Petition: IMMEDIATELY Repeal DOD Directive 5210.56

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

IMMEDIATELY Repeal DOD Directive 5210.56, arm our military personnel and provide for MILITARY SECURITY on our bases.

DOD Directive 5210.56 provides that DOD personnel may only be armed for "...missions or threats and the immediate need to protect DOD assets or persons’ lives." Specific strategic/nuclear assets are under armed guard, but otherwise military personnel are prohibited from carrying their weapons - duty or personal - on base. In most instances, even armed security personnel (most often contracted) are required to carry unloaded weapons (condition 4 - no magazines inserted or rounds chambered).

In the light of the more than 17 attacks that have occurred on bases since 1994, we petition the government to immediately repeal DOD Directive 5210.56.

Arm our soldiers.

MILITARY SECURITY for military bases.

No more shelter in place orders.

They defend US; arm them to defend themselves.

We The People Petition: IMMEDIATELY Repeal DOD Directive 5210.56

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

For those who are unfamiliar with this directive, here are the most important parts. Emphasis is added.

"a. DoD personnel, to whom this Directive is applicable, shall be appropriately armed and have the inherent right to self-defense.
b. ARMING DOD PERSONNEL WITH FIREARMS SHALL BE LIMITED AND CONTROLLED. Qualified personnel shall be armed when required for assigned duties and there is reasonable expectation that DoD installations, property, or personnel lives or DoD assets will be jeopardized if personnel are not armed. Evaluation of the necessity to arm DoD personnel shall be made with the consideration of the possible consequences of accidental or indiscriminate use of those arms. However, THE OVERRIDING FACTORS IN DETERMINING WHETHER OR NOT TO ARM ARE THE MISSION AND THREAT. ARMING DOD PERSONNEL (i.e., administrative, assessment, or inspection, not regularly engaged in or directly supervising security or law enforcement activities) SHALL BE LIMITED TO MISSIONS OR THREATS AND THE IMMEDIATE NEED TO PROTECT DOD ASSETS OR PERSONS’ LIVES. DoD Components have the discretion to keep designated staff personnel qualified and available or on call to perform duties."

Since this is the US, guarding a military installation (with the exception of certain strategic/nuclear assets) is considered to be a low threat mission. On many military installations,  security personnel are generally contracted from one of the defense contractors; whether contracted or military police, security either carry weapons at condition 4 (no mag inserted and no round in the chamber) or they carry no weapons at all. The Beirut bombing (which preceded this directive) was possible in part because the base guards were required to carry their weapons at condition 4. By the time they inserted their mags and chambered rounds, the bombers had already cleared the gates and were closing in on the barracks.

The base CO has no authority to override this directive. The fact is, all weapons not being used for training purposes or actual missions are locked in the armory, and unless an order is received to distribute those arms, they are unavailable for use by all base personnel. Even personal firearms must be secured. The CO may keep designated personnel available or on call, but not on continuous duty according to this directive unless there is an imminent threat.

Critical Lessons Lost To History….

Insights from two men of history who were much smarter than I.

"A principal source of errors and injustice are false ideas of utility. For example: that legislator has false ideas of utility who considers particular more than general conveniencies, who had rather command the sentiments of mankind than excite them, and dares say to reason, `Be thou a slave'; who would sacrifice a thousand real advantages to the fear of an imaginary or trifling inconvenience; who would deprive men of the use of fire for fear of their being burnt, and of water for fear of their being drowned; and who knows of no means of preventing evil but by destroying it. THE LAWS OF THIS NATURE ARE THOSE WHICH FORBID TO WEAR ARMS, DISARMING THOSE ONLY WHO ARE NOT DISPOSED TO COMMIT THE CRIME WHICH THE LAWS MEAN TO PREVENT. CAN IT BE SUPPOSED, THAT THOSE WHO HAVE THE COURAGE TO VIOLATE THE MOST SACRED LAWS OF HUMANITY, AND THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THE CODE, WILL RESPECT THE LESS CONSIDERABLE AND ARBITRARY INJUNCTIONS, THE VIOLATION OF WHICH IS SO EASY, AND OF SO LITTLE COMPARATIVE IMPORTANCE? Does not the execution of this law deprive the subject of that personal liberty, so dear to mankind and to the wise legislator? and does it not subject the innocent to all the disagreeable circumstances that should only fall on the guilty? IT CERTAINLY MAKES THE SITUATION OF THE ASSAULTED WORSE, AND OF THE ASSAILANTS BETTER, AND RATHER ENCOURAGES THAN PREVENTS MURDER, AS IT REQUIRES LESS COURAGE TO ATTACK UNARMED THAN ARMED PERSONS," Cesare Bonesana, "On Crimes and Punishment," 1764.

