Remember that quote from Benjamin Franklin? It goes like this: Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. That applies to a lot of aspects of American life and society, not the least of which is gun control.
Advocates for “gun safety” schemes want us all to submit. After all, it’s for our own good. Or so they tell us.
Now, in an effort to address the soaring rates of military suicides, Joe Biden’s Department of Defense wants to “restrict gun access” of military servicemembers, both on – and off – bases. From the Daily Caller . . .
The Pentagon’s independent suicide prevention review body has a plan to reduce suicides in the military that involves restricting gun access on military bases, according to a report released Friday.
A majority of suicides in the military involve firearm use, while problems with alcohol abuse and finances were also leading indicators, the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC) report found. The report offered recommendations to reduce the accessibility of guns on military bases while preserving servicemembers’ rights to carry, including repealing a provision in Congress’ 2013 defense bill that blocked commanders from inquiring about off-base firearms.
The policies are intended to “slow down access to firearms so that people can in excess survive periods of high risk,” Dr. Craig Bryan, a member of the working group, told reporters.
They also want to be able to track who owns firearms and ban the sale of guns to anyone under 25 years old on DOD property. Because as we all know, the right of the people, age 25 and over, to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. And what Army grunt would ever think of going off-base to buy a gun?
The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act prohibited military leaders from maintaining records of which servicemembers lawfully acquired or used firearms, a law intended to safeguard military members’ Second Amendment rights. However, the commission found that many commanders felt “handcuffed” from “being able to know who was at elevated risk and to properly assess the safety of their subordinates and personnel,” Bryan said.
Repealing the provision would allow officers to provide “targeted” assistance to a servicemember known to be experiencing a crisis, he added.
Along with striking out the NDAA provision, SPRIRC recommended raising the minimum age for purchasing firearms and ammunition on military bases to 25 years. The commission found that the age of 25 appeared to be an “inflection point;” firearm use increases after the age of 21, while most suicides occur in members below the age of 25, Bryan said.
Instead of researching the causes of suicide and working on treating those, Biden’s brain trust wants to take away guns — and rights — from our servicemen and women. Because as we all know, people never commit suicide with other methods.
Or military leaders could just wait. Given current trends in recruitment, soon they’ll have a lot fewer servicemembers — and therefor suicides — to worry about.
From RealClear Defense . . .
“[O]nly 23% [of American youth] are physically, mentally, and morally qualified to serve without receiving some type of waiver.”
The recruitment crisis is not entirely a consequence of these metastasizing physical, mental, and moral problems, however. It is also a direct result young people’s growing unwillingness to serve. The most recent estimates “show that only 9% [of America’s youth] are even interested in military service.”
That may have something to do with our so-called national “leadership” and the humiliation of the Afghanistan pull-out. It could also have a lot to do with the new “woke” culture permeating the military branches. Not to mention Defense Department leaders who don’t think hey can trust military members to have guns at home when they are issued grenades, claymores and fully fun-switched firearms (and occasionally crew-served) firearms.
