We talked about this yesterday when two retired generals supported legislation that allowed commanders to ask their troops about guns, now there’s a bipartisan group of legislators in Congress pushing to add the language to the current Defense Bill. If you think there’s nothing nefarious about their intentions, consider who is sponsoring the bill – Hank (Guam is going to tip over from all of the Marines) Johnson and John (Halp us Jon Cary) Kerry, they’ve sent a letter to leadership of the Senate and House Armed Services committees asking for the language to be added to the Defense Bill;
“This is not an attempt to limit gun rights or an individual’s ability to own a firearm,” said Rep. Johnson. “Prohibiting commanders and mental health professionals from helping soldiers defies common sense and dangerously interferes with our obligation to ensure the health, welfare, morale and well-being of the troops. Military suicide is a complex problem that demands a range of actions to address it. This common sense provision adds another tool to help prevent tragic deaths.”
From the Stars & Stripes;
…mental health advocates have complained that the language has left them confused on how to discuss gun safety with troops struggling with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental illnesses.
Johnson’s staff said the new language would clarify that commanders and counselors can have those conversations with at-risk troops and suggest – but not mandate – those individuals use gun locks or give up their private weapons.
Yeah, that’s all bullshit. I’ll tell you why this is personal for me. I went to buy a gun one time when I was stationed in Georgia. In those days, the sheriff would check with a soldier’s commander before he’d approve the sale. My commander told him I shouldn’t have a gun…for no reason. I had no history of domestic violence or any other kind of violence. No arrests, no bad counseling statements, no problems on or off-post. But, the commander didn’t think I should own a gun – despite the fact that I was an infantryman and carried a weapon everyday. He changed his mind after I agreed to get a mental hygiene exam and the mental hygiene dweeb certified me as sane. He was the same idiot who tried to make me stand guard mount while my wife was in labor.
Like I said yesterday, if everyone is so worried about how to talk to troops about guns and staying within the limits of this law, all they have to do is issue a proviso every week with their safety briefings – outline what a soldier can do to secure their weapons. Tell them to get safety locks, gun safes, whatever. They tell them to not drink and drive without asking who in the unit drinks and who in the unit drives.
Counselors have more handouts than anyone in the military, why can’t they hand out a checklist for securing firearms to their clients without having to ask them if they own firearms?
From the Johnson/Kerry letter;
We so often hear that we must listen to military commanders “on the ground” and that those in command know what’s best for our troops. So let’s listen to what they are saying and protect our men and women in uniform from the deadly threat of suicide.
Yeah, GFY, assholes. Listen to the commanders when the issue is gun control, but not when they’re talking about fighting a war. Hypocrites. Let’s see the letter and who it comes from.
Like I said yesterday, less than half of suicides in the military are committed by using guns and less than half of those are committed with privately owned weapons – so you have to ask yourself, why are Johnson and Kerry and Big Army focusing on the least likely way the troops are committing suicide? Is it just because they can say that they’re doing something when they’re really doing the least they could do? Is it because they don’t want to give soldiers and Marines the treatment they deserve instead?
