Under the banner of “gun safety,” the gun control industrial complex lobbies for firearms registration, weapon and magazine restrictions, mandatory firearms training and “safe storage laws”—anything that can delay or deny Americans their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. It’s the latter that’s the most insidious. Who can be against requiring gun owners to store their firearms safely? Do it for the children! Truth be told, safe storage laws “invite” the government into your home. “We need to inspect your gun storage”—without notice. It’s for the children! Don’t laugh. It’s already the law in the UK and Australia. What really grinds my gears: the same governments that want to check my safe storage fail to maintain their own. Check this out . . .
Ever had that cold, panicky feeling of looking down and realising you have no idea where your sidearm is? Ever woken up one day to find the anti-tank missiles under your command are no longer where you left them? There are people out there to whom these memories are very real. Military equipment worth millions of dollars goes missing each year and the scale of these losses are often staggering.
There’s the wind-up [via defenseiq.com]. Here’s the pitch re: Uncle Sam’s lack of military mindfulness . . .
The US has also had to pull its socks up when it comes to tracing its belongings. A 2007 Pentagon audit found major gaps in the tracking system of US military equipment being used to assist the transition of Iraqi security forces. Less than 13 per cent of contracted equipment, including armoured vehicles and weapons, had a sufficient paper trail for purchase and delivery. The command unit could not account for 18 of 31 recovery vehicles, 6 of 18 waste disposal trucks and 2,126 of 2,943 generators.
While improvements have been made over the ensuing six years, 2013 has thrown up a number of high-profile cases in need of consideration. This past summer, a sting was undertaken on active and former Marines attempting to sell off high-end equipment intercepted through the supply chain of their base in California. A spokesman with the San Diego District Attorney told a press conference that “it’s a very big system, it’s a complex system, and as you can see, some of these items can fall through the cracks.”
Meanwhile, US military equipment being stored in Libya was stolen in raids by criminal groups believed to be aligned with terrorist organisations. M4 rifles and night-vision equipment were among the haul from a training base, leading to not only a cost-incursion but a very real operational risk, forcing the American personnel present to be pulled from their mission.
This tale of lost firepower—the tip of the proverbial iceberg—doesn’t include the dozens of stories we encounter of guns stolen from local, state and federal SWAT teams (including the FBI) and police departments, nor the lack of controls on confiscated firearms and buy-back booty.
Nor the hundreds of thousands of guns Uncle Sam’s sold to Latin American countries knowing full well that a large percentage will go walkies. Or the thousands of guns that were bought by drug thugs using FBI money under the supervision of the ATF (i.e. Operation Fast and Furious).
Basically, the government has no business telling gun owners how to store firearms (and anti-tank missiles) until it gets its own shit together. Less profanely, as Isaiah said to Hezekiah in Kings, get your own house in order before you complain about me misplacing things in mine. Or something like that.