Concealed carry on military facilities: More complications?

Put away your knee-jerk response to this issue. There are many things to consider.

Read this thoughtful article written by Andrew Cannito, Founder & President, Homeland Security Network at American Military University. Please feel free to share your thoughts.

On July 16th, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez opened fire on a military recruiting station, then moved on to a U.S. Navy/Marine Corps Reserve Center just miles away, ultimately killing four Marines, one Sailor, and injuring two more people.

In the wake of this attack, the idea of granting our nation’s servicemembers the use of concealed weapons on our military installations has swept the nation. While the attack is being considered a “lone wolf” operation, ISIS has made public claims of responsibility. The terror group has been encouraging these lone wolf attacks for some time, calling on their supporters within the U.S. to act.

At first thought, one might think, “yes of course, let them carry,” but the decision is more complicated than a simple yes or no. Allowing every soldier, sailor, marine, and airman to carry without considering the finer details could have deadly consequences.

In the last couple of years, law enforcement across the country, especially within the federal sector, have been hammering active shooter training for their officers. The chaotic and unknown nature of active shooter scenarios, coupled with the panic of victims, has created headaches for first responders.

Typical response guidelines encourage the first officer or officers on the scene to make entry and neutralize the threat as soon as possible to prevent further bloodshed. One issue of major concern in active shooter response is the danger of “blue-on-blue” incidents. This term refers to friendly fire instances where officers draw down or even fire on other officers unknowingly, usually because one officer is either off-duty or in plain clothes and therefore not recognized by the responding officers.

One might ask how this relates to concealed carry on military facilities. Imagine a scenario much like the one that occurred at Fort Hood in 2014. In this situation, an Iraq war veteran, who suffered from apparent mental health issues, opened fire on other servicemembers. Three people were killed and 16 were injured before the shooter took his own life.

Now put yourself in the shoes of a DoD police officer responding to that 911 call just around the corner, only in this scenario ….