Sangamon County Rifle Association
Right Reason on Second Amendment Rights
Springfield, Illinois


Jim Butler




Another Mass Murder in a Gun-Free Zone

by Jim Butler, President SCRA
January 2010 GunNews






Time and again we see another mass murder occur in a "gun-free zone" against unarmed victims.  These zones should be called what they really are, "murder zones".  The list of these "murder zones" is long, including massacres at Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University and, Columbine High School along with many less deadly attacks.  The common denominator is that they were all designated "gun free zones".

The latest massacre at Fort Hood Army base in Texas was no exception even though U.S. military bases prohibit unauthorized personnel as a matter of policy from carrying firearms on base.  Access to military weapons is carefully restricted and weapons secured in armories.

One of former President Clinton's first acts upon taking office in 1993 was to disarm U.S. soldiers on military bases.  In March 1993, the Army imposed regulations forbidding military personnel from carrying their personal firearms and to make it almost impossible for commanders to issue firearms to soldiers in the U.S. for personal protection.  Normally only military police regularly carry firearms on base, unfortunately their numbers in the U.S. have dwindled due to the high demand for them in war zones.  President Clinton's deadly rules even disarmed officers, the most trusted members of the military who will be leading enlisted soldiers in combat.  Six of the dead and wounded at Fort Hood were officers.  I wonder what General George Patton would have thought of this fatal order which caused so many unarmed trained combat soldiers to die needlessly in the U.S.  Both General Patton and Admiral Richard Byrd, the famous Arctic and Antarctic explorer, early in their military careers stopped criminal attacks against civilians, while they were off duty.

At least in Iraq and Afghanistan these Fort Hood soldiers would have had the means to defend themselves against terrorists.  President Obama with the stroke of a  pen could end President Clinton's ill conceived folly and allow U.S. soldiers to defend themselves.  Disarming them doesn't work as proved by the Fort Hood massacre.

The sad truth is that the 13 soldiers killed at Fort Hood would have been safer at a Texas Walmart where gunmen or terrorists would risk return fire from armed citizens with concealed carry permits.

Instead, Major Hasan's murderous rampage at Fort Hood only ended ten long minutes later when two heroic local police officers arrived and shot and wounded him.

Self defense is among the most basic of human and civil rights.


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