First I wish to offer my deepest condolences to the victims, their family members and loved ones. Our military people should not have to suffer such tragedy on their own home base - especially at the hands of one of their own. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. My thoughts prayers also go out to the family of the shooter. They lost a husband and a father and probably have no idea why.
Many who were there during the 2009 shooting by Nidal Hasan are probably struggling today as well. May God bless you all and give you comfort.
I want to share my thoughts while being as respectful as I can to those who are suffering from this tragedy.
Unlike the 2009 shooting, there is no indication at this time that yesterday's incident was related to Islamic terrorism. So far there is nothing to indicate Specialist Lopez shouted any Islamic phrases before or during the incident. And he took his own life when confronted. Many Islamic terrorists take their own lives by blowing themselves up (along with as many innocent people as they can) but it seems to me that in a gun battle they act like Nidal Hasan and die while still trying to kill others, thereby martyring themselves for the cause. A self-inflicted gunshot would be the coward's way out under Islamic law, I'm certain.
Hopefully, through interviews of victims, witnesses and the shooter's family, investigators can figure just what triggered his deadly rampage and give some answers to those victims and their families - and give some closure to his wife. Was it merely a psychotic episode? Did he stop taking his medications? Or was it personal, as has been suggested? I hope one day we find out.
Piers Morgan, the British interloper who recently had his hate-filled CNN talk show cancelled, tweeted the following last night - once again proving that he is not only an anti-gun fanatic but an idiot.
'If only there'd been a good guy with a gun…' – such crap. This #FortHoodsoldier/shooter WAS a good guy. Until he turned bad, with a gun.' — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 3, 2014
Morgan, who believes that Americans really care what he thinks about things here in the United States, seems to believe that somehow the gun made Lopez commit his despicable crime. I suppose in his native Britain a machete made a Muslim man hack up and murder a British soldier on the streets of London. Maybe Morgan should go back to Great Britain and rail against machetes....
The lack of weapons carried by active duty military members on U.S. bases is an interesting debate. I certainly understand the difference between a war zone and a base here in the United States and the need for keeping your weapon with you 24/7 in the former. However, with the increased targeting of U.S. military bases by terrorists, disgruntled employees and nut cases, it may be time to rethink the policy of making bases gun-free zones. If they're not going to arm all of the soldiers on base, perhaps they need to increase the number of Military Police and ensure they carry their weapons whenever they're on the base, even when off duty, as police officers do.
Perhaps they also need to increase the number of civilian contract police on all military installations that utilize them as well. Certainly it should be worth spending more money to ensure a faster and more effective response to situations like yesterday.
If a couple of those people yesterday had been armed there is an excellent chance there would have been less casualties. That said - I may be completely off base. I can easily (and fairly accurately) empty two 15 round magazines with a pistol in less than 20 seconds. So maybe extra response isn't the answer after all but rapid response should be.
Finally, it should be noted that President Obama took a short break from fund raising to make a statement on the shooting. Here is one excerpt:
"But my national security team is in close contact with not just the Defense Department but the FBI. They are working with folks on the ground to determine exactly what happened to make sure that everybody is secure. And I want to just assure all of us that we’re going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened."
That makes me feel better. After all, he said the same thing about Benghazi and the IRS targeting scandal. And just look how far we've come with those two investigations!
The lack of weapons carried by active duty military members on U.S. bases is an interesting debate. I certainly understand the difference between a war zone and a base here in the United States and the need for keeping your weapon with you 24/7 in the former. However, with the increased targeting of U.S. military bases by terrorists, disgruntled employees and nut cases, it may be time to rethink the policy of making bases gun-free zones. If they're not going to arm all of the soldiers on base, perhaps they need to increase the number of Military Police and ensure they carry their weapons whenever they're on the base, even when off duty, as police officers do.
Perhaps they also need to increase the number of civilian contract police on all military installations that utilize them as well. Certainly it should be worth spending more money to ensure a faster and more effective response to situations like yesterday.
If a couple of those people yesterday had been armed there is an excellent chance there would have been less casualties. That said - I may be completely off base. I can easily (and fairly accurately) empty two 15 round magazines with a pistol in less than 20 seconds. So maybe extra response isn't the answer after all but rapid response should be.
Finally, it should be noted that President Obama took a short break from fund raising to make a statement on the shooting. Here is one excerpt:
"But my national security team is in close contact with not just the Defense Department but the FBI. They are working with folks on the ground to determine exactly what happened to make sure that everybody is secure. And I want to just assure all of us that we’re going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened."
That makes me feel better. After all, he said the same thing about Benghazi and the IRS targeting scandal. And just look how far we've come with those two investigations!
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