He deserves it:
For now, I want to salute the contribution of Joshua Watson, 23 years old, who was one of Alshamrani’s three victims.
Watson graduated from the Naval Academy in June and was stationed at Pensacola because he wanted to be a Navy pilot. He was the “officer on deck” when Alshamrani’s rampage took place and apparently was in or near the classroom when Alshamrani began shooting. Despite being shot multiple times–at least five, according to his father–Watson was able to get away from the classroom and connect with first responders who were arriving at the base. He told them where the attack was taking place and gave them a description of the terrorist before dying.
The first responders were local policemen because the Pensacola Navy base is, like most U.S. military facilities, a gun-free zone. Joshua Watson was a rifle team captain at the Naval Academy. If he had been armed when Alshamrani began his rampage the outcome likely would have been different. Many, many other servicemen and women at Pensacola are perfectly competent to carry arms and do so away from the base. Bizarrely, not even the guards at Pensacola were armed. Glenn Reynolds says succinctly: “An unarmed guard isn’t a guard at all, but something more like a hall monitor.”
Go here to read the rest. God rest his gallant soul. The insanity of having any military base be a “gun free zone” is self-evident. President Trump should cure this immediately with an executive order. As Commander in Chief of the armed forces he has the power to do so. All noncoms and officers, not in the brig or the hospital, should have the right to carry arms on base. If they can’t be trusted with arms, they have no business being in the military.
As a father of a recent USAFA grad who’s also going into pilot training, this story made me sick. Apparently, we learned nothing from Ft. Hood. We had a Saudi national at one of our military installations and no one was monitoring his social media? If anyone had done so, this never would have happened as he clearly demonstrated his islamic supremacism and hatred of this country. Disgusting!
The claim that the guards are not armed is false; the student watch isn’t armed.
The idea is to train people into the whole idea that no matter what, there will be a watch rotation; however, issuing weapons is a pain in the behind, so they don’t do that for the student watch. (Heck, back when I was doing the night patrol there, my radio didn’t work half the time. -.- )
Trump took away the blanket ban on personal weapons…but most base commanders haven’t done anything about it.
Hopefully they’ll make an example of this guy. At the very least, those who have permission to concealed carry in the area outside of the gates should be allowed to do so inside.
He knew who he was and acted accordingly. May he rest in peace with honors.
Trump took away the blanket ban on personal weapons…but most base commanders haven’t done anything about it.
Inertia, the battlecry of bureaucracies since they were first devised.