Secret Service and guns
Ya know, there was a bit of a dust up over there being no guns in McCain’s room at the NRA Con. Now, there will be no functioning guns when Bush goes to Fort Bragg. The secret service doesn’t trust soldiers but the PR folks I guess still want guns in the photo ops.
Update: Fixed. I have McCain on the brain.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:01 am
Actually, I think that visit is from President Bush.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:04 am
I have mccain on the brain.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:23 pm
WRT the NRA convention:
The Secret Service didn’t necessarily mistrust the average NRA member with a Concealed Carry permit.
They mistrusted the nut-job who might sneak in, pretending to an average NRA member with a Concealed Carry permit. Because, after all, the NRA doesn’t do background checks (or force people to show their permit) at the door. And their protective charge (McCain) might be worth the money involved in forging a valid CCW.
However, if I apply that metric to the President’s visit to Ft. Bragg, then I conclude that the Secret Service is afraid that either (a) some soldiers might feel suicidal AND want a dead C-in-C, or (b) someone else who fits that description might don a phony uniform, with phony ID, and impersonate a real soldier.
It’s the “impersonate a member of a military unit that has lived/worked/slept/trained together for months” that has me mystified. It might be possible, but it doesn’t sound probable.
There’s also the possibility that a functional weapon might be picked up by a non-soldier, and used to assassinate someone.
On the other hand, they might have specific information about someone desiring to be at either the NRA con or the Ft. Bragg visit.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:59 pm
More likely, they know that there’s going to take nearly nil flack from the people that matter — the people that they’re protecting — for being too careful, while being not careful enough means that they’re getting shot at.
It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out which side of things they’re likely to fall on.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:15 pm
It looks bad when the C in C doesn’t trust his own soldiers with guns. How about a little courage, guys? Would that be too much to ask in return for at least looking like you have some balls, and like you don’t consider yourselves and the president to be a special class of humans?
Being surrounded by military personel, I’d feel pretty safe even if some nut job whipped out a gun with ill intent.
We’ve become a bit too much of a risk-averse (read pussified) society, IMO.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I’m curious as to if this is SOP, or something new the the secret service has drummed up.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I recall a similar dustup when Clinton was in office; all the enlisted who were made present for a speech/photo-op were told to remove mags and bolts on a CONUS base. There was static then, will be static for this one. Clinton was busy scaling back the military at the time and wasn’t the most popular CNC for myriad reasons.
The last CNC who was comfortable among his troops was Sam Houston, but Ike didn’t have many qualms about it at the beginning of his term.
Regards,
Rabbit.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:46 pm
It’s all BS. I bet they don’t get two credible threats to the President a year, but I bet they process thousands. If I was the CNC I wouldn’t stand for it. He’s been to Iraq. Anyone pointing a firearm at the president would be swarmed in public by the soldiers IF, and that’s a winning-lottery-number stat IF, if happened.
There isn’t anyone who wants to kill the president. Not a Ft. Bragg and hardly anywhere else. The lefties may foam a bit but they aren’t up to actually DOING anything, it’s just talk.
Look at the TSA. Have they ever caught an active terrorist? Nope. How about the Muslims? Ten Mohammed and Malvo teams could shut the country down and get our yellow-bellied congress revoke the BOR and declare martial law. Cost less than a half million. Have they done it? Nope. Do they have the people and the money and the motive? You tell me.
I’m convinced real dangerous people- at least to the President or government types, are rare as bigfoot, Klan members, or space aliens.
When is the last time an ATF guy even heard a discouraging word?
Half a million folks on the No-Fly list, isn’t that right? I bet there aren’t a softball teams worth of really dangerous ones on it.
When divorce lawyers start getting shot out of hand by folks they screwed over in court, then we can start getting concerned. Heard of one getting shot lately? Me neither. People just don’t DO this kind of stuff.
The President could drive himself to Ft Bragg, eat at diners on the way, spend the night in the barracks, shoot on the machine gun range, toss grenades with the guys and hitch-hike home in absolute safety.
But he won’t. Instead we’ll all play this BS game we play about how dangerous it all is.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:48 pm
He’s had more than that in one year, mostly in foreign cities. In one case, the man had a grenade thrown at him.
That’s not to say that this was a valid time, but a degree of paranoia is valid.
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:08 am
A little paranoia is absolutely a good thing in law enforcement, but not to the point where you need treatment and medication.