot me in and of itself. Rather, it was the knuckleheaded laxity of the guy who shot me and who should have known better.
And soldiers? They know better than most.
Soldiers know how to handle firearms. Breach load, bolt action, magazine fed, and pump. Holographic sights, iron sights, and no sights. Holstered, unholstered, and slung. Long guns, sidearms, and scatter shots. They are trained to carry them in combat. Trusted in every respect. Except when they are in garrison on the Army installations to which they are assigned.
It is a policy that is long overdue for review. Former military JAG Officer Eric Carpenter was recently interviewed on the topic.
“You don’t forfeit all of your rights when you enter the military,” Carpenter said. “Outside of a military situation, the service member has just as much Second Amendment right as anyone else.” Referencing the recent shooting at Fort Stewart Carpenter also said, “All those rules aren’t going to prevent someone from doing what the guy did today,”
Guns are not scary. People are scary. GOOD people with guns are what often stands between potential victims and bad people with guns. And our US servicemembers are among the best. We trust them with our lives and swear them to an oath before taking up arms. It is time that we looked them in the eye and told them that we trust them with their rights.
Let’s restore the 2nd Amendment for our military. They’ve earned it.
By: Phil Williams
June 20, 2025