"But the position laid down by Lord Sandwich, is a clear demonstration of the justice of defensive arms. The Americans, quoth this Quixote of modern days, will not fight; therefore we will. His Lordship’s plan when analized amounts to this. These people are either too superstitiously religious, or too cowardly for arms; they either cannot or dare not defend; their property is open to any one who has the courage to attack them. Send but your troops and the prize is ours. Kill a few and take the whole. THUS THE PEACEABLE PART OF MANKIND WILL BE CONTINUALLY OVERRUN BY THE VILE AND ABANDONED, WHILE THEY NEGLECT THE MEANS OF SELF DEFENCE. THE SUPPOSED QUIETUDE OF A GOOD MAN ALLURES THE RUFFIAN; WHILE ON THE OTHER HAND, ARMS LIKE LAWS DISCOURAGE AND KEEP THE INVADER AND THE PLUNDERER IN AWE, AND PRESERVE ORDER IN THE WORLD AS WELL AS PROPERTY. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; BUT SINCE SOME WILL NOT, OTHERS DARE NOT LAY THEM ASIDE. AND WHILE A SINGLE NATION REFUSES TO LAY THEM DOWN, IT IS PROPER THAT ALL SHOULD KEEP THEM UP. Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves," Thomas Paine, Thoughts on Defensive War," published in Pennsylvania Magazine, 1775. 

What is true of nations is true of individuals as well. Since some will not lay down their arms, others dare not. While a single bad guy refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up.

Remember, Thomas Paine was a Quaker - a pacifist, but even HE recognized the truth of this precept.

Repeal DOD Directive 5210.56...

Repeal DOD Directive 5210.56, enacted in 1992 by Donald J. Atwood, deputy secretary of defense under President George H.W. Bush.  This is the directive that essentially designates military bases as gun free zones:

"It is DoD policy that:...

b. Arming DoD personnel with firearms shall be limited and controlled. Qualified personnel shall be armed when required for assigned duties and there is reasonable expectation that DoD installations, property, or personnel lives or DoD assets will be jeopardized if personnel are not armed. Evaluation of the necessity to arm DoD personnel shall be made with the consideration of the possible consequences of accidental or indiscriminate use of those arms. However, the overriding factors in determining whether or not to arm are the mission and threat. Arming DoD personnel (i.e., administrative, assessment, or inspection, not regularly engaged in or directly supervising security or law enforcement activities) shall be limited to missions or threats and the immediate need to protect DoD assets or persons’ lives. DoD Components have the discretion to keep designated staff personnel qualified and available or on call to perform duties."

While there are some who will point to the last sentence as giving the CO of a base discretion to arm all of the personnel under his/her command if he/she believes it necessary, the emphasis is on "designated staff" and is limited by the previous directives that such a designation is limited to "missions or threats and the immediate need to protect DoD assets or persons’ lives," further limited to "the mission and the threat."  The obvious intent of the directive is to keep the number of armed personnel as small as possible as a matter of course, and is limited primarily to missions in which there is a clear and present threat to stores/assets that are of a strategic nature; most of our bases do not merit armed protection under those definitions.  

However, on 16 Sept. 2013 NBC posted a report of attacks on military bases going back to 1994.  There have been no fewer than 16 shootings on stateside bases, many involving multiple victims  (A History of Shootings at Military Installations in the US| NBC4 Washington).  This report does not take into account attacks on military bases overseas that could have been prevented if our personnel had been allowed to defend themselves, such as the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut (sentries were required to keep their weapons at condition 4).

Trusting the safety of our military personnel to private security companies or locally hired indigenous personnel cannot be tolerated any longer.  Requiring military personnel who serve in a base security capacity to keep weapons at condition 4 is no longer acceptable.

Our personnel are the best trained and disciplined in the world.  They know how to exercise restraint when restraint is called for; they also know how to unleash targeted destruction when necessary.

Let our military personnel do what they are trained to do - terminate threats with extreme prejudice!  Repeal DOD Directive 5210.56!

Do more than "like" this thread if you agree - pass it on and contact your legislators ASAP.

I am including a sample letter below that you can cut and paste into an email or word processor:

To the Honorable (add title/name of legislator):

NBC News recently released a report (16 Sept. 2013) that documents no fewer than 16 shootings that have occurred on stateside military bases since 1995; many involved multiple victims.  Their report does not take into account attacks on United States military personnel that have occurred on overseas bases, such as the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut, which could have been prevented if sentries had not been required to keep their weapons at condition 4 (no magazine inserted and no rounds in the chamber).

The attacks all have one thing in common: each could have been prevented or limited if our trained and disciplined military personnel had been allowed to carry the weapons on which they were trained and were allowed to respond accordingly.

Trusting the safety of our military personnel to private security companies or locally hired indigenous personnel cannot be tolerated any longer.  Requiring military personnel who serve in a base security capacity to keep weapons at condition 4 is no longer acceptable.
Our personnel are the best trained and disciplined in the world.  They know how to exercise restraint when restraint is called for; they also know how to unleash targeted destruction when necessary.

However, DOD Directive 5210.56 essentially limits armed personnel on military bases to military police or those guarding strategic stores and assets.  The recent shooting at the United States Navy Yard (Washington, D.C.) vividly demonstrates that this directive is woefully inadequate to protect our military personnel.

Trusting the safety of our military personnel to private security companies or locally hired indigenous personnel cannot be tolerated any longer.  Requiring military personnel who serve in a base security capacity to keep weapons at condition 4 is no longer acceptable.

It is to repeal DOD Directive 5210.56.  Let those who defend this nation with the weapons on which they were trained use those weapons to defend themselves.

Arm our military personnel!

Military security for military bases!

No more "shelter in place" orders!

Repeal DOD Directive 5210.56 - NOW!

Sincerely,