Posted on 01/31/2016 6:20:25 PM PST by jazusamo
Wartime U.S. presidents have taken keen personal interest in picking the most lethal gun for the military.
But in President Obama's first foray into small-arms procurement for the armed forces, his Jan. 4 executive order on gun control directs the Pentagon to find ways to make not so much more lethal firearms, but safer ones.
His direct order has brought a few snickers among retired combatants who argue that the commander in chief is issuing his directive at a time of more pressing small-arms priorities. The military, critics say, fields a flawed personal rifle and has spent more than a decade selecting a new off-the-shelf pistol, with no winner yet.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, an artillery officer in Vietnam who is steeped in military history, says at least three former presidents immersed themselves in ballistics -- for reasons other than safety.
Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War commander in chief, tested emerging "repeater" rifles in the White House "back yard" and championed the Spencer model.
Theodore Roosevelt, the combat-hardened Rough Rider, ordered development of the Springfield rifle.
John F. Kennedy, considered a founding father of the Green Berets, pushed the Army to give up the M14 for the new AR-15, which became the venerable M16. Kennedy envisioned the automatic rifle as the perfect counterinsurgency weapon in South Vietnam.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
This BS from the POS will go nowhere.
My “venerable” M16 I carried sometimes in Vietnam was NOT automatic...It was semi-auto and had a three shot burst selector...
I trusted an M14 more than the ‘16....
How about a popgun with a flag that says “bang”?
The guns with the little “BANG!” flags would be good. D.C. has turned into a mental asylum.
“The Army has managed to create entirely new acquisition problems for what should be a simple, straightforward purchase of a commercially available item,” said Mr. McCain. “The Army’s effort to buy a new handgun has already taken 10 years and produced nothing but more than 350 [pages of] requirements micromanaging extremely small unimportant details and Byzantine rules and processes the Army wants followed, many of which are unnecessary or anti-competitive.”
*sigh* Another sign of a government in late stage decay. It can’t even select a reliable sidearm for the military after 10 years.
Don’t worry. Nobody will live to see it. We been waiting 25 years for a new tanker aircraft.
"to purchase tens of thousands of Spencers, their automatic fire changing the war’s course. "
It would be nice if a big outfit like the Washington Times could afford someone who actually knows something about guns to read articles about guns before they publish them.
Divided loyalties from the Citizen of the World in our White House.
At last, vindication for Jocelyn Elders and her “safer bullets.”
D.C. has turned into a mental asylum
= = = = = = = = = = = = =
Been there for a while, the ‘cast of characters’ is finally in place.....
Just looking at the choice of ‘Klowns’ we have had to vote for in the past few elections should prove that as a country WE are mentally incapable of Governing Ourselves.
The old adage about it takes a couple hundred years for ALL the have nots to ‘gang up’ on the haves and it starts going downhill....Especially when the people elected are chosen by who gives away the most.
Time to buy stock in Pitchforks, Tar and Feathers and get some people with spines to rise up against this cancer that is going to send us swirling down the drain.
This trend keeps up and WE won’t even qualify as a 3rd World Country.
Exactly...The 1911 Colt served our military well for many years. They went to a 9mm and now won’t acknowledge it’s not adequate but are determined to find another sidearm while our Special Forces have gone back to a 45 cal. Seems pretty obvious to me what the answer is.
Stop laughing , Obama cured Ebola and is about to cure cancer,but his biggest miracle is he Stopped Global Warming
a) Weakens America/AmericansThere are NO counter examples.
b) Distances America's allies
c) Strengthens America's enemies
d) Attacks Christianity
e) Serves islam
f) Harms Israel
Or some combination of the above.
"to purchase tens of thousands of Spencers, their automatic fire changing the war's course. "
It would be nice if a big outfit like the Washington Times could afford someone who actually knows something about guns to read articles about guns before they publish them.
I saw that too! Not only were Spencer rifles repeaters, not automatics, they has little effect on the course of the war.
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