I am a former US Marine. Viet Nam. Four years active, two
inactive. I went in when I was
seventeen. Just to get away from home.
Ha.
The effect of that
decision was, of course, profound. I learned a lot in the Marines. One of the
things I learned was that the National Rifle Association (NRA) is absolutely
correct. Guns don't kill people, people do.
The problem is that the
NRA is not interested, for self-serving reasons, in fixing this problem. They
and their gun company benefactors make way too much money on uncontrolled
access.
In the Marines we also learned one inescapable truth: Firearms were not developed for sport. They are
developed for killing. Period. If guns were mainly for sport the gun
industry would be out of business.
Thus, a Marine is
taught, from day one, to respect a firearm for its intended use. You need to be
fully aware that it is meant to kill - and whom or what it kills is up to the
user. The weapon is equally deadly to the user, their family, bystanders or an
enemy. The weapon does not care.
Training and knowledge
are the Marine's tools. You train until
correct decisions are instinctive. You learn respect for the weapon; how to
maintain it; how to take it apart (yes, blindfolded) and reassemble. Each
Marine spends countless hours of repetition in field training, the target range
and even the classroom.
The weapon becomes
almost a biological part of you. Whether running obstacle courses or sitting in
a foxhole, it’s in hand at all times. It's an extension of your body. Drop it,
or even set it down for a minute and you will have a DI or platoon sergeant up
your ass in a heartbeat.
You are required to
train and re-qualify every year, even when you are not in immediate danger of
going into combat. The training never ceases.
However, when a Marine
is stateside - not in a war zone or on the training range - their weapons are
kept - not in their barracks - but in an armory. No Marine carries a weapon,
nor has immediate access to a weapon, while on a U.S. military base outside a
war zone. Only those whose job it is to
carry a weapon (such as MPs) have immediate access.
Now, you would think
that men and women that were trained firearms experts would be able to exercise
their second amendment rights. Nope. Not even the best are allowed to carry any firearm on a US Base. Period. Marine
generals are smart enough to know an angry Marine is dangerous enough without a
weapon.
This brings me back to
the NRA and the ongoing issue with school shootings in particular, and gun
violence in general, in America.
It is simply
unconscionable to me how we will not allow anyone to drive a vehicle on public
roads without extensive training and testing, but any fool can have a gun -
whether or not they have a clue what it's for or how it's used.
Unlike a driver’s
license, where each of my children had several months of 'Drivers Ed' and
several written tests, gun ownership is uncontrolled. My kids spent countless
hours with family members learning to drive (and ruining at least one standard clutch). Finally, they took a written test, a driving test (maybe
more than one) and got their driver’s license. A license they have to renew
every few years.
That means they can now
hop in dad's car; drive to the gun show and buy a shinny AR-15 (ammo included)
with which to impress their friends when they get drunk next Saturday night.
The fact that the NRA
has no problem with the rigor needed to get a driver's license, but they have
all sorts of problems with licensing gun owners, is proof positive they are
right. Guns don't kill people. The NRA kills people.
As weapons get more
sophisticated and dangerous, extensive training and education (and reasonable limits on capacity and capability) are the only
thing that will keep the 2nd amendment in place. The longer the NRA ignores its
duty to allow regulation, training, testing and licensing of gun ownership - the more
certain the 2nd amendment will, one day, be repealed.
JWB
Update Jan 2020: The Marine Corps announced that all who posses a Law Enforcement (LE) rating may carry concealed handguns (not assault weapons) on Marine Corps bases. https://www.marines.mil/News/Messages/Messages-Display/Article/2048873/concealed-carry-of-privately-owned-firearms-for-us-marine-corps-law-enforcement/
