Disarming the National Guard? [PA Guard unit serving in LA ordered to remove magazines from rifles]

Michelle Malkin ^ | September 13, 2005 | Michelle Malkin

[John Jorsett]

Posters note: This has been rectified (see last item at the bottom), but it still serves as a lesson on how far some people will go in the name of making us "safe" from guns.

Looks like civilians aren't the only ones being disarmed in the Katrina disaster area.

An old Philadelphia acquaintance of mine who serves in a leadership position in a National Guard infantry company, deployed to Bogalusa, Louisiana, on security missions in support of Hurricane Katrina operations, sends along a plea for self-defense help:

We fall under Task Force Santa Fe, commanded by GEN Mason, commanding general of the 35th Infantry Division. Gen Mason has issued us the order to remove the magazines from our weapons, a move that will put my soldiers lives in jeopardy. If a soldier has a problem here, he needs to remove the magazine from the pouch, insert it in the weapon, pull the charging handle, aim the weapon, place the selector lever on "safe" and then fire. It takes a good soldier approximately 6-9 seconds to do this under normal conditions. This is not counting the stress of being under fire, or having a life threatening emergency, which would probably double that time. Hell, 6 seconds is an eternity on the street. We still have a threat here, the police don't want us to go, nor do the citizenry. Since our arrival we helped reduce crime to record levels here. The main reason behind this is we are working with a LTC Landis of the PA Air guard who only wishes to go home, forget the mission, he wants to get his people and himself back to PA. We, on the other hand, would be stuck here, veritably unarmed in squalid conditions in Hammond, LA. The reason given by Gen Mason is that he would reduce the chance of an accidental discharge of a weapon. I have to ask, what looks worse, an accidental discharge or a soldier killed by a criminal? Sen Santorum is supposedly aware of this situation. Please help.

There's more info on the much-needed--and much-welcomed--security operations of my acquaintance's unit here.If you're serving in the National Guard and have had a similar experience, drop me a line.

E-mail Sen. Santorum here.

***

Hmmm. Wonder if the National Guardsmen whom this Democratic congressman used as personal escorts to his New Orleans house were allowed to carry fully-loaded weapons? (ABC News via Drudge)

***

9/14 morning update: Just received from my National Guard source:

The situation I described in an email earlier about the PA Guard in Louisiana being told to disarm byt a MGEN Mason, has ben rectified. BGEN Jones, the overall ground commander, has overidden Gen Mason's orders. We found this out at about 10 last night. Hope this didn't start a little row somewhere.

Looks like it worked.

[Born Conservative]

Oh, yeah, I saw Sean. I guess he was trying to look macho after his Red Cup debacle. As I said on another thread, I'm sure Susan Sarandon is very disappointed in the shotgun pic...

[cgk]

Malkin ping!

Thanks for the head's up, Springman! Pic credit to: cacique.

[metmom]

All the more reason to own your own gun. This is getting to be like England.

[El Gato]

"The NRA will not stand idly by while guns are confiscated from law-abiding people who're trying to defend themselves," he said. "We're exploring every legal option available to protect the rights of lawful people in New Orleans," Cox said, "and we're taking steps to overturn such laws in every state where they exist."

The brother of my former supervisor was a National Guardsman tasked to put down riots after MLK was killed. They were deployed without ammunition as well. The brother called his younger brother (my boss) to bring down some privately owned ammunition (and perhaps magazines as well). Wouldn't have wanted to be him, heading into the "worst" part of KC, unarmed, (I think!), but with a trunk full of military caliber ammunition. (don't know if it was .308 (7.62) or .223 (5.56). )

[El Gato]

This is nothing new. The libs did the same in Los Angeles with the National Guard at LAX in the wake of 9/11.

But it wasn't true everywhere. I was in the OK City airport while the Guard was still supplying security. They most definitely had magazines in their M-16s. Don't know if the magazines had any cartridges in them of course.

[F.J. Mitchell]

BUMP!

[Springman]

Your welcome, glad to help! You can't be everwhere!

[cgk]

Oh GREAT. Is that a CHALLENGE??????




;-)

[ASA Vet]

Are they even still using M-1s

No, they're not.
I was just giving you a hard time for saying "clip" instead of "magazine."

It's just a right wing gun nut thing.

[Nebr FAL owner]

Glad to give you an insight . There are just four basic rules for safe gun handling, they are rule 1:ALL FIREARMS ARE CONSIDERED LOADED AT ALL TIMES & TREATED WITH THE CARE AND RESPECT THAT FACT REQUIRES.

RULE 2:NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER (GET POINTED AT ) ANYTHING YOU ARE WILLING TO SE SHOT.

RULE 3:KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOU HAVE A PROPER SIGHT PICTURE.

RULE 4: BE CERTAIN OF YOUR TARGET & WHAT IS BEYOND IF YOU SHOULD MISS.

[FreedomPoster]

I do it to people, too.

[dljordan]

"I suggest the soldier put the weapon on "Semi" or "Auto" if he actually wants to fire it."

I noticed that.